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U.S. Hotels Make Bold Ask for More Aid From D.C. Despite Ongoing Recovery

Cameron Sperance

Photo Credit: The hotel industry has to convince Congress its leisure-led recovery isn't enough and targeted aid is still needed for struggling operators. Flickr / Nicolas Raymond

Skift Take

The U.S. hotel industry has a tough sell convincing Congress it needs targeted aid when industry analysts expect business to pick up this summer and into the second half of 2021 across all hospitality sectors. May just fall under the category of futile at this point.

Two weeks after the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan pandemic relief measure was signed into law, all legislative eyes are on a massive infrastructure bill emerging as the Biden administration's next big-ticket item. Infrastructure spending may seem like Congress is moving on from pandemic relief, but the hotel industry hopes it can use whatever plan materializes to finally get some targeted relief from its implosion during the public health crisis. Trade groups like the U.S. Travel Association are vying for travel tax credits to be a leading part of the next round of stimulus. But the American Hotel & Lodging Association wants a hotel industry-targeted grant program akin to what the airline industry got from each of the three major coronavirus relief packages passed in the last year. The grant program would enable owners of larger properties that weren’t eligible to tap into the Paycheck Protection Program of federally backed small business loans.

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“You have whole segments of our industry that did not receive any financial assistance whatsoever,” said Brian Crawford, executive vice president of government affairs at the AHLA. “We see there’s an opportunity to create a grant pr

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