Not to be outdone by the airline industry seeking a $50 billion bailout, the hotel industry is now seeking $250 billion in assistance.
- $150 billion would go to owners of hotels and resort properties to continue to pay off loan payments and support employees who are being laid off
- $100 billion would go to providers of recreation and retailers
I think that rather than targeting individual industries like this a more thought out approach is needed. For example the American Hotel & Lodging Association is stating that $150 billion is needed for loan payments and supporting workers, but that isn’t a uniquely hotel specific problem. Many industries and individuals will struggle to repay loans and support workers during this period so let’s find a solution that helps to solve this problem rather than just providing individual industries with billions of dollars of support.
The hotel industry must not be bailed out without iron-clad assurances that they’d treat customers better. For instance Marriott bonvoys customers often, and does not rein in properties that do not follow the terms & conditions of the Bonvoy program.
Extend FN certificate or go bankruptcy
It’s funny how big companies can get bailouts from the government but individuals can be left on streets and homeless and no problem there. Something is seriously messed up
Bottom line: this is not a capital-intensive industry. It costs a h*ll of a lot of money to buy a lot of planes and run a safe, competent airline. Any moron can build a few hotels, or buy a few, and Marriott has proven that. I’m as capitalist as they come (truly) but an airline bailout, as distasteful as it is, at least makes more sense than a hotel bailout.
How else are they going to learn if Mom and Pop keep bailing them out. This would be a chance for them to improve their rewards program to attract more customers, but now that they’ll get free money, they’ll never do that and just make their rewards program worse.
The Marriott hotel where my friend works in Hawaii will not be paying their furloughed employees.
Give it to them in their own loyalty points.
This is not a bad idea. Make them use the dollar’s within a few months or its worth a few penny’s… If the point is to stimulate the economy.
Andrew Yang and his Freedom Dividend comes to mind…
While we can complain about the fairness of airline and hotel industries getting bailouts and their customer policies, if they were to collapse, we’d all be entirely screwed. It’s something that has to be done, whether we think it’s fair or not.
My complain, at least with the airline request, is that they want grants (free money), ZERO interest loans(free money), and rebates on taxes and fees already paid (give money back). WTF? They don’t get to be choosing beggars, not the airlines, not the hotels, not the cruiselines. You want a loan? You PAY for it.
In defense of these hotels it was not normal business or free market outcomes that led to this but government literally shutting down air travel and many states and counties ordering hotels shut in an unprecedented move. Loan guarantees and low or no interest loans that are paid back are the preference instead of free money but I doubt workers receiving cash from the government will be required to pay it back.
True but the same governments have also shut down restaurants, gyms, and lots of other things. Goes back to the call in the OP for a more thought out approach rather than cherry picking industries.