US hotel owners continue to reel from Covid-19: Report

Washington, Jan 3 : US hotel owners are bracing for a difficult 2021, as the sector continues to reel from a historic drop in bookings due to the raging coronavirus pandemic, a media report said.
“The start of Covid-19 vaccinations in the US and Europe raised the prospect that people would start traveling again and sent shares in hotel owners and operators soaring, but investors and analysts say bookings will take years to rise back to pre-pandemic levels,” Xinhua news agency quoted The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report as saying on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the industry faces growing financial stress as property owners struggle to pay their mortgage bills, wages and other expenses, it added.
“Despite the record drop in bookings, many US hotels have been able to stay open thanks to debt relief from banks and temporary government aid like the Paycheck Protection Program. Now some lenders are starting to lose patience, which could lead to an increase in foreclosures and distressed-property sales in the first half of 2021,” brokers and investors were quoted as saying in the report.
In a November report, S&P Global Ratings estimated that revenue per available hotel room fell by 50 per cent in the US in 2020.
The ratings agency expects revenue to pick up in 2021, but estimates that it will still be 20 to 30 per cent lower than in 2019.