REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - Under Governor John Carney's Hospitality Emergency Loan Program (HELP), small businesses in the hospitality industry will receive financial relief during the COVID-19 crisis. While restaurants and bars fall under this category, travel agencies do not.
Accent on Travel owner Annette Nero Stellhorn says they have been working without an income since the first week of March and that the company needs relief from the state.
“Right now we are trying everything we can to do to work from home working on our personal computers, our personal phones, to try and get our people home and to change their reservations and calm the anxiety,” says Stellhorn.
The agency has been working to get Delawareans back from places like Auckland and Dubai.
“And that’s why I reached out to Governor Carney, and I said ‘can we be apart of the HELP program, can we be considered essential so we can work in our office?’ Because these people are stranded all over the world and we’re the only ones that can help and we are the only ones that are helping,” says Stellhorn.
Airlines, like American Airlines will not offer refunds on tickets, which must used by December 31st. Stellhorn says this makes their work harder, and adds more stress to the travelers.
Stellhorn says that while March and April are busy travel months, May and June will be twice as much. The company is working to figure out how they will deal with this issue when the summer rolls around.
“I’m just very disappointed in the state, Governor Carney has not called back or any Facebook messages. Nothing has gone on. I talked to the director of SBA and he said basically until that moves, they can do nothing for us. We are working for as long as we can with no income, but that can’t last forever," she says.
Stellhorn says she’s received calls from travel agencies in the country that are looking to shut down.
“What I’ve asked for the Governor is to remove the penalty for the unemployment tax, let our people get partial unemployment ... We haven't been able to do any of that until the state recognizes travel agencies as part of the hospitality, the HELP program, and as essential.”
WRDE reached out to Governor John Carney's office for a statement on this matter, but have not received a response yet.