The pandemic hurt business at the historic Carolina Inn. It’s laying off 217 employees
As the hospitality industry suffers from the pandemic nationally, The Carolina Inn, a staple establishment of Chapel Hill and the campus of the University of North Carolina, is laying off a majority of its employees.
A total of 217 employees at the hotel will be laid off effective Saturday, according to a notice filed with the state Department of Commerce.
The 96-year-old hotel weathered a strong economic hit by the pandemic and is undergoing a partial closure because not all employees are being impacted, according to hotel manager Mark Sherburne.
“As a business that caters to global travelers and hosts large events around the world, this pandemic impacts us immensely,” Sherburne said in the notice.
The notice says employees began to be furloughed on April 5. The hotel is operated by multinational hotel chain Hyatt, which employed over 100,000 employees in 2019, according to its website.
“We were hopeful that the restrictions and associated loss in revenue would be temporary,” said Sherburne. “Since that time, it has recently become apparent that there will be longer-term revenue impacts as a result of the continued spread of the virus ... all of which have resulted in the sudden and unexpected effective shutdown of much of our business.”
Sherburne said that while businesses have reopened in some areas, the demand for travel, hotel and event services will take much longer to resume. That’s because social distancing will be necessary until a vaccine for COVID-19 is available and business cannot return to “normal” during that time.
The layoffs are permanent, and the hotel is also planning for furloughs that exceed six months.
“With such a significant reduction in our business in a rapidly evolving situation, we have to make painful choices that would have seemed unthinkable just a short time ago,” Sherburne said.
He added that the hotel regrets not being able to let employees know in advance and that it was made known “at the earliest practicable time based on current business information.”
Hyatt announced in late May that it would lay off 1,300 employees globally.
The Charlotte Marriott City Center hotel in uptown Charlotte laid off nearly 1,000 workers last month and The Durham 21c Museum Hotel laid off more than 100 workers in May, The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer previously reported.
In Wake County, hotels saw record breaking occupancy at 92% and 93% on graduation weekend last year, according to the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. That weekend this year was expected to be at just under 30% occupancy, according to previous reporting by The News & Observer.
Hotel layoffs accounted for 16% of all layoffs in the state, according to reporting by the Triangle Business Journal.
The hotel industry estimates it is losing $1.4 billion in revenue every week due to the outbreak and a 30% drop in hotel occupancy over a year, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association and the U.S. Travel Association in March, CNBC reported.
This story was originally published July 10, 2020 at 2:47 PM with the headline "The pandemic hurt business at the historic Carolina Inn. It’s laying off 217 employees."
