Hilton Carillon workers lose jobs as hotel owner ends management agreement
May 13, 2020 - The owner of one of the top meeting venues in St. Petersburg, the Hilton Hotel Carillon Park, has ended its contract with the company hired to manage the property. Heartland Hotel Corp., which has managed the hotel since it opened in 2006, said its management contract ended effective May 6. "Following the declaration of the coronavirus health emergency, the various closure orders and the closure of the hotel on or about April 8, 2020, Heartland Hotel has been negotiating with the owners of the hotel to attempt to continue management of the hotel. The efforts have been unsuccessful," Derick Rackham, president of Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Heartland said in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Because it was uncertain when the hotel would open, Heartland permanently laid off all of its 150 employees at the hotel on May 6, the WARN said. No one from Heartland nor the owner, Hobbs & Curry Family Limited Partnership in Fort Smith, Arkansas, returned calls from the St. Pete Catalyst requesting additional comment.