Opening A Hotel During A Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has been devastating to nearly every sector of the economy, but few industries have felt the impact more acutely than leisure and hospitality.
In April, when travel restrictions went into effect and large events were cancelled, the industry lost about 8.4 million jobs, bringing it down to 1987 levels of employment.
Now, leisure and hospitality is still down around 3.5 million jobs, and while federal stimulus helped companies stay afloat early on in the pandemic, a recent survey showed that 71% of hoteliers say they won't survive another six months without more relief.
And yet, new hotels continue to open.
NPR Business Correspondent Alina Selyukh joins the show to talk about the economics of opening a hotel and why this decision is not a matter of wanting to do it, but pretty much having to do it.
Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter / Facebook / Newsletter.
Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, PocketCasts and NPR One.