NW Atlanta News

One of the thousands of associates furloughed from their jobs at a nationwide hospitality chain because of COVID-19 now can't go home to Ethiopia because of the virus.

The man, who until recently was working at the Hilton Atlanta/Marietta Hotel & Conference Center, now must stay put in the U.S., though his father is ill at home.

"We have an employee in engineering department who was going to go to see his ill father in Ethiopia," hotel general manager Frank Cook said in a statement provided to NW Atlanta News. "He was to take vacation and fly out."

Frank Cook, general manager of the Hilton Atlanta/Marietta Hotel & Conference Center.

That is no longer possible because of COVID-19 and resulting airline cancellations, other travel restrictions and now a lack of funds due to being out of work during the crisis.

"He stated he could use the refund for the ticket to go sometime soon and also see his wife who lives in Ethiopia," Cook said. "Due to the COVID-19 and furloughs, he now needs the money to survive here at home and is not sure when he will be able to visit his home."

That employee is one of many of those employed in the hospitality sector suffering due cancellations of stays at hotels because to 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.

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

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.

"Most all of our 6800 associates are furloughed," he said, adding that the entire situation is a "disaster."