American Resort & Lodging Affiliation Message Following President Biden’s State of the Union Handle

American Resort & Lodging Affiliation (AHLA) Interim President & CEO Kevin Carey immediately launched the next message after President Biden delivered the 2024 State of the Union Handle.

President Biden tonight assured Individuals that the state of the union is robust whereas outlining his administration’s coverage priorities to maneuver the economic system and our nation ahead.

Whereas AHLA’s outlook for the way forward for the lodge trade is optimistic, hoteliers are dealing with quite a lot of hurdles on the federal stage. These embody labor shortages, cussed inflation, and a number of federal rules which are tying hoteliers up in crimson tape. 

That’s why AHLA will proceed advocating for hoteliers to unravel these issues and preserve our trade on an upward path.

AHLA’s high federal advocacy priorities for 2024 embody:

Making a single fee-display commonplace for all lodging companies, together with resorts, on-line journey businesses, metasearch websites, and short-term rental platforms:

Preventing a number of federal regulatory efforts that will make it tougher for hoteliers to do enterprise, together with:

• The Nationwide Labor Relations Board’s joint-employer regulation, which instantly targets the franchise mannequin, a enterprise mannequin that has helped restore minority entrepreneurship and job creation throughout the nation. AHLA is engaged in litigation to cease implementation of the rule and is working with members of Congress on each side of the aisle to overturn it.
• The Division of Labor’s proposed overtime-pay regulation that will remove lodge jobs, make it harder for workers to rise within the ranks, and put small enterprise hoteliers liable to going out of enterprise. AHLA has filed feedback in opposition to this rule.
• A brand new Division of Labor regulation that radically adjustments the best way employees are labeled as unbiased contractors or workers. It would restrict alternatives for people to work as unbiased contractors and damage resorts’ potential to take care of operations. AHLA is supporting a Congressional Evaluate Act decision to overturn this rule.

Working to safe honest federal per diem charges for Fiscal Yr 2025:

• AHLA lobbies the Basic Providers Administration yearly for honest per diem charges, and we secured a $9 improve to the fiscal 12 months 2024 lodging price that can generate an estimated $300 million for hoteliers.
• AHLA will push for one more improve in FY 2025 to mirror the realities of persistent inflation.

Urging Congress to deal with workforce shortages with bipartisan options that create alternatives for extra employees to enter the American economic system, together with:

• Increasing and streamlining the authorized H-2B guestworker program. The H-2B program is important to serving to unbiased resorts and resorts in distant trip locations fill seasonal roles, however this system is capped at an insufficient 66,000 visas annually.
• Passing the Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act (S.255/H.R.1325). This bipartisan laws would assist resorts handle crucial staffing wants by permitting the historic variety of asylum seekers already housed in resorts throughout America to work as quickly as 30 days after making use of for asylum.
• Passing the H-2 Enhancements to Relieve Employers (HIRE) Act. The invoice would develop the H-2A/H-2B labor certification interval to 3 years and completely authorize the waiver of in-person interviews for returning employees. By rising the pool of seasonal employees, the invoice would give seasonal small enterprise resorts crucial staffing reduction and facilitate the lodge trade’s continued restoration.

Swift passage of H.R. 7024, the Tax Reduction for American Households and Staff Act, within the Senate:

• This bipartisan tax package deal consists of important extensions of enterprise curiosity deductibility and bonus depreciation – tax insurance policies that assist resorts’ potential to climate crises, make investments for the longer term, and compete in a aggressive market.
• The insurance policies within the bipartisan tax package deal present a path to certainty at a time when many within the trade are confronting a troublesome working setting.

Along with your assist, AHLA will proceed reaching coverage victories for hoteliers throughout the nation and all through authorities.