More than 20,000 Hawaii hotel jobs could be lost despite travel demand

Hawaii hotels are getting ready for a strong summer — but travel demand won’t be enough to get all employees back to work.

Bookings have returned some Hawaii hotels to pre-pandemic summer levels. Jeff Wagoner, president and CEO of Outrigger Hospitality Group, said results vary by island, but the company is seeing occupancy levels at 80% to 90% on Maui for June, July and August.

Maui, the island that relies most heavily on domestic travelers, has come back quicker than other parts of the state. Oahu, which normally has about a 50/50 mix of domestic and international visitors, is still lagging behind.

Altogether, the state is expected to be short 20,029 hotel industry jobs by the end of the year, making it the nation’s fifth-worst state for hotel job losses, according to a new survey from the American Hotel &Lodging Association.

American Hotel &Lodging Association President and CEO Chip Rogers said during a Wednesday news conference at the Outrigger Waikiki Beach, “A year ago we were faced with a situation that no one could have ever dreamed about. For 11 years we’ve been on a record run and all of the sudden we fell off a cliff. As we look at it, we realize that we are not out of the woods yet.”

Rogers was in Hawaii for the first of a series of “Safe Stay” events across the country to increase awareness among travelers about the industry’s health and safety protocols, which continue to play a key role in consumer travel decisions. He was joined by Outrigger’s Wagoner, Lt. Gov. Josh Green and Dr. Louis Tripoli, a former command surgeon for the Honolulu-­based U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, who now serves as a safety consultant for AHLA.

To recover, Rogers said hotels needed to implement cleaning protocols that allow workers to feel secure enough to return to their jobs and consumers to come visit.

It’s a delicate balance because some of the new safety protocols, like discouraging daily room cleaning to reduce contact between guests and workers, are less labor intensive than pre-pandemic policies. Unions across the nation, including Unite Here Local 5 in Hawaii, have complained that these new policies have slowed rehiring.

Green thanked AHLA and the hotel industry for helping Hawaii to recover tourism safely.

“You guys have provided a safe way for us to recover. Continue to do that — Hawaii is with you,” Green said. “For every 50 travelers that come to Hawaii, it supports one full-time job. Tourism is so important to us. It’s not everything, but I tell you it’s a lot.”

Hotels have begun recovering from the pandemic plunge. However, Rogers said the industry is still hurting. Hotel employment is unlikely to reach pre-pandemic levels until at least 2023, with an industry recovery pushed out to 2024, he said.

Rogers also voiced his support for the Save Hotel Jobs Act, which was introduced by U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla.

The legislation offers up to three months of full payroll support and other targeted federal relief for the hotel industry.

“The pandemic has left millions of hotel employees out of work and many more struggling to get by with less hours. They need help,” Schatz said in a statement. “Our bill creates a new grant program that will bring back hotel jobs, pay workers, and help our economy recover.”

Wagoner said about 50% of Outrigger employees are still on pandemic-related furloughs, and it will take many more months of sustained higher occupancy to hit critical employment thresholds.

Hawaii also needs to get to the point where government officials feel comfortable relaxing COVID-19 related food and beverage capacity restrictions, he said.

Wagoner said COVID-19 social distancing and travel restrictions continue to affect Hawaii employment. He estimates the 50% capacity restrictions have reduced jobs at Outrigger’s food and beverage venues by as much as 40%.

“If the legislation passed, it would give us an opportunity to receive a grant for three months of payroll based on our 2019 levels,” Wagoner said. “It gives us a nice opportunity to be able to do projects in our hotels. As we said earlier, it’s a long recovery.”

Without targeted relief from Congress, AHLA said hotels nationwide are expected to end 2021 down 500,000 jobs.

Projected hotel job losses in Hawaii are expected to trail only California, Florida, New York and Nevada, which rely more heavily on business travel, which has lagged the leisure travel rebound.

Rogers said a reason that Hawaii is among the states with the greatest projected hotel job losses is that it has a higher percentage of full-service hotels with food and beverage jobs, a sector that has been hit especially hard by the pandemic.