AAHOA completes spring advocacy conference in D.C. - 0 views
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asianhospitality on 16 Mar 23GREATER ACCESS TO capital and addressing the severe labor shortage facing the hospitality industry were the major topics to address for AAHOA's Spring National Advocacy Conference last week. It was the final advocacy conference for Nishant "Neal" Patel as AAHOA chairman. "It was an honor to attend my final advocacy conference as chairman. We brought nearly 200 AAHOA leaders to Washington, D.C., to advocate on behalf of our industry and on behalf of AAHOA's 20,000 members," Patel said in a press release. "Creating relationships with our elected officials is a top priority for AAHOA, and we will continue to work on your behalf, strengthening relationships so we can continue to represent the entire hospitality industry with your best interests at heart." The AAHOA reps met with more than 200 elected officials. Their mission included educating those officials on the importance of hotels to their communities and the economy at large. The issues at hand were essentially the same as those addressed during AAHOA's Fall National Advocacy Conference in September. AAHOA's main advocacy objectives include: More access to capital by increasing Small Business Administration loan caps/limits - Currently, SBA 7(a) and 504 loan limits are capped at $5 million, but AAHOA wants that raised to $10 million, which would be the first increase in the cap since 2010. AAHOA said hoteliers' costs of constructing and purchasing properties have risen past that cap over the past decade.