5 Ways the Hotel Industry can Recover from COVID-19

The pandemic will pass, but will your hotel survive the virus?

The hotel industry has laid off more than 4 million employees recently due to coronavirus. And the financial ramifications are nowhere near done.

Eight out of 10 hotel rooms throughout the country are currently unoccupied, according to hospitality analytics company STR. That’s down 68 percent from last year.

With little to no revenue coming in, it’s to take creative strategy to recoup losses due to the pandemic. Hospitality Excellence has put together five tips to improve your hotel’s bottom line after we flatten the COVID-19 curve.

1. Use this time for cleaning and maintenance

Guests are going to be concerned over cleanliness of public places when hotels reopen.

“Disinfection is a best practice measure prevention of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illnesses in community settings,” reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

It’s in a hotel management team’s best interests to focus on deep cleaning their properties. That includes cleaning out the Air conditioning systems, shampooing carpets, behind and under hard-to-reach spots under beds and behind mirrors.

If there is maintenance to be done, now’s the time. Anything to make your property appear cleaner than the competition will make you stand out.

2. Assist guests without less personal contact

Much of COVID-19 transmission is still unknown to the CDC. However, one fact of transmission is person-to-person contact. The virus has shown to spread most commonly among people within roughly 6 feet of each other.

It’s important to ease your guests’ worries during their stay, and provide as little contact as possible. Check-in can be done by a kiosk. Meals can be ordered through mobile apps.

What has always been a personable industry now needs to focus on cleanliness and to ease anxiety of spreading infection.

3. Offer meal delivery options

Does your hotel have an in-house restaurant? More than likely, guests will be sat at least 6 feet apart from each other – but many won’t take the risk at all.

It’s important to focus on maintaining food sales until better medicine is provided. Delivery apps are available – similar to “Uber Eats” or “DoorDash” – but for your hotel. That technology will allow guests to order food without talking to or meeting with anyone.

In the meantime, implement a delivery service with discounted deals and specials. Even if there’s a loss at first, sales will make up the difference when the dust settles.

4. Update health and safety procedures

Guests want to see you’re taking precautions to prevent the spread of infection.

Keep complimentary hand sanitizer around. Have employees wear protective masks and gloves while regularly cleaning the property.

But even what they don’t see should be considered. Management should keep an eye on the health of employees. Staff meetings can be virtual, and employees can spread out further during work.

5. Keep guests updated with coronavirus information

Information on COVID-19 changes from day to day and it’s important the information you send out to your guests through email or around your property is accurate and up to date.