COVID-19: TIPS FOR COPING WITH IMPACTS FOR HOSPITALITY ESTABLISHMENTS

Lorraine Dixon | March 2020

In recent years, tourism has faced many crises, such as terrorist attacks, global political instability, economic recession, biosecurity, and other common crises such as natural disasters. As tourism and other sectors battle with the current turmoil from the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of crisis management and business continuity planning comes into play. 

COVID-2019 is a new strain of coronavirus that emerged in central China at the end of 2019 and continues to spread around the globe. The COVID-2019 outbreak has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) and government bans on travel, meetings and events, are impacting the hospitality industry significantly.

At times like these, hospitality owners and operators should deal with the immediate effect of the virus, while continuing to be rational and keep their eyes on the long game. Management teams are running a complex business, trying to achieve the budget, maintaining brand standards, retaining and managing talent, and ensuring customers are satisfied. At the same time, owners continue to seek sustainable returns and to achieve this, the operation needs to adapt to this crisis rapidly, and react in the most efficient way.

So what can you do within your establishment to cope with the current situation?

• Increase focus on hand hygiene for staff, including offering disinfectant dispensers in public and staff areas.
• Increase cleaning and hygiene protocols.
• Inform your guests of the steps you are taking to protect them.
• Consider adopting flexible cancellation policies for guests.
• Have clear procedures for handling of staff or guests suspected to be affected by the virus. A medical professional for initial assistance on-site, as well as readily available contacts of local health providers including ambulances services can be useful.
• Ensure that all your staff are informed of safety procedures, and that they know their role in keeping the establishment, guests and themselves safe.
• Allocate guests rooms on designated floors or areas to enable shutdown of unoccupied areas for savings on energy and water.
• Reduce operating hours for restaurants to core trading periods to reduce operating costs. 
• Offer shortened menus and avoid buffets to help reduce food waste, and stock holding.
• Consider offering home or office delivery of meals for guests unable to dine at your establishment due to movement restrictions. 
• Discuss human resource considerations such as screening staff that has travelled to areas where the virus has been reported, instituting an employee travel ban and implementing. protocols for dealing with a situation in which an employee might be infected with the virus
• Consider sending non-essential staff on leave in line with your HR policy. Reassure staff as this is an uncertain time and refrain as much as feasibly possible from lay off staff.
• Restrict procurement to essential items only and communicate with your suppliers to maintain good relations for the post-crisis stage.
• Review any rights or remedies the hotel may have under policies of insurance, which may include coverage for business interruption.
• Utilise the low-occupancy period to work on any pending maintenance work and staff training to ensure readiness for the post-crisis stage. 

While it is impossible to plan for every unknown threat, information is power: planning should get the right information and procedures in the right hands at the right time. If you haven’t already, invest in developing a crisis management plan, as part of your strategic planning. This includes details about actual proposed measures in case of a crisis; allocation of responsibilities to various colleagues during and after a crisis; contact details of key internal and external partners to be involved during a crisis; internal and external communication during and after a crisis; and post-crisis analysis to reflect on the handling of a crisis as a learning experience for future events. Once your plan is ready, ensure your staff are well-trained to enable them implement it. That means business continuity and a faster track back to normal conditions in the post-crisis environment for guests as well. The crisis management plan needs to be reviewed periodically to ensure emerging issues are captured. 

While we look forward to the end of the COVID-19 crisis, it is also an opportunity to rethink current business models, and to seriously consider the benefits of adopting more sustainable strategies and operations for longevity and resilience in the face of increasing emerging global challenges. 

Learning opportunities related to the crisis

Rouxbe, the online culinary training program, is offering a free course on food safety to any foodservice organization. Learning about food safety is an important step in preventing illness from unsafe foods or through the transmission of disease from food handlers, including the coronavirus. The course is designed for professionals looking to learn more about food safety, as well as those in need of a refresher given the current outbreak. Learn more about the course and enroll here https://rouxbe.com/food-safety/

Diversey is a provider of cleaning, sanitation and maintenance products, systems and services that efficiently integrate chemicals, machines and sustainability for various industries including hospitality. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Diversey has published an informative series of guides on how to keep hotels and restaurants safe. Read more here https://diversey.com/en/solutions/infection-prevention/outbreak-prevention/sars-cov-2-coronavirus-and-covid-19-disease