BCHA - Hotel Industry Update

Hotel Industry Update

Dear Hotel Community,

We're pleased to come out of another week with more wins for the industry, including the update on commercial rent relief through the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program from the federal Government.

As each province begins to look at slowly re-opening the economy, we must continue to engage with municipalities, the province and federal Government to secure a stimulus package for our industry. We're continuing to pursue property tax relief and have begun to see various municipalities implement flexibility, such as:

City of Victoria - There will be no property tax increase this year for residential or commercial ratepayers. The deadline to pay property taxes will be extended to August 4, with a reduced penalty put in place for late payment.
City of Kelowna - The 10% penalty for late payment has been deferred from July 2 to September 1, 2020. Customers on monthly payment plans (PAWS) can request auto-withdrawals be put on hold starting April 7 until August 31, 2020.
City of Kamloops - The planned property tax increase for 2020 has been reduced from 3% to 2.3%.
District of Saanich - The planned property tax increase for 2020 has been reduced from 3.74% to 2.4%.
District of Summerland - July 3, 2020 → September 4, 2020. Penalties for late payment postponed until October 1, 2020.

We will continue advocating for more municipalities to follow suit, and for the provincial government to offer financial relief for property taxes in the form of liquidity.

Meanwhile, we are also preparing a recovery and resiliency package for the hotel industry as the province looks at re-opening our economy. This package will be a guide for properties on best practices and protocols on how to begin welcoming guests, and adapt to the new normal. We anticipate having this ready in the coming weeks.

In the below communication you'll find updates on:

HAC Economic Relief Guide for Hoteliers
Update on BC Hydro commercial relief
Rent relief update for small business

Wishing you all the best.

Ingrid Jarrett

President & CEO

BC Hotel Association

Hotel Association of Canada

Update to Hotelier Guide - Economic Relief Options

The Hotel Association of Canada is pleased to share their updated Hotelier Guide for Government of Canada Economic Relief Measures, which now contains updated information after their recent Q&A session for members with employment lawyers last week.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Additional Relief Sought for BC Hydro Commercial Ratepayers

In collaboration with the Commercial Energy Consumers Association of British Columbia (CEC) the BCHA and several commercial industry associations have joined forces regarding the difficulties experienced by members during COVID-19 related to energy related costs.

A letter drafted to the British Columbia Utilities Commission from the CEC highlighted the lack of relief available to Medium General Service (MGS) and Large General Service (LGS) customers. The BCHA along with TIABC, ABLE BC, BC Restaurant and Food Service Association and Landlord BC, have explicitly requested through the CEC, that the BCUC act to facilitate the potential for additional relief from BC Hydro electricity charges.

Rent relief on the way for B.C. small businesses

Launching in mid-May 2020, the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program (CECRA) will see B.C. small businesses receive a total of over $300 million in federal-provincial relief, with B.C. contributing an estimated $80 million.

The program will provide forgivable loans to qualifying commercial property owners to cover 50% of three-monthly rent payments that are payable by eligible small business tenants who are experiencing financial hardship during April, May, and June 2020.
The loans will be forgiven if the mortgaged property owner agrees to reduce eligible small business tenants’ rent by at least 75% for the three corresponding months under a rent forgiveness agreement, which will include a term not to evict the tenant while the agreement is in place. The small business tenant would cover the remainder, up to 25% of the rent.
Impacted small business tenants are businesses paying less than $50,000 per month in rent and who have temporarily ceased operations or have experienced at least a 70% drop in pre-COVID-19 revenues. This support will also be available to non-profit and charitable organizations.