Westchester Reporter

The Sheraton Tarrytown has been forced to lay off most of the staff in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the property's general manager said in a recent statement.

Sheraton Tarrytown General Manager Paul Williamson said the hotel had made great strides the first quarter this year but that business has bottomed out after guests dried up as the COVID-19 crisis has hit the country.

"The Sheraton in Tarrytown has made an impressive turnaround in the last three months, due to the efforts of our dedicated team members," Sheraton Tarrytown General Manager Paul Williamson said in a statement to the Westchester Reporter. "Our service scores are at their highest levels in three years. We owe this to our great team, all of whom have been greatly affected by the crisis and subsequent furloughs that have impacted their lives."

Latoya Copper

That progress came to an abrupt halt when the COVID-19 pandemic caused a drop in the number of guests checking in forced the furlough of thousands of associates nationwide by Remington Hotels, the company that manages the Sheraton Tarrytown.

One of those furloughed at the Tarrytown hotel last week was a a single mother putting her 18-year old daughter through college.

"No one symbolizes the burden we all bear better than our food and beverage manager Latoya Copper," Williamson said. "Latoya is a single mother who is putting her 18-year old daughter through college, a culmination of many years of hard-work, financial burden and sacrifice to provide the best future for her child. The personal impact of the coronavirus has had on Latoya cannot be overstated."

Williamson described Copper's work as displaying "the same sense of care, tough love and support in directing her team on a daily basis."

"The maternal support she has shown for her team as the suspension of our food and beverage operation developed this past week, stands as a great example of true leadership in trying times," Williamson continued. "Her empathy and love is a shining light we can use to navigate our way through the uncharted path that lies ahead."

Remington, founded in 1968, is a hotel management company that also provides providing property management services. Its hospitality wing manages 86 hotels in 26 states across 17 brands.

"Remington Hotels is struggling in the face of the coronavirus," Remington Hotels President and CEO Sloan Dean III said in his own statement to Westchester Reporter.

Dean's appointment as president and CEO of Remington Hotels was announced in December.

The suffering of Remington Hotels' employees is a small portion of the larger story about how COVID-19 threatens the world's economy. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned earlier this week that COVID-19 could drive unemployment in the U.S. to 20 percent, levels not seen since the Great Depression.

The travel and hospitality industry is asking for about $150 billion in relief.

Like the rest of the industry, Remington Hotels has been hit hard by COVID-19, which has sunk its business to "beyond depression levels" and Remington anticipates losses this year in the hundreds of millions, Dean said.

Remington Hotels expects hotels that it manages to run at 90 percent lower occupancy levels in April 2020, compared to the same month last year, Dean said.

"Most all of our 6,800 associates are furloughed," he said, adding that the entire situation is a "disaster."