A Win-Win for Hotels From D.C. With Dueling Stimulus Bills
Photo Credit: Even a Republican-backed smaller coronavirus relief measure includes all the key points the hotel industry requested in recent months. Needpix.com / Peter Griffin
Skift Take
The hotel industry should have reason to celebrate no matter what kind of economic relief Congress passes — but passage won’t come easy if Senator McConnell is willing to ignore even the bipartisan bill announced this week.
The hotel industry’s coronavirus relief holiday wish list has a good chance of getting fulfilled, no matter what kind of stimulus bill passes in Washington.
A bipartisan team of lawmakers introduced a $908 billion bill Tuesday aimed at providing a second round of economic relief for struggling businesses during the pandemic.
The proposal from moderate members of the House and senators like Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and Mark Warner (D-Va.) includes many key measures the hotel industry has been requesting from Washington for months: more money for the small business Paycheck Protection Program, liability protection against coronavirus exposure claims, and additional federal aid for unemployment benefits.
Senate Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), averse to higher-cost aid packages later circulated a separate bill that was smaller than the bipartisan measure introduced earlier in the day. But the hotel industr
