A few months ago, I was researching the recent Government Shutdown and how it affected the hospitality industry. While my group felt the effects, I was hoping to get additional input from official resources along with anecdotal stories from other HUG Group Members to bring you a revisited view months later. Maybe it is too early to report on the effects from official resources because finding this information in official channels just has not been possible. But the stories I have heard are quite wide ranging. They run from no apparent effect to some of my experiences with bad publicity and lost reservations and revenue as a result.

Overall it does not appear that the shutdown was a major contributing factor to the hospitality sector as a whole. But many small pockets of the sector were affected. National Parks, TSA, and hotels that generally cater to government travelers did feel the pinch. While it did hurt our National Parks, it would have been much more devastating had it occurred between Memorial and Labor Days. The hotels that are mainly supported by government travel did see a small dip, but not as devastating as it could have been due to some travel still being deemed necessary. The folks in the TSA probably got the worst of it. Having to show up to work and outlay the expenses to do so without getting paid for weeks. I traveled to a HUG meeting in Vermont during the shutdown. I actually got selected for extra special screening and was able to have a long and in-depth conversation with an agent at the Burlington Vermont Airport as a result. The agent was certainly not happy with the situation but explained that they had to continue protecting the public and he knew he would be made whole. At least he was able to joke about the situation as he did my intense pat down.

The shutdown is not something that DC should take lightly. There are affects that have not been reported or understood yet. But we know in hospitality we can never sell inventory from past days. Once that day is over so is the ability to utilize that room night. Hopefully we will not see this political football played with again anytime soon.