Executives from companies such as Marriott (NASDAQ:MAR) and Hilton (NYSE:HLT) met with President Trump on Tuesday to discuss a bailout, consisting of $150B in direct aid for the hotel sector and $100B for related travel companies.
They warned that half of the hotels in the country could close this year and the sudden cratering of demand would cause the loss of 4.6M jobs.
Chip Rogers, CEO of the American Hotels and Lodging Association, said the economic impact of the pandemic on the hotel industry was already bigger than "September 11th and the 2008 recession combined."
