As everyone is awaiting the end of the pandemic, and things are slowly getting back to normal, the travel industry knows that it will have to restart the machine, in a way that will make people feel secure. Otherwise, it will be hard to bring customers back in restaurants, museums, but even more so into hotels. That is why they will need to go that extra mile and here is how they will do it.
- Refreshing the rooms and other Amenities
This will be difficult for some hotels, but if they haven’t done so already, they need to refresh their location with new professional hotel room accessories and revitalize their common spaces, such as the reception area, lounges and restaurants. Guests will be a lot more difficult than they used to be, as they may associate older accessories as more dangerous items, in regards to the coronavirus. However, the problem is 70% of the hotels are actually on a negative credit outlook. This does not bode well when it comes to financing renovations with the help of their creditors. Before the sanitary crisis started, 92% of the entities were showing a stable outlook (January 2020). That shows how hard the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the industry.
- Rethink restaurants and café areas
One of the most common characteristics of hotels, generally speaking, was to offer a buffet-style meal, to their guests. After the sanitary crisis, this will be a hard sell to customers. In fact, it may not even be possible in some countries, depending on the new regulations which will be put in place. Cleanliness will become the most important attribute in hotels, and it may imply going as far as providing the cutlery inside sealed plastic envelopes, to ensure that they are fully sterile.
Menus are also something that needs to be reviewed. Passing them, from one customer to another, is definitely not the best way to go. In countries where restaurants remained opened (or at least partially), the QR-code menu has often become the norm. That way, the only thing the customer touches is its own mobile phone. Establishments with space may even think of rebuilding their room, by adding a small kitchen/dining corner. That would also give them a chance to gain back some of the customers they lost to Airbnb.
- Obtain Cleaning Certificates
To gain their customers’ trust, hotels may need to put in place a cleaning certification. Naturally, this would have to come from a third-party operator, for people to place any confidence into the certificates. For large hotels, that part will most probably need to be handled by a new specialist, who will be hired especially for that task.