The Hotel and Restaurant industry has experienced many large scale natural disasters, economic recession, and even tormenting terrorism but none of them has affected the hospitality sector like Coronavirus pandemic. Borders are closed, Flights are grounded (exceptionally), Travelling is shut down (conditional) and hoteliers and restauranteurs have to undergo a huge financial dilemma.
The lockdown has had an unfortunate impact on the hospitality sector where the occupancy levels have taken a major hit and are at an alarming all-time low, resulting in some hotels and restaurants having to either shut operations or run with very limited facilities. But undoubtedly these curbed facilities are the trends that will set up the future of the industry.
We are of course proud of them for their contribution and commitments towards the populace, for instance facilitating the bed for hospital employees and rooms as quarantine space, delivering food and daily essential goods to customers and common people.
Now the main topic is what are these trends? And how they are transforming the hotel and restaurant industry. So, in this article, we’ll discuss the top long term trends pop up due to the COVID 19 pandemic that will take the hotel industry to new heights.
Pay on Leave over Work from Home
Work from home is the new emerging trend during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many industries are adopting this trend to continue their work in the lockdown period. This trend is also followed by the hotel industry, at hotels that remain open, employees who could work from home are encouraged to do so.
In the past, hoteliers might not have given much thought to managing their hotel from afar, but during this crisis, it is proved that some technologies or software such as property management systems, cloud-based guest messaging systems and so on that can be accessed remotely are necessary to keep the operations of hotels on track.
But having a physical presence at the workplace where personal presence breathes the management and their service, cannot afford the work from home facility until they are from the back end of the S&M department. You need to have a strong existence while working at the front end.
Pay on leave was functional first, but partially. Now with the change and need of time, employers are emphasizing pay on leaves to ensconce their employees and make up the loss of the facility of work from home.
Staycation or Holistay concept
This is a concept that is fresher than all the vacation models. Basically, a staycation is a combination of the word “stay” and “vacation” born out of the Economic Crisis And Ecological Awareness back then. It is simply when one chooses to stay in their home country or check-in at a hotel, instead of going abroad for vacation. And it also refers to a period in which an individual participates in leisure activities within driving distance of his or her own home.
People now have a high inclination towards the concept of Staycation. This is because it offers a lot of peaceful and menial benefits to people but this will be a windfall for the Hospitality industry as well. Hotels enabling the rooms at affordable figures, aiding them to enjoy with their family in a homely environment along with employing their maximum resources, can help them salvage the crisis period.
Putting up with Delivery Models
The Restaurant and Hotels have embedded the concept of delivering the service to the doorstep. They have been taking a shift and now stressing on this model. This is favorable both ways. Where customers have buckled up to be more cautious to restrict the infection outside the home and maintain better hygiene, restaurants acknowledge the same for their employees and with the decrease in footfall.
Hence the hospitality industry has harped on the idea of contactless delivery, contactless payments, a stellar menu, and other ideas to be entertained through the same. This is surely going to be among the future's most adopted ideas and models.
Make Online presence a Whiz
The communication should take the lead role in reaching out to the customers for now. As the relationship between each brand and consumer starts by building trust, recouping customer confidence will be the first step in withstanding the crisis. All can be performed by making a strong online presence. Pass over the traditional techniques of marketing and advertising. Switch to digital marketing. Utilize social media platforms to the fullest. Click pictures, create stories, sprinkle the spices of creativity on every platform.
Currently, rebuilding trust plays a vital role, reach out to the customers in a gentle and non-truculent way to comfort them of the safety in their decision to start traveling again. Be careful to mention how social distancing was and important. Make sure, promoting the Hospitality business should be done in a favorable manner, expressing the benefit to the customer and showing a light at the end of the tunnel.
Sanitization
Washing hands regularly in a certain time period is the new behavioral trend during the pandemic. As you know cleanliness is not a new topic for hotels, but the Coronavirus situation will make the guests more hygiene conscious in hotel rooms.
For sure, Hoteliers and restaurants will adopt completely high tech solutions for disinfection, air purification, sanitization. Hence, hotels will become more sensitive towards sanitization and disinfection to attract more guests in their hotels.
Managing turnover
As you know, hotel industry always has high turnover due to various reasons, but in this time when Coronavirus outbreak prompted mass layoffs and furloughs, hoteliers need to slow down their turnover rate and have to sustain employees to keep their hotels running consistently and on the other side the process of re-hiring and training the new staff is also very costly and time-consuming. So, many hoteliers will look to keep their turnover low and find ways to maintain their physical assets, so the hotel can re-open in full working condition.
It can be concluded that the Coronavirus outbreak is like a dark cloud over the hospitality industry, but when this storm passes, you will see a rush of innovation and creativity from those hoteliers who will and had to adopt these main trends and will become more tech-conscious.
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