NFL draft gives Cleveland hotels a sizable occupancy boost
NFL draft gives Cleveland hotels a sizable occupancy boost
Wil Lindsey
Signs promoting the NFL Draft popped up across Cleveland in late April, in selfie-ready spots like North Coast Harbor.
The NFL draft gave downtown Cleveland hotels a much needed pick-me-up, lifting occupancy to 85% on the first night of the festivities.
That statistic comes from STR, a lodging data company that evaluated local hotels performance from Wednesday, April 28, through Saturday, May 1. The nationally televised draft events started Thursday, April 29, on the downtown waterfront near FirstEnergy Stadium.
That Thursday was the best day for nearby hoteliers since mid-November 2019, when the Cleveland Browns hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers. Revenue per available room a key industry metric crept above $200.
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General Assembly carves out special window for pandemic-based tax appeals
Dustin Franz/Bloomberg
Senate Bill 57, which is headed to Gov. Mike DeWine s desk, creates a special window for property owners hard hit by the pandemic to challenge their 2020 tax valuations. The spread of the coronavirus and related public-health restrictions have been particularly painful for hotels, restaurants and parking facilities in downtown Cleveland.
Property owners hard-hit by the pandemic will have an unusual opportunity to seek tax reductions this summer, thanks to a bill that just passed the Ohio General Assembly.
On Wednesday, April 21, the Ohio Senate approved legislation that will allow real estate owners and certain commercial tenants to challenge their 2020 property-tax valuations based on fallout from the coronavirus and public-health orders. Senate Bill 57, which secured passage in the House in late March, is headed to Gov. Mike DeWine s desk.
US, Ohio hotel industries bleed jobs as pandemic continues
By Thomas Gnau - Dayton Daily News, Ohio (TNS)
Organizations advocating for Ohio’s travel industry issued a dire warning Friday, saying more than a third of all Ohio jobs lost last year were in the travel and hospitality industry and the bleeding of jobs continues.
In December, 80% of job losses reported by Ohio government were from the travel and hospitality industry, the Ohio Travel Association said.
Said Melinda Huntley, Ohio Travel Association executive director: “This industry experienced a devastating 22% unemployment rate in 2020. The unemployment rate in this industry is higher than any other industry in Ohio.”
Travel spending in Ohio fell by 40% last year, and the hard-hit industry is still reeling
Michelle Jarboe/Crain s Cleveland Business
The newly transformed Hotel Indigo Cleveland Downtown faced a quiet Huron Road late last month, with little activity at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in the background. The state s travel and lodging industry has been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic and public health restrictions meant to slow the spread of the virus.
Tourism spending in Ohio plunged by 40% last year as the coronavirus pandemic curtailed corporate travel, prompted business shutdowns and severely dampened leisure activity.
The Ohio Travel Association reported Friday, Feb. 12, that industrywide revenues fell $12.8 billion last year, when compared with their 2019 levels. The sharp falloff in travel, combined with public health restrictions meant to slow the spread of the virus, spurred a $378 million decline in annual state tax revenues, according to Tourism Economics, a