Hospitality chains reset menu as check-in date nears

The second of a three-part series looks at how hotels are getting ready to welcome guests

The second of a three-part series finds out how the hospitality sector, while welcoming the orders to open, scrambles to get the back-end operations ready to service customers again.

As operators in hospitality scramble to get their back- end operations ready to service customers and guests, most see the government directives to open for business by June 8 as a welcome move for a sector that has seen sharp contractions in the past two months.

Puneet Chhatwal, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of IHCL and president of the Hotel Association of India, said the government signal to open the door was a positive. “The industry has been working on safety and hygiene, which are the key to gaining customer confidence,” he said.

IHCL hotels next week will open in Goa, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka.

“Wherever possible, technology will replace touch, with seamless, yet personalised check-ins, check-outs, and dining experiences,” Chhatwal said. “We see fewer tables in restaurants and digital or single-use menus. Buffets will be a thing of the past.”

Layouts in common areas such as lobbies, elevators, restaurants, banquets, and service areas will be retuned for physical distancing . High-touch areas of hotels will witness more frequent use of disinfectants.

The spokesperson for Marriott International said all its hotels, in addition to enforcing a new set of standard operating procedures (SOPS), would appoint a designated “cleanliness champion” as well as a “hygiene-in-charge” to oversee sanitization-related processes.

“All SOPS will be on the advice of hygiene specialist companies Diversey and Ecolab and rooms will be held for at least 24 hours before letting out,” the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for Oberoi Hotel & Resorts said new policies included standard hygiene practices and emphasis on repeated sanitization.

For example, Oberoi mandates that its desk telephone be cleaned and sanitized using R1 Super after every use. Gloves must be replaced every t wo hours for doormen and porters.

Vivek Narain, founder and CEO of The Quorum, a private city club in Gurugram with 700 members, said it would open next week. “RSVP before member visits will be compulsory, as will usage of government apps, temperature checks and hygiene protocols.” The Quorum has a carpet area of 23,000 square feet, so distancing will not be an issue.

Narain agrees with the restrictions on alcohol, given that after imbibing people tend to lose focus of their personal space. “Most of all we telling our employees that getting personal hygiene right is 95 per cent of the game,” he said.

According to a KPMG report on the impact of Covid-19, domestic travellers are expected to drive early recovery, and hotel owners will focus on optimising cash flows from existing properties rather than concentrate on growth opportunities. In the short term, the industry is incorporating best practices from health care, notably increased sanitisation, frequent temperature checks, and implementing hygiene barriers, the report said.

Restaurants are more likely to open in July rather than June, said National Restaurant Association of India President Anurag Katriar. That’s because the dining hubs, particularly New Delhi and Mumbai, are more severely affected.

“With reverse migration and an immediate labour shortage, what is missing are second-line cooks, wait staff, house -keeping workers, and cleaners. It is a very important part of the industry.”

While new SOPS framed around government mandates are in the works, eateries may be hard-pressed to make them functional. The minimum distance according to some zones is 75 feet around a table with a customer. That may be impossible to do in a crowded centre like Khan Market.

“Expect prices to go up with reduction in seats, and a menu with fewer items,” he said. Every product and package coming in to a restaurant will need to be sanitized and sorted, and will require an entire department when you consider that there are thousands of stock-keeping units that eateries order.

“The 9 pm cut-off for alcohol is not great but it’s better than not allowing it at all,” Katriar said.

Implementing new procedures won’t be easy, said Zubin Saxena, managing director and vice -president (operations), South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group.

“We are conscious of the complex environment we will operate in and while we do have SOPS for safety and hygiene, there is no denying that hospitality as we knew it has changed for the foreseeable future.”