#Marriott to lay off 17 percent of corporate staff

Marriott plans to lay off 17 percent of its corporate workforce next month as the coronavirus continues to take a heavy toll on the hotel industry.

The Bethesda, Maryland-based company confirmed Wednesday that it will lay off 673 workers late next month. Marriott has around 4,000 employees at its corporate headquarters.

Marriott furloughed two-thirds of its corporate staff in March as hotel demand plummeted. Some of those workers are coming back to work later this month, the company said.

Marriott’s revenue plunged 72 percent to $1.5 billion in the April-June period as global hotel occupancy sank. Marriott says some business travel has resumed in China, and leisure travel has gained strength in the US, but it doesn’t know when demand will return to 2019 levels.