Connecticut Lodging Association
Coronavirus Update 5/4/2021
Restaurant Revitalization Fund
Applications are now open!

The American Rescue Plan Act established the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) to provide funding to help restaurants and other eligible businesses keep their doors open. This program will provide restaurants with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location. Recipients are not required to repay the funding as long as funds are used for eligible uses no later than March 11, 2023.
Coronavirus (COVID19) in Connecticut
Connecticut Update: as of May 3, 2021 4:00 p.m. portal.ct.gov/coronavirus
Overall Summary Total**; Change Since Yesterday
COVID-19 Cases 340,545; +1,312
COVID-19 Tests Reported; 8,732,589; +73,821
Daily Test Positivity; 1.78%
Patients Currently Hospitalized with COVID-19; 342; -41
COVID-19-Associated Deaths; 8,112; +15
**Includes confirmed plus probable cases
U.S. - COVID19: What is the current situation?
Cases & Latest Updates 5/3/21 Cases in U.S.
Total cases: 32,228,003 +32,452
Total deaths: 574,220 +423
Global
World Health Organization Situation Report who.int
153 094 318; cases; +650,314
3 206 339; deaths; +9,645

Connecticut News

CT becomes first state in the nation to reach 50% of adults fully vaccinated against COVID-19

Conn. Lifts COVID-19 Restrictions May 1
National News

FDA set to OK Pfizer vaccine for adolescents 12-15; New York dropping most restrictions; Live COVID-19 updates usatoday.com

Children Now Account For 22% Of New U.S. COVID Cases. Why Is That? npr.org
Hotel News
New Data: State-by-State Breakdown on Projected Hotel Industry Job Loss for 2021 hotel-online.com

Hospitality Financial Leadership: The System to Follow to Create Financial Leadership in Your Hotel

The Pandemic Effect: An Increased Desire To Travel More Sustainably hospitalitynet.org

Reinventing Hotel Operations Post-Pandemic
How Save Hotel Jobs Act Impacts YOU
A hotel-specific relief bill - Save Hotel Jobs Act - was just introduced in Congress. If this bill passes it would provide support to ALL hotels.
 
So how does this impact you and your property?
 
Join AHLA's Government Affairs experts TODAY, Tuesday, May 4th for a special Hotel Lobby Liveas they provide an exclusive look at how the bill will help your employees and hotels, including a breakdown of how you can access grant funding. 
 
Also discussed will be ways to get involved through our grassroots program - HotelsACT  - to ensure it becomes law. One year after the pandemic, your engagement on the Save Hotel Jobs Act is critical to our industry’s recovery. 

TODAY
Tuesday, May 4
2pm EDT
Paolino Public Affairs Consulting, Inc. Legislative Report - 4/30/21
The Connecticut General Assembly had a busy and productive week. A wide variety of legislation was passed in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Topics included nursing home video-chat accessibility, removal of COVID-19 related layoffs from the unemployment compensation experience accounts, and the Connecticut Parentage Act. The bill eliminating the religious exemption for compulsory school vaccinations that the lower chamber adopted last week was sent to the Senate, where it was passed after nine hours of debate. The legislation was sent to Governor Ned Lamont on Wednesday, and he has now signed it. Speaker of the House Matt Ritter noted that the upcoming weeks are going to be busy with more frequent session dates, and to prepare for rigorous work in the coming weeks. There are just 5 ½ weeks remaining in the 2021 Regular Session of the Connecticut General Assembly session. Crunch-time is around the corner.
 
Monday, Governor Lamont announced the launch of a program organized by the Connecticut Restaurant Association in conjunction with hundreds of Connecticut restaurants. Starting May 19, fully vaccinated patrons are eligible to receive a free drink with their meal at participating restaurants. Here is the full list of establishments: Connecticut: Drinks Are On Us!. This comes as an incentive to get younger people vaccinated, as the state has seen a 30% decline compared to last week.  Connecticut's positivity rate sits at 1.34%, which is the lowest it has been in months.  Governor Lamont chalked up the declining infection rates to the ongoing vaccination rollout. As of Thursday, more than 1.3 million residents were fully vaccinated. Here is a full list of restrictions that are going to be lifted starting tomorrow: What opens May 1? Here’s what to know about Connecticut’s easing COVID-19 restrictions. 
STR: U.S. hotel results for week ending 24 April
U.S. weekly hotel occupancy remained flat from the previous week, according to STR‘s latest data through 24 April. 
18-24 April 2021:

  • Occupancy: 57.3%
  • Average daily rate (ADR): US$108.10
  • Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$61.93

Overall industry occupancy will likely remain plateaued until the summer leisure travel boom, but there has been noticeable uptick in weekday occupancy, which is indicative of increased business travel. ADR was up slightly from the previous week, and the Luxury, Midscale and Economy classes have each recovered more than 90% of their 2019 ADR levels.

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