Booking in advance is the ‘new normal’
PRE-BOOKING will be the new normal at the Amber Springs Hotel after it re-opened yesterday (Monday).
Hotel manager Eibhear Coyle was on hand along with the building’s ten Covid-19 champion officers following on from complete staff training.
Booking in advance will play an essential role, as guests and visitors will be asked to pre-book their visit to the pool and restaurant as well as facilities like the kids club and cinema.
‘The only real difference you’ll really see when you walk in is that we’ll have social distancing marking throughout the building and hand sanitisers prominently marked. From a guest perspective, the main difference is that we’ve created a pre-arrival reservation system.
‘With our pre-booking, guests have safety in the knowledge that they will get into the spot when they want to get in and from our perspective we’re able to safely manage it and do social distancing. The main thing is that they have confidence and knowledge that we’re managing it correctly,’ said Eibhear.
The kids club has now been doubled to four times a day to reduce numbers and there will be increased kids swim times as well as more time for breakfast.
‘Pre-booking for breakfast and the restaurant is going to be key, especially for our locals. They will need to understand that they’ll need to pre-book. It’s a simple process online through our website, or they can call and we’ll make the reservation for them. What we can’t have is people just arriving whenever and creating queues so we’re trying to mitigate and reduce that,’ said Eibhear.
He said that hospitality and tourism faces unprecedented challenges.
‘People have been very sheltered for a long time now and from hotels, pubs and restaurants perspectives, guests need to understand the guidelines too and help us along the way because it’s a two way thing. It’s certainly going to be challenging and different but there’s hope at the end of the tunnel.
‘Hospitality has really been decimated, and here it employs so many people and is so vital for us and we need the support so there’s confidence for the future. We’re going to need government such as the wage subsidy scheme continuing until the end of the year at least. We’re lucky to have a massive amount of domestic travel in Wexford but you do need Rosslare and Dublin rolling again. Without international travel coming in, the rest of the country is in deep trouble. But it’s a double edged sword, we have to be careful. We have to mind ourselves and then let it back in, in a controlled, measured and smart way,’ he said.