Looking at business revival post lockdown
The past few weeks have seen the hospitality industry come up with new plans and strategies like never before. Today as hotels open their doors to travellers, it will be in an era of the ‘new normal’. Stalwarts in the industry share their experiences on challenges and customer engagement during the lockdown and the current scenario amidst the pandemic with . Could you share some of the challenges faced due to lockdown?
Mark Willis
CEO, Accor Middle East and Africa
“Our teams have been, and continue to, review our existing business models in order to look for new ways of operating during these uncertain times and especially look at ways in which our business can operate after the effects of COVID-19 on the travel industry start to diminish.
Some of these measures include an assessment of the projected spending for 2020 to ensure it is in line with business requirements, as well as a number of new commercial initiatives to attract the interest of travellers.”
Tim Cordon
Senior Area Vice President – Middle East and Africa, Radisson Group
“There are many factors we’ve had to consider from an operational perspective, including repurposing some of our hotels for essential service use, adopting new strategies and approaches to secure a strong reopening once tourism restarts – from expanding hygiene, sanitation and precautionary measures to social distancing implementation.”
Darell De Crusz
Vice President – Sales & Marketing for Aitken Spence Hotel Managements (Pvt) Ltd.
De Crusz heads the sales and marketing division across four destinations – Sri Lanka, Maldives, India and Oman for Adaaran properties. He shares, “This was an unprecedented black swan event which posed short to long-term effect on the global community. The challenge we saw was the heavy flow of cancellations and the drop in fresh new bookings.
For Sri Lanka especially, we were beginning to see progress post-Easter Sunday, and the disruption of COVID-19 halted the optimism, replacing it with a lull. Maldives too was affected post-Easter Sunday in terms of twin centre travel, and the steady increase in arrivals we were seeing, came to an abrupt halt.”
Ravi Santiago
Cluster General Manager, Ramada Hotel & Suites by Wyndham Ajman, Ramada by Wyndham Beach Hotel Ajman and Wyndham Garden Ajman Corniche
“The hospitality industry has been hit hard by the pandemic as people are required to stay home in order to curb the spread of the virus. We felt the impact and witnessed a drastic decline in revenues in all areas including rooms, Food & Beverage, and banqueting.”
How did you engage with your customers during the lockdown period?
De Crusz shares, “At the onset of the COVID-19 spread, we developed a communication strategy which looked at each layer of relationship – travel and tour operators, partners and representatives, media, direct guests and our social media followers. In line with the strategy, we kept in touch with each stakeholder segment via constant communication. This included communicating our safety precautions at the onset as well as on post-COVID operations, liaising with international media on conveying our safety practices, our sustainable initiatives and lighter interactive pieces such as sharing recipes, wellness tips, and more. Even though our operations were scaled down, we kept in touch with our direct guests by keeping the dialogue open and answering their queries.”
Willis adds, “During this difficult period of quarantine and staying home, we have focused our communication line on our regional Instagram account (@ALL_MEA). The activation has been revolving around ALL (Accor Live Limitless), which focuses on three main pillars: Food, Sport and Entertainment. The campaign has been designed to bring ALL to life in people’s homes by creating tailored, themed content across our three key categories and delivering these across our social media platforms in a regular, programmed way.”
Cordon went on to say, “There is no doubt that this has been difficult for everyone to watch, with life as we know it completely altering in such a short period. Looking at the bigger picture, we have all been reminded of what is important and that we are all in this together, regardless of industry and geography. Crucial times like these also remind us of the importance of human connections and it has been key to adapt our communications approach as one unified industry.
Brands were forced to reassess their digital marketing strategies and communicate with their consumers in new ways, which kept them busy during forced isolation at home. As consumers are social distancing and working from home, they’re spending more time online. We have therefore been more creative with our online presence and have assumed the role as entertainers by sharing inspirational and useful content. Social media platforms, which are often cluttered with advertisements, are now giving way to online conversations, travel inspiration, cooking tutorials and fitness challenges, all focused on uplifting the communities’ spirits.”
Santiago shares, “We started sending out communication to all our guests and partners even before the lockdown was enforced. We duly informed them on the health and safety protocols that we put in place, alongside the up-to-date information from the relevant authorities.”
What initiatives did you take in order to ensure safety for your clients before opening?
Willis says that as a group that puts the safety of its guests and team mem
We are already seeing positive signs throughout our hotels globally, with less than 10 per cent of existing bookings being cancelled for the months of July and August
Safety has become a top priority for travellers. As a result, there has definitely been a staycation trend and it is expected to strengthen in the coming months