SW Dallas News

Dallas County's stay-at-home order will disrupt the hotel market in Irving.

Irving is considered to be a high-value hotel market with airports and regional businesses near the city. But with the stay-at-home order due to COVID-19, hotels are having to take necessary measures that will have long-lasting implications. 

"We have hotels that have begun pretty significant layoffs," Visit Irving Executive Director Maura Gast told Community Impact Newspaper. "Every single hotel property has been dramatically affected."

There are approximately 80 hotels within the city and plenty were under construction within recent months. The hotel occupancy tax – a 9% tax that funds the city's convention and visitors bureau – will adversely impact the city's budget. 

"We're anticipating at least six weeks of no HOT tax collections, likely, and a very depressed market, certainly, for the next, probably, nine to 12 months," Gast said to the Community Impact Newspaper. 

She also said clients who had events planned in Irving are working with Gast's team to find an alternative date for later in the year. 

"We have a skeleton crew here in the building," Gast said. "We're trying to take advantage ... of the downtime to do some engineering and maintenance projects that we haven't been able to get to because we haven't had the luxury of a couple of empty days in a row to do them."

Dallas County's stay-at-home order began March 23. The county said the order is the best chance at preventing and stopping the spread of COVID-19. 

"This order is our best chance to flatten the curve here in Dallas County and save as many lives as possible," Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said. "I know there will be economic hardship and business closures with this order, and it makes me sick that we are at this point."