In late March, sobering numbers began pouring in from media outlets across the country. An article in Yahoo Finance relayed that “occupancy rates had gone from 53% last year to -24.4% this year” and “average daily rate for rooms dipped more than 10%, and revenue per available room dropped by 32.5%.”
“In terms of our business, COVID-19 is like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” said Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott in an article by reporter Aarthi Swaminathan. “For a company that’s 92 years old, that’s borne witness to the Great Depression, World War II, and many other economic and global crises, that’s saying something.”
Sorenson will not be taking a salary for the remainder of the year, and said his executive team would be taking a 50% cut in pay. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts CEO Geoff Ballotti (pictured here at the 2019 HX: The Hotel Experience Powered by AAHOA at the Javits Center in New York) has also reportedly dropped his base compensation to zero.
“The stocks of major hotel companies are down due to coronavirus,” writes Swaminathan. “Aside from Marriott, other major hotel chains started closing locations and began furloughs or layoffs for tens of thousands of employees across the world. U.S. hotel revenues per available room have declined more than 30% relative to how they were trending before the virus hit, for the week ending March 14, according to a recent note from J.P. Morgan, utilizing data from Smith Travel Research.”
Javits Center Transformed Into Overflow Hospital
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Weeks after the Javits Center (home to HX: The Hotel Experience Powered by AAHOA) was transformed into a temporary overflow hospital for COVID-19 patients, doctors are reportedly leaving the center to pitch in at area hospitals.
WABC New York reports: “Due to a lack of demand at the temporary hospital set up at the Javits Center, hundreds of doctors and nurses will transfer to hospitals in the city to help instead.”
According to Eyewitness staff reporters: “Even though city ICUs have been drowning in COVID-19 victims, they can’t transfer—thanks to what hospital administrators say are strict criteria set in place by the Defense Department…Instead of transferring patients there, the military is sending doctors and nurses to city hospitals to help.”
“258 medical personnel just yesterday were deployed off the ship and out of the Javits Center, into New York,” said vice president Mike Pence during a White House press briefing in mid April.
“It comes at a time of great hope in the coronavirus pandemic,” writes ABC News. “For the first time, there is a drop in hospital admissions across New York state.”