Editor’s note: This commentary is by Jay Canning, who is the founder of Westport Hospitality, the owner of Hotel Vermont, Juniper Restaurant, Bleu Northeast Seafood and two Marriott licensed properties, The Courtyard Burlington Harbor and TownePlace Suites.
An open letter to Gov. Phil Scott:
We applaud Gov. Scott and his team for the remarkable results achieved as Vermont emerges from this pandemic.
There are now zero patients in our hospitals with the virus, thanks to the great discipline and collective spirit of Vermonters.
For those of us with businesses in hospitality, i.e. restaurants and lodging, we understood the imperatives and we followed your directives. We closed our doors. It has been painful, as we furloughed our talented and dedicated employees. We had no choice to make.
You placed us in a medically induced coma and we understood why. But Vermont hospitality must now be allowed to begin our recovery.
We plan to reopen in mid-June, per your projected timeline.
Spending precious state funds to advertise and promote “staycations” within Vermont as proposed in the Vermont stimulus draft will not create new business. Vermonters with the inclination and wherewithal to visit us will do so anyway. Spend those funds to convey a welcoming, safe message to Vermont lovers everywhere.
Please do not move the goalposts back beyond your June 15 target. We are bringing our teams back based on that timeline. All the regional trend lines in your briefing Monday look to project that two weeks from now will be a prudent time to reopen. Please make a solid commitment to that date.
In the hotel and restaurant business we know how to keep our guests safe, wellness is the essence of hospitality. Hospitality establishments have always been tightly regulated by health inspections, food safety, liquor control, and fire codes and —as we should be. Hotels and restaurants in the state are now fully prepared to adhere to even more stringent operational guidelines with sanitation, PPE, occupancy load limits, and distancing. We will follow any new protocols. We will protect guests and staff without fail. This always will be the essence in our business, taking care of people. It’s who we are and what’s in our hearts.
If you extend the quarantine requirement, you will doom many in our industry, needlessly. We have obligations: mortgages and taxes and most importantly our staff whom we would like to be able to rehire and pay. We do not want new additional debts and mortgages. We need to operate our businesses and be trusted. Like all Vermonters, we will continue to be as responsible as all our fellow citizens have been throughout this time.
Governor, we plead with you: Do not extend the asphyxiating 14-day 1uarantine requirement beyond June 15. We, our guests, our staff are able to control the risks responsibly. Travelers will return in a slow trickle, but we need some hope, some forward momentum. Or else many of our businesses will die, along with good jobs and livelihoods.
Allow us to awaken from this coma and begin to reestablish our restaurants and lodging venues as the major contributors to the Vermont economy and as integral, valued and beloved members of our communities.
