CHICAGO – The Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association honored state Senator Sara Feigenholtz with the prestigious Ambassador of Hospitality 2023 Award on Tuesday.
“Advocating for the Illinois hospitality industry and its incredibly talented, resilient, and creative employees is a privilege and a joy,” Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) said. “Receiving the Ambassador of Hospitality Award from IHLA is truly an honor. The people in the hospitality industry make Illinois a world-class destination, and I look forward to continuing to support them.”
The Ambassador of Hospitality Award is given to people nominated by their peers for being champions of the hospitality industry and superstars for tourism. Feigenholtz has long been a champion of hospitality in her legislative endeavors, including as the author and sponsor of the Culinary and Hospitality Modernization Act that restored happy hour in the state of Illinois. More recently, she passed the cocktails-to-go law, allowing mixed drinks to be safely sold and delivered, providing much-needed relief to struggling restaurants and bars in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other accomplishments spearheaded by Feigenholtz include the creation of the Tourism Preservation and Sustainability District Act and securing hundreds of millions of dollars for the Back to Business grant program to provide relief for businesses impacted by the pandemic. She also passed the Hospitality Recovery Act in 2021 to boost struggling businesses in the restaurant and hospitality industries. The Hospitality Recovery Act extended the sunset on cocktails-to-go, made sales tax payments more flexible and allowed retailers to purchase inventory with credit cards.
To learn more about the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association’s 2023 Ambassadors of Hospitality, visit https://www.illinoishotels.org.
