More than 100 workers at Durham boutique hotel laid off or furloughed amid coronavirus

This article was updated on May 28 at 4:17 p.m.

One of downtown Durham’s boutique hotels has laid off or furloughed 124 of its employees.

The Kentucky-based company 21c Museum Hotels notified the Department of Commerce on May 22 about a “mass layoff” at 21c Museum Hotel in Durham that started on May 10 and will end by July 1.

In an email sent to The News & Observer Thursday, company spokeswoman Stephanie Greene said the 124 people were a mix of furloughs and layoffs. About two-thirds of the employees are furlough extensions, she wrote. The hotel furloughed some employees when the hotel closed in March amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The company expects to reopen the hotel this summer and bring back the furloughed workers, she wrote.

In the letter to the Commerce Department, Andrew Lotter, the company’s corporate director of talent and culture wrote that “many furloughs will be extended potentially beyond a 6-month period, and a number of positions will be eliminated.”

Coronavirus pandemic hits hospitality industry

The hotel opened in 2015 in downtown Durham in the Art Deco Hill Building. It combines a hotel with a contemporary art museum. The hotel, along with other boutique hotels and restaurants, was important to the ongoing revival of downtown Durham.

The museum manager and the restaurant’s executive chef, along with housekeepers, servers and events staff are among those losing their jobs, according to a list the company sent to the Commerce Department.

Greene said in an email that the list includes furloughs, so some employees - the executive chef, for example - will come back when the hotel reopens.

The pandemic has hit the travel industry hard, and 21c Museum Hotels has furloughed and laid off staff in other cities.

“The situation with COVID-19 continues to evolve rapidly; at the beginning of this crisis we could not have known the devastating impact it would have on our business,” Greene wrote.

“Government mandates, travel restrictions and shelter-in-place rules forced the temporary closure of all of our hotels and restaurants in March and evaporated demand for our business. Recovery for our industry is projected to be three to five years away. As a result, we have had to make significant changes to the way we operate our business and hard decisions as it relates to our team.”

This story was originally published May 28, 2020 at 1:56 PM with the headline "More than 100 workers at Durham boutique hotel laid off or furloughed amid coronavirus."