SE LA Times

The word that Thais Rodrigues, human resources director at Hilton Orange County Costa Mesa, uses most to describe how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected her and the hotel's associates is "devastation."

"In these past couple of days I have seen devastation in the faces of those I work with and care about," Rodrigues said in a statement provided to SE LA Times by Remington Hotels, which manages the Hilton property. "Devastation, not only because they are worried or scared about the coronavirus, but mostly because they are worried and scared about how they will provide for their families."

The 486-room Hilton property employs 220, most now furloughed.

Thais Rodrigues, human resources director at Hilton Orange County Costa Mesa.

"Our company had to make the difficult decision to furlough most of the positions at our hotel due to the drop in occupancy," Rodrigues said. "The drop has been so significant that we cannot employee 90 percent of our employees. Two weeks ago our hotel was between 87 percent to 100 percent occupied. We had groups scheduled to arrive for banquet events between 100 and 1,000 attendees. Now we have no groups and we have hardly any occupancy."

Hilton Orange County's portion in the suffering has been heartbreaking, Rodrigues said.

"My heart has broken 100 times over and it keeps breaking as I speak to each associate and tell them that they will be furloughed until further notice," he said. "Each associate I speak to tells me their story."

On furloughed employee talked about their recent auto accident in which their car was totaled and the other driver had no auto insurance.  

"Now what will they do?" Rodrigues asked. "We all have a story to tell, we all have family that we have to take care of.  And now most of us here at our hotel won't have the means to do what we have to. From servers that make minimum wage, to manager to room attendants and engineers, we are all in need of financial assistance because our lives depend on travel and tourism and now that has been taken away."

Hilton Orange County's laid off associates are part of the thousands of Remington Hotel employees furloughed from their jobs at a nationwide hospitality chain because of COVID-19, the head of the chain said in a recent statement.

"Remington Hotels is struggling in the face of the coronavirus," Remington Hotels President and CEO Sloan Dean III said in his own statement to SE LA Times.

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 chain 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.

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 driving unemployment in the U.S. to 20%, levels not seen since the Great Depression.

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.

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

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."