NYC Gazette

This past December, Anthony Rosario got a job as a guest service agent at the Embassy Suites Manhattan Times Square.

"He has certainly made his mark on our front office team and our guests," Aurora Polanco, Human Resources Director at Remington Hotels, which manages the Embassy Suite property, said in a statement to NYC Gazette. "From the very beginning guests would praise Anthony for his professionalism and energy."

Rosario is still receiving positive guest comments, even now, after his sudden furlough last week, along with most of the Embassy Suites properties associates, Polanco said.

Anthony Rosario.

Until his furlough, Rosario was the leading breadwinner in his two income household of five, including his step-father, mother and two small siblings, all living in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

"He has lived through adversity before, having stepped away from his studies, majoring in hospitality, to work full time and assist his family," Polanco said. "Anthony is completely devastated by the sharp and drastic change in income. They did not plan for such an event like COVID-19 and were caught off guard. He worries how he will pay his rent and provide for his family."

Rosario and the rest of his furloughed former co-workers are among thousands furloughed by Remington Hotels after the COVID-19 drove down hotel guest numbers nationwide into single-digit percentages.

"Remington Hotels is struggling in the face of the coronavirus," Remington Hotels President and CEO Sloan Dean III said in a statement.

Dean's appointment as president and CEO of Remington Hotels was announced in December.

Remington, founded in 1968, is a hotel management company that also provides providing property management services. Its hospitality wing manages 86 hotels in 26 states across 17 brands.

The suffering of Remington Hotels' employees is a small portion of the larger story about how COVID-19 threatens the world's economy. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned earlier this week that COVID-19 could drive unemployment in the U.S. to 20 percent, levels not seen since the Great Depression.

The travel and hospitality industry is asking for about $150 billion in relief.

Like the rest of the industry, Remington Hotels has been hit hard by COVID-19, which has sunk its business to "beyond depression levels" and Remington anticipates losses this year in the hundreds of millions, Dean said.

Remington Hotels expects hotels that it manages to run at 90 percent lower occupancy levels in April 2020, compared to the same month last year, Dean said.

"Most all of our 6,800 associates are furloughed," he said, adding that the entire situation is a "disaster."

Priorities for the entire industry should be exactly what the American Hotel and Lodging Association presented directly to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, March 17, Dean said.

Those priorities are emergency assistance for employees, a workforce stabilization fund from the U.S. Treasury Department, preservation of business liquidity that would include $100 billion for employee retention and rehiring, and tax relief

"For many Americans in our sector, this health crisis will be compounded by economic hardship in the coming weeks and months," Dean said. "Congress must act now!! Time is essential as unemployment claims in hospitality will be in the millions."

Dean said assistance will need to come from the nation's top leadership.

Priorities for the entire industry were presented to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, March 17 by the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

Those priorities are emergency assistance for employees, a workforce stabilization fund from the U.S. Treasury Department, preservation of business liquidity that would include $100 billion for employee retention and rehiring, and tax relief

"For many Americans in our sector, this health crisis will be compounded by economic hardship in the coming weeks and months," Dean said. "Congress must act now!! Time is essential as unemployment claims in hospitality will be in the millions."