Without help, over 8,000 U.S. hotels may have to close in Sept.

Chip Rogers with the American Hotel and Lodging Association says more than 8,000 U.S. hotels could be forced to close in September, “if business travel doesn’t pick up by this fall.” SCREENGRAB

What should have been a busy travel season could now be the last for some hotels.

Chip Rogers with the American Hotel and Lodging Association says more than 8,000 U.S. hotels could be forced to close in September.

“If business travel doesn’t pick up by this fall, and the PPP funding has run out, then the really bad problem that exists today is going to result in massive foreclosures for hotels,” Rogers says.

Rogers is asking Congress to step in and help before it’s too late.

“Give them a low interest loan, give them something where they can just stay afloat because that is all they are asking for,” Rogers says.

Texas Republican Congressman Van Taylor says he has a plan to keep hotels operating — and the eight million Americans working in those hotels employed.

“If I don’t have hotels, I don’t know how my community functions,” says Taylor.

Taylor and 105 members of Congress wrote a letter to the Treasury Department asking for money that would go directly to hotels that are struggling to fill their rooms.

Taylor says that would help get hotels through the fall. But to survive the pandemic, he plans to introduce legislation soon that would provide a more permanent fix.