Page 15 - BusinessWest November 23, 2020

“We’ve been busy trying to survive,” ESE President and CEO Gene Cassidy told BusinessWest. “We’re just trying to figure out ways to generate resources and pay some bills. When you’re in this business, you need people, and at this particular moment, society has had to pivot in such a way that you can’t have gatherings.”
That $100,000 infusion from the golden-ticket promotion won’t come close to making up for this year’s loss of the actual fair, but it’s not insignificant, either.
“Large fairs, by and large, are sup- ported by taxpayers. We’re not. We have to pay our own way,” Cassidy said, cit- ing what he calls “toxic positivity” — basically a false sense of security — by many in the fair business. “Folks have this positive outlook; they know their doors are not going to close because the state government is going to sup- port them. Here at Eastern States, if we don’t bring people to our events, there’s no income, and there’s no Eastern States.”
Peter Rosskothen, owner of the
Log Cabin, the Delaney House, and D. Hotel & Suites in Holyoke, has a hand in several types of hospitality business- es — and he’s optimistic about all of them for 2021. The challenge is getting through 2020.
“I’m not worried about the restau- rant business — for restaurants that survive this,” he said, adding a sober- ing caveat to that first thought, and cit- ing oft-repeated projections that one in five restaurants in the U.S. might not survive COVID-19.
“I feel the government is taking way too much time right now helping the hospitality industry. People are running out of money, and no help is coming from the federal level,” he went on. “People will go out and eat. The trick is to survive.”
Rosskothen has been creative in his operations, offering getaway packages at the adjoining Delaney House and
D. Hotel where hotel guests can have a fancy dinner set up in their room, with tables, chairs, candles, and menus, and end their stay with a spa treatment. “It’s a nice, safe, romantic getaway.”
The way tourism and hospitality businesses rely on each other in West- ern Mass. has also come into starker relief, he added.
“A lot of my peers are working hard to develop a vacation concept and attracting people from nearby, mean- ing Boston, Worcester, and Vermont,” he noted, adding that a family might drive in for Bright Nights and stay over- night at a hotel, eat at restaurants, and do some shopping. “Even stopping at a gas station is an economic multiplier.”
That said, Rosskothen’s hotel occu- pancy is running between 45% and 50% — not quite the 60% level needed to turn a profit, but a strong number during the pandemic. In fact, Mary Kay Wydra, president of the Greater Spring- field Convention and Visitors Bureau (GSCVB), said the region’s hotel-occu-
“
was in the teens. They’re nowhere near climbing out of this. We’ve been hit, but not as hard as some metropolitan areas.”
Rosskothen said he’s encouraged by the numbers, but part of that success is due to the efforts hotels are making to keep guests safe — in his case, fogging rooms, changing every sheet and towel, and disinfecting every surface between guests — and to let visitors know that. “Staying in a hotel is, for me, a very safe thing as long as it’s a responsible hotel. If people want a break in their routine, there it is.”
Hospitality
Continued on page 16
PETER ROSSKOTHEN
I feel the government is taking way too much time right now helping the hospitality industry. People are running out of money, and no help is coming from the federal level.”
pancy rate closely tracks what D. Hotel is seeing.
“We’ve had a beautiful autumn, people have come to explore, and the
hotel occupancy reflects that,” she noted. “Last September, we ran about 70%, but we also had a Big E. Taking that out, this year was still 44%. Boston
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