LITCHFIELD — Syed Bokhari checked his reservations and was happy to see the Litchfield Inn, which his family has owned for 11 years, was going to be at 56% occupancy this weekend. All things considered, that figure was encouraging.
Ordinarily, he wouldn’t be satisfied. Ordinarily, at least 80% of the 32 rooms at the stately landmark on Bantam Road would be full at this time of year.
“This weekend, we’re usually sold out with weddings and events,” Bokhari said.
Perhaps no industry has been hit harder during the COVID-19 pandemic than Connecticut’s hotels, motels, inns, and bed and breakfasts, which just got the nod last week to reopen to guests.
For the past three months, they have only been able to rent to essential workers or people in quarantine at deeply discounted rates.
The plunge in business means the state will lose $287.1 million in state and local taxes this year, according to the Connecticut Lodging Association. It cited a report by Oxford Economics that estimated a drop in tax revenues of $16.8 billion nationwide.
More than 70 percent of hotel employees have been laid off or furloughed during the pandemic, 60 percent of rooms remain empty and business travel may not recover to previous levels until 2022, according to the CLA.
During May 2019, the state’s lodging facilities were at 65% occupancy with an average room rate of $122.50, said Ginny Kozlowski, the CLA’s executive director. Last month, the occupancy rate was 28.6% and the average room rate had sunk to $75.73.
“As other states have opened up, they’ve seen occupancy rates creep up,” Kozlowski said, “but it will be a while until we get to 65%, where hotels can make some money.”
Tourism in Connecticut is a $15.5 billion industry annually that produces $960 million in state and local taxes while directly supporting more than 84,000 jobs, according to the Connecticut Office of Tourism.
Earlier this week, the agency unveiled a new $1.2 million multimedia marketing campaign, “So Good to See You Connecticut,” intended to re-attract tourists to the state.
To prevent the spread of the virus, the state’s hotels must now follow extensive guidelines, such as room service bagged and left at the door; disposable dishes and cutlery; no water, coffee or continental breakfast in the lobby, and no employees in rooms with guests present.
“We need to be doing all the right things,” Kozlowski said. “We need to make sure everyone is doing their part so we don’t take any steps back.”
The Litchfield Inn took advantage of the break to spruce up its rooms and evaluate its day-to-day costs and vendors, Bokhari said. They also gave the inn an extensive cleaning, which will continue going forward.
“It makes it difficult, but that’s what the guidelines are and we’re following them to a ‘T,'” he noted. “We have to hope that in a month or two, we can operate as we once did.”
At the White Hart Inn in Salisbury, General Manager Dan Winkley said that “people are slowly starting to rebook.”
Couples canceling weddings in the area in May and June have hurt, but he expects business to pick up in the fall when leaf-peepers and the parents of students at area private schools arrive in town.
Along with the other precautions, the White Hart is doubling the state’s mandatory 24-hour pause before renting a room again to 48 hours. “That makes it harder to get back to the occupancy rate you’d like to see, but that’s how we’d like to proceed,” Winkley said.
The White Hart’s payroll went from 62 in February to a low of nine in March and has since rebounded to 30. More staff is expected back as bookings recover.
“Traditionally, most of our business is from within driving distance, New York and Boston,” Winkley said. “I think people will feel more and more comfortable.”
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