WILLIAMSBURG – Just three years ago, the hotel industry, especially on the Peninsula, was thriving.
“In 2019, everybody was crushing it. The first quarter of 2020 people were crushing it,” said Liz Parker, general manager of Holiday Inn Newport News and president of Newport News Hospitality Association. “Everybody was so excited because it really looked like business was booming and business was thriving.”
The pandemic put a quick end to that. A few years later, when things were starting to look brighter, a struggling economy delivered another blow.
“In 2020 to 2021, we start to see maybe perhaps things are getting a little bit better, but they really are not,” Parker said.
Initially, the problem was fewer or no travelers. While those numbers are down today, a bigger issue in the industry is staffing. That’s not specific to Hampton Roads, either. A recent survey by the American Hotel and Lodging Association revealed 97 percent of hotels throughout the country are suffering from a staffing shortage.
“I would say that every hotel in the city of Newport News is looking for people to come to work,” said Parker, who had 105 employees in 2019, but has only 72 now.
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