Hotel occupancy in 2023 is projected to come close to pre-pandemic levels, and hotel taxes are expected to create $46.71 billion in revenue for state and local governments, but hiring remains a challenge across the country. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images, File),
ACROSS AMERICA — The hotel business is returning to pre-pandemic levels, and state and local governments are on track to receive record hotel tax revenues, according to a new industry report.
,
Nationally, hotel tax revenue is expected to increase to a record $46.71 billion, according to “A New Era for U.S. Hotels,” a state-of-the-industry report released Tuesday by the American Hotel & Lodging Association and Oxford Economics.
More than three-quarters of U.S. hotel rooms were empty in April 2020 as stay-at-home orders and social distancing took hold across the country to control the spread of COVID-19.
,
Despite the industry’s projected bounce back to near pre-pandemic levels — average U.S. occupancy is projected at 64 percent, coming close to the 2019 occupancy rate of 66 percent — finding enough people to fill hotel and other hospitality jobs remains a challenge, according to the report.
At the lowest point in the pandemic, occupancy averaged 44 percent at U.S. hotels. In 2022 as the industry began to come back, occupancy neared 63 percent, a 9 percent increase from 2021.
,
Hotels across the country are on a hiring spree to fill jobs lost in the pandemic. Nationally, hotel wages average $23 an hour, a historic high, according to Labor Department data. For example, the employment website Indeed lists nearly 100,000 hotel job openings.
To help fill positions, the American Hotel & Lodging Association has launched an advertising blitz in 14 metropolitan cities to raise awareness of 200 career pathways in the hotel industry. The campaign, “A Place to Stay,” is currently active in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, San Diego and Tampa.
,
The group’s Hospitality Is Working affiliate recently launched a Workforce & Immigration Initiative aimed at convincing Congress to address the labor shortage through immigration reform.
Nationally, according to the projections, every direct hotel job supports another 2.6 jobs in the community.
,
The Washington, D.C.-based American Hotel & Lodging Association’s members represent 80 percent of all franchised hotels and the 16 largest hotel companies in the United States.
,Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
