DOTHAN, Ala. – As of March 25th 7 out 10 hotel rooms were empty across the country.
That impact is being felt in our area as well.
Hotels in the Wiregrass are just one of the many businesses that are feeling the effects of COVID-19.
Empty parking lots have been a common theme throughout the month of March.
And now that President Trump has extended the federal social distancing guidelines to the end of April, business is expected to stay stagnant.
Sleep Inn & Suites Manager, Jatin Shah says “we’re probably down anywhere from 75 to 90 percent occupancy.”
Shah says businesses usually begins to pick up in march.
“March is the start of our peak season, right, so we were hiring people. We had to put all of that on hold,” he said.
Now instead of hiring people, Shah has had to cut hours and even let go of some employees.
“We had to let go of a couple of people and now our housekeepers that were working 6-7 days a week, they’re working one or two,” Shah said.
Shah has even limited the morning breakfast menu in order to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
“We’ve changed to just drinks, so pretty much juice and coffee, and yogurt and fruits. And all the hot buffet breakfast is just shut down,” he said.
Over in Florida, Shah manages another hotel that sees a different demographic of guests.
And since most beaches are closed, he says business is not good.
“It’s bad man. I mean we’re all on tourists there. So if there’s no one traveling, you’re doing two rooms, three rooms, four rooms a day,” Shah said.
Looking back at the 2008 recession, Shah says the impact COVID-19 has had on his business is far worse.
“2008 was bad, okay. But there’s just no comparison because even in 2008 during the recession our occupancy was there. There were a little bit of people there. Right now I have two floors shut down over there and we’re only operating one floor,” he said.
With social distancing guidelines in place for another month, Shah doesn’t expect business to pick back up in April.
“In comparison to last March, we’re probably down about 40 percent. And worse will be April, where we’ll probably drown 80 to 90 percent,” Shah said.
