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Berlin, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia want to allow hotel overnight stays for Christmas, as long as family visits are involved. The Dehoga Hotel Association is not enthusiastic about this idea.
In Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin, hotel overnight stays should also be possible when visiting relatives during Christmas. Berlin Mayor Michael Müller said after a Senate meeting: “If it is a non-tourist trip, there is also one night in hotels.”
This statement contrasts with the direction that the Berlin government wants to take on public holidays. In the capital, the number of new infections had risen by 1,110 today. The partial lockdown that has been in effect since early November will now run until December 22. People have to prepare for vacations in small groups; This also applies to New Years Eve. The requirement for masks on the streets of Berlin is being expanded.
Overnight stays also in Hessen and North Rhine-Westphalia
Hotel overnight stays at Christmas should also be possible in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. If you are traveling with relatives, “you must have the opportunity to spend the night somewhere,” said Hessian head of state Volker Bouffier. Armin Laschet from North Rhine-Westphalia made a similar statement: although tourist trips are currently prohibited, if families visit each other and do not have accommodation with relatives, overnight stays in a hotel are also possible during the Christmas period.
On Wednesday, the federal and state governments passed resolutions on how to continue the fight against the corona pandemic in December and over the holidays. During Christmas, from December 23 to January 1, contact restrictions will be relaxed to allow family visits. Chancellery chief Helge Braun said hotels and restaurants are now initially closed until December 20. “But we also assume that we will have to extend this until January.” He and the Chancellor refused to allow relatives to stay in hotels during their visit.
“The next lease payment is pending”
“The situation in our industry is very dramatic,” said the general manager of the German Association of Hotels and Restaurants Dehoga, Ingrid Hartges, of the news agency dpa. “Now wages are due in November and the next lease payment is pending.” Hartges urged a quick disbursement of promised federal aid for November.
It does not assume that companies in the industry will open between Christmas and New Years. He came to this assessment in light of the currently decided contact restrictions, he told Deutschlandfunk. She expects more precise decisions on this in December.
A survey among the association’s businesses showed that 90 percent of those surveyed didn’t think it was worth opening just five days between Christmas and New Years. Furthermore, planning the deployment of personnel is very complex due to the shortage of work.
The retail industry is groaning
The results of federal-state consultations on teeth grinding are also recorded in other branches. The trade warns of the dramatic consequences of the stricter partial shutdown. While retailers have so far been allowed to open largely without restrictions, the new measures are primarily aimed at them: in stores larger than 800 square meters, that is, in almost all supermarkets, fewer are now allowed customers buy at the same time as before.
As in the spring, operators will need to wear bouncers and distance markings to ensure these rules are adhered to. “The big losers are many inner-city retailers, who are losing customers and sales to Corona conditions,” complained the managing director of the German Association of Retailers (HDE), Stefan Genth. Instead, more will be bought online.
