AHLA Report – $44 Billion Estimated Loss in 2021

According to a report released by American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), the hotel industry’s road to recovery from the pandemic can take a longer time than previously expected and there can be a few bumps in the road. The road to recovery is likely to be uneven with ups and downs.

The markets are disproportionately impacted. As such hotels in some places may see quicker and faster recovery while other locations may not be as lucky. Nearly 500,000 jobs are estimated to have been lost during the course of the pandemic. It would be highly unlikely that all these jobs are restored before the end of the year.

AHLA report also estimates that hotel revenues may be down by about $44 billion this year as compared to 2019 period. Government would have lost more than $20 billion in uneralized tax revenues from hotels over the past 2 years.

While everybody is hopeful of the hotel business picking up soon, the AHLA report suggests that the recovery may not be as smooth as is being projected by different studies. Moreover, the recovery may be faster in locations which are hot tourist destinations. However that may not be the case in other lesser known places. Hotels in smaller towns may experience much longer delays and more hardships during their recovery phase.

“Despite an uptick in leisure travel, midway through 2021 we’re still seeing that the road to a full recovery for America’s hotels is long and uneven,” remarked Chip Rogers, president/CEO of AHLA.