‘We are in crisis mode.’ Centre County hospitality industry works to survive amid COVID-19 outbreak
As a Penn State alumnus and season ticket holder, Pat Romano was devastated by the Big Ten’s decision to cancel fall football.
But as a business owner, it was just one day out of six months worth of challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster,” Romano said. “One day things sound great, like they’re going to change. But the next day, it goes downhill.”
Romano and his wife, Jennifer, purchased the We Are Inn, the former Mallard Motel at 1535 Port Matilda Highway in Philipsburg, last year. Determined to bring the property back to life after sitting vacant for decades, Romano was looking forward to hosting guests for Penn State sporting events and graduation.
But the coronavirus outbreak and resulting statewide shutdown put a damper on reservations and a grand opening celebration, scheduled for what would have been Blue-White weekend.
When Centre County was permitted to reopen under Gov. Tom Wolf’s phased reopening plan in May, the We Are Inn began operations. With over two months lost amid the shutdown, Romano said the financial hit was “terrible,” but he and his wife were able to adjust to mitigation efforts by holding outside tailgates, golf outings and establishing local partnerships with businesses such as the Penn State Berkey Creamery.
As Penn State students returned to campus Monday, Romano said families booked rooms to stay for the weekend and made reservations for dinner at the Lobby Grill — a cafe and bar — which recently opened at the inn. Though it’s still a struggle to adjust to the pandemic and state restrictions, Romano said he’s optimistic better days are ahead. Until then, he plans to reciprocate the support he felt during the closure.
“As much as the community supports us, we’re supporting right back,” he said. “I’m going to help people and use this time to make this work. I’ll be here hands-on and doing everything I can.”
The We Are Inn is far from the only local tourism and hospitality business to be feeling the financial impacts of canceled spring, summer and fall events. With fewer visitors in town, county Treasurer Colleen Kennedy reported receiving $727,752 in hotel tax revenue from January through June, a nearly 51% decrease compared to $1,476,253 generated during the same period in 2019.
The decrease in hotel tax revenue has long-term implications for the tourism industry. Centre County annually retains 4% of the tax collected from the 5% hotel tax for administrative processing. The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau — a certified tourism promotion agency — then gives 20% of the added tax to local nonprofits to promote tourism. The remaining amount is used by the HVAB for marketing and branding efforts.
This year, marketing and branding efforts have been particularly challenged due to limited events, restrictions on travel and concerns for community safety.
“We are in crisis mode,” HVAB CEO and Executive Director Fritz Smith said. “Visitor spending contributes more than $800 million annually to our local economy, and the cancellation of football is about a $70 million loss in visitor spending. Visitation is an essential factor in weathering the storm.”
Smith said the loss of Penn State football will only exacerbate financial losses as seven home game weekends account for nearly 16% of hotel room revenue each year.
“For two months, no one was visiting, many hotels were shuttered and hotel occupancy at its lowest was just 12% in April,” he said. “Two key spring drivers of visitation — the annual Blue-White Game and Penn State graduation — did not occur.”
Hotels are also feeling impacts from an almost “total lack of meeting business and corporate travel,” Smith said.
“Organizations all across the country have canceled meetings and forbidden business travel except under extreme exceptions. The industry as whole can’t really recover until the meeting business gets back to a normal level,” he said. “This is a national issue, and Happy Valley is not immune from it.”
Prior to the pandemic, Centre County was expecting record visitation. With scheduled athletic tournaments and events, Smith said the HVAB was prepared to launch a robust marketing campaign in key markets under its new branding, which was unveiled last fall.
“We definitely had momentum building for an exciting year,” Smith said.
The HVAB launched its Happy Valley Agventure initiative — an agritourism campaign — last October. On an individual basis, Smith said local growers, farm stores, craft beverage establishments have done well during the pandemic, citing their ability to “pivot and meet customer needs in new ways.”
“As for the initiative itself, in many ways, this time of pause has led to a lot of additional behind-the-scenes work in support of our agricultural assets that will benefit us this fall and beyond,” he said. “Working with the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County, we’ve used this time to draw even greater attention to our agricultural assets. We produced branded signage that is now on display at destinations throughout the county.”
Through local initiatives, Smith said residents have been encouraged to “be tourists in their own backyard” by supporting local businesses.
“We now have an opportunity to invite people to experience Happy Valley in the fall like never before — no crowds, better rates — and beyond the confines of Beaver Stadium and campus,” Smith said.
Wanting to assess members’ needs, challenges and opportunities, Smith said the HVAB will continue to support efforts geared toward helping local businesses, but safety is of the utmost priority.
“We have a core mission of attracting business, leisure and other visitors to Happy Valley, but at the end of the day, we are all in this together,” he said. “When the timing is right, we will launch a new campaign to bring people in to the region.”
This story was originally published August 29, 2020 at 11:20 AM.
