Monterey County’s second largest industry expects job loss with shutdown

Monterey County’s second-largest industry, the hospitality industry, is bracing for more job losses as the county heads into another shelter in place order Sunday night at 10 p.m.“We have 27,000 associates in hospitality in Monterey County about half of them are not working, you know, all the hotels so that number is going to rise,” said Jeroen Gerres, general manager of the Sanctuary Beach resort in Marina.A new lockdown order means hotels and motels are limited to essential travelers only.Businesses now on notice not to break the rules. “The phrase that is overused is we’re all in this together, but we are, you know, so if there is one particular operator that is not playing by the rules, it’s like somebody doing a party with 500, you know, guests in there and says, well, we don’t care well, you should care because it’s going to cost you lives and we need to get out of this,” said Gerres.The Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau is notifying tourists on its website that hotels are open to essential travelers only and Gerres says many hotels and motels have similar warnings on their websites.Many hotels are also having guests fill out forms indicating they are indeed essential travelers, Gerres said.One San Jose couple traveled from Santa Clara County which is currently in lockdown to spend a weekend in Monterey County before it goes into lockdown mode Sunday night.“We’re only here for one night we’re just going to enjoy being on the beach it’s a really quiet beach there’s not a lot of people here at all so we’re just have a couple of fun days and go back to San Jose and stay home,” said Julie St. Leger-Barter who traveled with her boyfriend Daniel Bolanos.Gerres who is also chair of the Monterey County hospitality association said it’s couples like them that will help the hospitality industry survive.“This industry is extraordinarily resilient, it doesn’t feel like it at times and right now there is despair, people are going bankrupt, they’re losing their life savings. But this industry will come back, we as human beings were born to travel,” said Gerres.

Monterey County’s second-largest industry, the hospitality industry, is bracing for more job losses as the county heads into another shelter in place order Sunday night at 10 p.m.

“We have 27,000 associates in hospitality in Monterey County about half of them are not working, you know, all the hotels so that number is going to rise,” said Jeroen Gerres, general manager of the Sanctuary Beach resort in Marina.

A new lockdown order means hotels and motels are limited to essential travelers only.

Businesses now on notice not to break the rules.

“The phrase that is overused is we’re all in this together, but we are, you know, so if there is one particular operator that is not playing by the rules, it’s like somebody doing a party with 500, you know, guests in there and says, well, we don’t care well, you should care because it’s going to cost you lives and we need to get out of this,” said Gerres.

The Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau is notifying tourists on its website that hotels are open to essential travelers only and Gerres says many hotels and motels have similar warnings on their websites.

Many hotels are also having guests fill out forms indicating they are indeed essential travelers, Gerres said.

One San Jose couple traveled from Santa Clara County which is currently in lockdown to spend a weekend in Monterey County before it goes into lockdown mode Sunday night.

“We’re only here for one night we’re just going to enjoy being on the beach it’s a really quiet beach there’s not a lot of people here at all so we’re just have a couple of fun days and go back to San Jose and stay home,” said Julie St. Leger-Barter who traveled with her boyfriend Daniel Bolanos.

Gerres who is also chair of the Monterey County hospitality association said it’s couples like them that will help the hospitality industry survive.

“This industry is extraordinarily resilient, it doesn’t feel like it at times and right now there is despair, people are going bankrupt, they’re losing their life savings. But this industry will come back, we as human beings were born to travel,” said Gerres.