Government Announces Regional Relief Recovery Funds
The Government of Canada has announced more than $962 million in funding for the Regional Relief Recovery Fund (RRRF) to mitigate the financial pressure faced by businesses, including hoteliers. This new fund may provide some relief to hoteliers who have had difficulty in accessing existing [...]
Hotels Permitted to Keep Tourism Levy for Remainder of 2020
The Government of Alberta has announced that hotels and other lodging providers will be allowed to keep the tourism levy they collect between March 1 to December 31, 2020. This measure will free up between $16 and $27 million in additional cash flow for the [...]
Navigating Property Taxation through Challenging Times: Webinar
Over the last few years, things have been difficult for the Alberta hotel industry, starting with the struggling oil and gas industry and now with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. To weather the storm, hotels must minimize expenses. One of the biggest is municipal [...]
Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Extended
The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) Program will be extended until August 29, 2020. Eligibility criteria has also been expanded to include limited partnership ownership structures. This includes partnerships that are up to 50% owned by non-eligible hotels and partnerships where the partners are Indigenous governments. The [...]
AHLA Holds 2020 Annual General Meeting
The AHLA’s 2020 Annual General Meeting was held on Monday, April 27. Because of existing COVID-19 restrictions, the meeting was held online, with 90 AHLA members represented. Chairman’s Report Outgoing Board Chair Leanne Shaw started the meeting by acknowledging the support the AHLA has been [...]
AHLA & AHSA Annual General Meetings Go Online
The AHLA's 2020 Annual General Meeting, which was originally scheduled for April 1, will now be held online. AHLA Annual General Meeting 3:30 p.m., Monday, April 27 All AHLA members in good standing are invited to attend. AHLA members in good standing who are not [...]
Changes to Wage Subsidy Eligibility Helps Hotels; CEBA Applications Now Open
The federal government has made several changes to the eligibility for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Program (CEWS). Businesses now only need to show loss of revenue of 15% for March, rather than 30% in recognition of the fact that many businesses did not begin [...]
Government Changes to Employment Standards in Response to COVID-19
The Government of Alberta has made changes to the Employment Standards Code to better support both employers and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes take effect immediately and will be in place as long as government determines they are needed and the public health [...]
AHLA Seeks Utility Payment Relief for Hotels
The Government of Alberta’s recent introduction of utility cost deferrals for small businesses has benefited a number of Alberta’s smaller hotels. However, the AHLA estimates that more than 700 hotels exceed the threshold to benefit from this policy for consumption of both natural gas and [...]
Government Announces Deferrals of Payments on Tourism Levy
Today, the Government of Alberta announced that hotels and other lodging providers can delay paying the tourism levy until Aug. 31 for amounts that become due to government on or after today. The news release reads: This will free up more than $5 million in [...]
AHLA Meets with Minister of Labour on COVID-19 Impacts
On March 19, AHLA President & CEO Dave Kaiser met by telephone with the Honourable Jason Copping, Minister of Labour & Immigration. The Minister wanted to fully understand how the COVID-19 crisis is affecting Alberta hotels. The AHLA identified a number of impacts, including: Massive [...]