Dear members,

As you learned in our March 27th newsletter, the federal government announced additional measures to support businesses, including our hotels and lodging facilities, by creating the Canadian Business Emergency Account (CBEA).
Today, Prime Minister Trudeau announced the expansion of the CUEC assistance program. The government also announced the establishment of a new relief program to assist with commercial rents.

Canada Business Emergency Account (CBEA):
The eligibility criteria for the CUEC will be expanded to include hoteliers with payrolls between $20,000 and $1.5 million in 2019. Our industry, in collaboration with our partners at the Hotel Association of Canada, had identified this measure as a help for our hoteliers.
The original CUEC qualification criteria of a total payroll between $50,000 and $1 million in 2019 reduced the number of hotel owners eligible for the program. This meant that owners of smaller establishments with a payroll of less than $50,000 were excluded from this important liquidity measure, as were hoteliers with a payroll of more than $1 million.
Repayment of the balance of the loan by December 31, 2022 will result in a 25% loan forgiveness, up to a maximum of $10,000. CUEC applications are now open and accessible through your financial institution.

Emergency assistance in Canada for commercial rent:

The recently announced program will support small businesses with rent for April, May and June 2020. The program will provide loans, including forgivable loans, to commercial landlords. In return, landlords will lower or cancel the April (retroactively), May and June rents of small businesses that are their tenants. We will work with our partners at the Hotel Association of Canada to explore how our hoteliers can benefit from such a program and what improvements, if any, can be made.

We are continuing our representations to develop more assistance programs for our hoteliers, who are particularly affected by the current situation. We will keep you informed of our progress in the coming days.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Xavier Gret
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Quebec Hotel Association
Visit https://alliancetouristique.com/covid19 regularly.