The American Hotel & Lodging Association is proposing that hotels be used as sites to administer COVID-19 vaccines.

In a letter to both the incoming and outgoing administrations as well as the National Governors Association, AHLA CEO Chip Rogers said hotels' ubiquity gives them tremendous geographic reach. They also have indoor and outdoor facilities that could be used for vaccine administration, large parking areas and other infrastructure, and refrigeration that could be used to store vaccines that need to remain cold.

"With the next phases of vaccination distribution underway, hotels have the unique capability to help provide additional locations to assist with the administration of the vaccine," he said in the letter.

AHLA launched the "Hospitality for Hope" initiative in early 2020, identifying more than 20,000 hotels willing to provide temporary housing for emergency and health care workers during the COVID-19 public health crisis, Rogers said. Those hotels could also be used as sites for vaccine administration, he added.

The hospitality industry has been hit especially hard by the pandemic, with most business and leisure travel slowing to a crawl over the past year. An AHLA survey released last year found that seven in 10 hoteliers expected their businesses to close within six months if Congress did not pass another economic stimulus package. A short-term package was approved in December that the association applauded, although it said a long-term package is still needed.

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