“While we all want to protect health, we also have to fund our mandates,” says MBA’s policy head Mike Flood.

“We have to get back to the basic problem that many of these tenants simply don’t have the income to pay the rent,” said Barry Zigas, senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America.

Occupancy for U.S. hotels averaged 44 percent in 2020, the lowest number on record, according to STR.