Key West Reporter

A human resources director at a Key West resort wants government officials to step up and provide assistance during the COVID-19 crisis.

The disaster is especially difficult in a place like Key West, "a very expensive place to live and everyday work," where many have more than one job and monthly rent and mortgage rates are about $2,500 per month, Christine Quintana, human resources director at Pier House Resort & Spa said in a statement provided to Key West Reporter by Remington Hotels.

Remington Hotels has been forced to furlough the bulk of its 6,800 associates across the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Remington Hotels President and CEO Sloan Dean III

"Most of our associates literally live paycheck to paycheck," she said. "Due to the most current events, several of our associates could be homeless soon. Without work and income, if they stay in Key West, we and they are left to wonder how they will survive. If they relocate, we're left to wonder, who will be available for hire in the future to operate our hotel & service our guests?"

Government needs to step in and help those furloughed associates and many others like them to ensure they don't leave the Keys and take the Keys' serviced industry with them, Quintana said.

"At this time, we are in desperate need of the assistance of our government to help keep our associates in their homes, with food to eat and off of the streets," she said.

Quintana described one associate furlough on Saturday who cannot get unemployment benefits because he works another job where his hours have been reduced.

"It's a matter of time until he's not able to remain in his rented home," Quintana said. "He is one of several in this situation."

Quintana said she also knew of associates who are single mothers that have no support from their children's fathers, others who are paying for their children's college education and one associate with a special needs child, all of whom have been furloughed.

"While they understand the reason of the spa is closing, it does not help them pay their bills or put food on their tables," she said. "The worst part of this is the unknown. We need the support of our politicians to help people during this trying time, to keep food on their tables and roofs over their heads."

"Politicians can aid with ensuring proper vetted information is being shared in the most effective ways possible," Quintana said. "Take precautions to curb the spread of the virus, ensuring a quick recovery for Key West, which heavily relies on the tourists visiting our tropical paradise to maintain our own livelihood."

Quintana also called for free COVID-19 testing be made readily available and easily accessible.

Quintana also called on Key West and state government to allow residents to "forego mortgages and rent payments to ensure our challenges that we face with homelessness in the Keys isn't worsened by this devastating situation and that no one has to go hungry through resources such as FEMA relief."

Remington Hotels, like other employers worldwide, is facing unprecedented challenges wrecked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Remington Hotels is struggling in the face of the coronavirus," Remington Hotels President and CEO Sloan Dean III said in a statement.

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.

The chain 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.

Dean called the situation is a "disaster."

"Most all of our 6,800 associates are furloughed," he said.