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 liquidity options. RRRF funding in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan will [...]
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 hospitality sector and will help position the accommodation industry for [...]
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 and provincial property taxes. The AHLA partnered with real estate [...]
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 government has also signaled their intention to include seasonal and [...]
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 providing to Alberta hotels during the COVID-19 crisis. She then [...]
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 able to participate in the AGM can give their proxy [...]
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 to be affected by the crisis until partway through the [...]
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 emergency order remains in place. One of the biggest changes [...]
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 electrical energy. The AHLA has contacted the Honourable Sonya Savage, [...]
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 additional cash flow for employers – money that can be [...]
