DC: Hospitality's Biggest Concerns

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) is the only national org repping all facets of the hospitality industry and its 1.8 million employees, so we asked CEO Katherine Lugar (snapped two weeks ago with Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson at AH&LA's annual legislative summit) about the major issues impacting the industry, which she'll also be discussing at BLIS. One is encouraging the government to make needed reforms that will increase international travel to the US, she tells us. Last year, there were 67 million visitors with a $180B economic impact; by 2018, Obama said he’d like to increase that to 100 million. (So start making those souvenir snow globes you've been talking about, because the market is growing.) That means extending the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 and reauthorizing Brand USA; legislation promoting that was introduced last week.

Above is AH&LA’s delegation of hoteliers from Florida during its advocacy day on the Hill. Meaningful immigration reform also needs to be wrapped up this year, Katherine says. “It’s a global industry that needs a global workforce.” And AH&LA is supporting reform to the Affordable Care Act that changes what a full-time employee means from 30 hours to 40 hours. (Meanwhile, the French have made it illegal to think about considering to work more than 12 hours a month.) Legislation passed the house two weeks ago, she says, and now they’re focused on the Senate; the 30-hour definition will inevitably lead to many small businesses to reduce employees’ numbers of hours to below 30 a week, she says, causing an income shortfall. It’s also taking a position against local, extreme wage initiatives that would drive minimum wage up to $15/hour, “a major threat to hotels."