HVS’ HALA MATAR CHOUFANY: ADAPTING TO CHANGE IS KEY

Amid the instability the hospitality industry has endured in recent months, and with more activities resuming in many countries as lockdown eases, hoteliers are under pressure to adapt to a new way of doing business to cope with imposed changes.

HN spoke with Hala Matar Choufany, president of HVS Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, to learn more about this new dynamism.

What change should hoteliers consider as their post COVID-19 norm?

Recent surveys and observations suggest that guests' confidence and expectations have drastically changed. Guests and travelers over the next 18 months, and possibly longer, will become more demanding and judgmental. Hospitality guests across the board (travel, hotels, restaurants and other related experiences) will require reassurance at many levels:

- Cleanliness and hygiene are likely to top the list.

- Enforced and upholding promises made by the operators to ensure a safe stay.

- Booking flexibility and value for money. - Cost of doing business is likely to increase significantly as a result of the safety and health issues. Deciding between closing or remaining open will be critical.

- Location remains important but overall confidence in the destination is more important.

While guest behavior will either be positively influenced by the availability of a vaccine or negatively impacted in the absence of such, operators should be willing to accept and deal with new realities:

- The corporate segment will require time to recover and much less corporate demand will take place in the future.

- The MICE segment will require longer time to recover as well, since this segment will shrink, especially now that online and virtual meetings have become acceptable. - Travelers are likely to have less disposable income in the next 24 months and as a result will become more price sensitive.

- A rise in all inclusive concepts is likely to take place.

- More leisure trips will be made; though experiential trips will become favored over traditional hotel stays.