NE Atlanta News

The general manager of the Kennesaw Fairfield Inn has seen first the suffering wrought by the COVID-19 furloughs that resulted in most of her staff being laid off, including one employee who said her future was uncertain and she was "going home to pray."

"We understand how and what unprecedented this virus outbreak has turned out to be regardless of how temporary it may be - at least, we hope so," Kennesaw Fairfield Inn General Manager Peta-Gay Barett said in statement to NE Atlanta News.

The layoff of most of Barett's hotel staff were only a fraction of the thousands of associates furloughed last week by Remington Hotels, which manages the Kennesaw Fairfield Inn, due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has decimated the hotel and travel industry. 

Kennesaw Fairfield Inn General Manager Peta-Gay Barett.

It isn't only Remington Hotels or even Kennesaw Fairfield Inn, Barett said.

"We at Kennesaw Fairfield Inn share stories and experiences of Americans in all places," he said. "The degree of hardship is becoming visible. Several staff members have and will be affected by the limited - if not no hours - assigned to work.  In an economy where majority live on paycheck to paycheck, the absence of one paycheck may be devastating to a point of hunger or homelessness."

Among employees who still has a job at Kennesaw Fairfield Inn, but with hours severely cut back, is 18-year-old college student and front desk Agent Nyah Gulri, who has been paying for school from her own pocket.

"She lives at home with her single mother, two siblings and a sick grandmother, who is not able to work," Barett said. "In addition to paying for school, she contributes to her household, as her and her mother's are the only two incomes in her household."

Gulri's uncle, a single parent, recently died of a stroke and his 9-year-old daughter has moved in with Gulri, expanding the household to six.

"A reduction in her hours and pay will have a huge impact on her paying for college and assisting in family," Barett said.

Then there was Martha Johnson, furloughed after more than 20 years working at the hotel.

"I heard her say during the furlough conversation 'I don't know what my life is going to be now, but am going home to pray.' I am sure that she is just one of many," Barett said.

We're all in this together, Barett said.

"Kennesaw Fairfield Inn doesn't stand alone," she said. "There will be similar stories at other hotels. This sudden change is tough and brutal. We pray it doesn't last. And God bless America and the world."

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.

"Remington Hotels is struggling in the face of the coronavirus," Remington Hotels President and CEO Sloan Dean III said in a statement.

Dean's appointment as president and CEO of Remington Hotels was announced in December.

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 drive unemployment in the U.S. to 20 percent, levels not seen since the Great Depression.

The travel and hospitality industry is asking for about $150 billion in relief.

Like the rest of the industry, 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.

Remington Hotels expects hotels that it manages to run at 90 percent lower occupancy levels in April 2020, compared to the same month last year, Dean said.

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

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."