Ft Worth Times

A widow and a disabled veteran, now furloughed Fort Worth-area hospitality industry employees, are among thousands who suddenly lost their jobs last week as COVID-19 pandemic sent hotel guest rates plummeting.

Vicky Rodriguez and Daniela Sosa became two of thousands of associates furloughed by Remington Hotels, which manages Hilton Fort Worth where they are employed, company Regional Director and Human Resources Partner Lucy Ledezma said in a statement to Ft Worth Times.

Rodriguez, a widow and mother of a special needs daughter, also provides for her family in in Honduras, Ledezma said.

Daniela Sosa (right).

"She has worked for Hilton Fort Worth since 2010 as a station cook," Ledezma said. "She has maintained two jobs to keep her family out of the public assistance programs and assisting to her family to stay out of poverty."

Sosa is a disabled U.S. Marine Corps veteran, as well as a single mother, Ledezma said.

"Her family is in California and El Paso," Ledezma said. "Now she's questioning where she is going. She can't sell her house, she now is unemployed and preparing for the unknown. What next?"

That's the question that no one can answer just now as COVID-19 remains a fast changing and uncharted challenge worldwide.

Rodriguez and Sosa are two of the almost 6,800 associates furloughed from their jobs with Remington Hotels properties.

"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.

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 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."

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."