BEVERLY HILLS—The Luxe Rodeo Drive hotel, which was located on one of the world’s most expensive strips of commercial real estate, has closed its doors. Additional closures of hotels are expected due to the financial difficulty under the COVID-19 pandemic.
Efrem Harkham, the chief executive of Luxe Hotels, sent letters to the employees at hotels in Los Angeles and New York that read:
“Please accept my sincerest gratitude for your service and loyalty and know that this decision was not made lightly,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Luxe Rodeo Drive is the first high-end hotel in Los Angeles that has closed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Heather Rozman, executive director of the Hotel Association of Los Angeles said that data shows that 25 percent of hotels are already struggling to pay mortgages as a result of the financial impact of the pandemic.
In the email the hotel sent to its employees, Aron Harkham, president of Luxe Hotels and son of Efrem Harkham, said that they could not survive the pandemic as they launched a remodel of the Rodeo Drive location just before the pandemic came. Harkham is considering how to use their property after the closure.
