4 Lingering Real Estate Questions After $2T COVID Stimulus

Real Estate and Hospitality Attorney Joseph Guay was quoted in a Law360 article that examines whether hotels can get payroll assistance following the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Hotels are struggling to understand whether they can benefit from the CARES Act since the payroll aspect of the relief is meant to be used for employee expenses, yet hotels generally don't directly hire employees. Hotels, instead, are generally operated by third parties that hire the employees. The hospitality industry has been seeking clarity from the U.S. Treasury Department on whether hotels can find a workaround and tap into the assistance. The general feeling within the industry is that Treasury will allow the payroll CARES Act assistance to go to hotels, but as the law currently stands, the funds would only apply to payroll for employees who work directly for the hotels.

"You can't tell [hotels] with legal certainty that they are able to apply," Mr. Guay said. "The intent of the CARES Act was to really provide that [assistance] to the employees. ... The federal government wanted to help, but maybe didn't have a full appreciation of how these businesses work."

READ: 4 Lingering Real Estate Questions After $2T COVID Stimulus