Businesses in every industry are preparing to step into a post-COVID space. The sectors that have been hit the hardest are already making their adjustments that will stay in place even after our daily lives return closer to normal.
One industry that has undeniably suffered a blow during the pandemic is the hospitality and travel industry. There are many necessary policy and strategy changes happening right now to ensure that hotels are preparing for a new world of business operations.
With fewer people taking vacations and traveling outside their normal sphere, it’s important that business owners and hotel managers are aware of how to maintain business continuity when the industry inevitably picks up again. Although there are some things you can’t control, businesses can control how they respond to the pandemic and operate moving forward.
Here are five specific things that businesses in the hotel and hospitality industry should be doing to prepare for a world after COVID-19:
Review Insurance Policies
Hotel insurance policies should be reviewed during the pandemic to see whether you can recoup any of the losses you have suffered. Some people may find that their hotel insurance allows them to increase their coverage to prevent any losses during other potential future catastrophes.
Your insurance policy for your hotel or motel may include things you didn’t realize, or you may be able to upgrade to a plan that offers better coverage for your location and circumstances. Speaking to your insurance agency’s customer service team will help you to understand your plan and options better and know what changes to make going forward.
Plan Your Costs
Before you reopen to the public, planning your costs is important. Despite industry leaders’ best guesses, no one can foresee when the travel industry will pick up again.
Consumers may be wary of traveling long after restrictions are lifted, so you need to plan your costs based on a slow consumer response. If you do this, you won’t be overspending or mis-timing your big reopening.
While you wait for business to pick up, offering package deals to your customers will help to entice them through the door. People are struggling in the wake of COVID-19, so offering creative deals will encourage people to spend their money. This doesn’t mean that you should cut your rates, but it does mean that you can offer small discounts or packaged services to encourage customers.
If your hotel has been closed, plan your reopening only for after you can fully put new protective regulations and policies in place. For example, you should incorporate sanitizing stations into your costs in the same way you would change your buffet breakfast options to table service to avoid crowding at a buffet.
Safety Should Be A Priority
Of course, your customers and their safety are your biggest priority. There are several changes you can make to protect customers and staff.
Some of the best things that you can do are offer contactless and online payments, increase your housekeeping teams to include more regular and thorough cleanings (not only of rooms, but of common areas, too), increase the number of sanitation stations you have available, and even offer complementary sanitizer bottles.
Update Your Sick Policies
In the wake of the coronavirus and the symptoms displayed when someone has contracted COVID-19, it’s important to have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to employee sickness.
Sick employees must stay at home, even if it causes difficulties in other areas of your business. If your business becomes a spreader of COVID-19, the consequences will be much more widespread and longer lasting than those of having just one sick employee stay home.
You will also reassure your customers that they are safe to use your hotel when they know that you have zero tolerance for any sick employees working in the buildings. This will increase your profits over time, as people will feel confident to use your hotel in a post-COVID world.
Work Your Marketing Strategy
You are likely in the middle of cutting your costs, given that profits have been a lot slower due to COVID-19. You can be selective about your business strategies, but marketing is one that you shouldn’t cut if you can help it. Controlling your expenses is important, but cutting off the investment needed to help business pick back up will be worse for your business’s recovery in the long run. You need people to keep your business in mind, and your marketing strategy can keep your customers interested in what you have to offer.
In a world that has already handled a pandemic, you want to be able to look forward to the future instead of getting caught in the hard circumstances of the past. Bethany Insurance can help you plan for the future by updating your insurance policy to better weather future disasters. Contact us today to learn about your options.
