KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The hotel industry in the Kansas City area continues to get hammered by layoffs.
Three ownership groups announced last week that extended layoffs affecting nearly 700 employees were expected to continue beyond six months and into next fall amid the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting restrictions on traveling and large gatherings of people.
According to a WARN notice sent June 4, 187 of the 200 staff members at the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center have been furloughed or laid off since March 21.
The same is true for 248 of 262 employees at the Westin Kansas City at Crown Center.
“The temporary actions were necessary due to the sudden and unprecedented economic effects of coronavirus/COVID-19 crisis,” according to a letter from the Westin Crown Plaza Hotel Co.
Initially, Westin Crown Plaza ownership hoped the staff reductions wouldn’t be needed beyond six months, but the continuing restrictions on gatherings — while eased a bit in recent months — continue to decimate the hospitality industry.
“These expanded and extended government directives have caused a sudden, severe and worsening downturn in the hospitality industry that now makes it reasonably foreseeable that these temporary actions may extend beyond six months,” Westin Crown Plaza said in its letter Mayor Quinton Lucas and Missouri’s Office of Workforce Development.
Merritt Hospitality, which owns the Hilton Kansas City Airport, also sent a notice to Lucas and state officials May 27, announcing 86 layoffs at the hotel near Kansas City International Airport.
The WARN notice indicated that many of the employees were already temporarily laid off, but that the layoffs are expected to extend beyond six months.
The Sheraton Overland Park Hotel, which is located at the Overland Park Convention Center, announced June 1 that it was laying off 151 employees.
