Rosen Hotels & Resorts employed several thousand locals at its hotels before the pandemic hit. And Central Florida has been hit particularly hard by a collapse in the local tourist industry, not to mention conventions and trade shows drying up almost completely. Rosen closed many of their properties in April.
“It is with deep personal regret that I announce a significant downsizing of staff at Rosen Hotels & Resorts. Never in the 46-year history of my company would I have envisioned such a drastic decision,” said a seemingly shell-shocked Harris Rosen, president of Rosen Hotels. “This is especially painful for me, as I consider these valued associates as extended members of the Rosen family, without whose contributions our company would never have achieved the success it has through the years.”
Rosen sounded the alarm about the very troubled state of Central Florida’s tourism economy back in May during a round table discussion with Vice President Mike Pence, saying, “The hospitality industry is in a deep depression.”
No indication has ben given as to the exact numbers or percentages of layoffs, though all Rosen properties will be impacted one way or another. It’s scary news, with Orange County already wrestling with high unemployment numbers. These layoffs become effective on July 31.
Rosen was a beneficiary of over $6 million in federal PPP loans, as indicated in the SBA release of information earlier this week.
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This article appears in Mean People Suck.