15 SURVIVAL TIPS FOR HOTELS DURING COVID-19
15 Survival Tips for Hotels During COVID-19
Stop! Don’t close your hotels/apartments/guesthouses and place your employees on the breadline. Find innovative ways to improvise and keep your doors open and employees on the payroll. I will share 15 survival tips for hotels during COVID-19, which also applies to all B&B’s and travel/vacation lodgings.
With the implementation of some of these tips, not only will you survive but thrive during this pandemic.
Many hotels worldwide have already closed (some temporarily), and others are contemplating permanent closure.
Minimum 15% savings available on new accommodation bookings at participating properties indicated by the “Late Escape Deals” badge on the search results and room selection pages. Bookings must be made before 9:59 am CET on 7 January 2025 for stays with check-in from 1 October 2024 and check-out on or before 7 January 2025. Discount applies to the cost of room only (excluding any additional fees or taxes). If you make any changes to your booking you may lose your discount and be liable for the full amount. Discounts cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion except Genius discounts. Room rates labelled “Partner Offer” are excluded from this promotion. This offer is provided by the participating property and is subject to availability.
When you are in business, unforeseen circumstances and “financial hiccups” are part of it. Every crisis is an opportunity to grow! See the pandemic as an opportunity to change focus and reinvent your business strategies. Analyze the way you do business and the type of services and products you offer your customers.
Your employees are your greatest asset. Do some brainstorming and together find viable solutions before you contemplate discontinuing their services.
Find initiatives to keep your doors open and continue business with a profit. Experiment with a few of the 15 survival tips for hotels during COVID-19 and see which can work best for your establishment.
15 Survival Tips for Hotels During COVID-19
These tips are all doable and can be successful if properly implemented. All done with positivity and willingness to step out of your comfort zone. Who knows, the outcome could be one more positive effect of the pandemic (see 20 positive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic).
1. Drop your Room Rates
What many hotels/lodgings fail to realize is that it’s better to receive half the usual price of the room, received pre-COVID-19, than holding out for the full price.
Decreasing the room rate does not and will not mean the star-rating of your hotel will also decline. It will encourage and attract more people to book a room (in a hotel they saw as high-end) to experience your hotel’s hospitality.
Who knows! post-COVID, your guests may return as loyal customers even after your prices may have returned to normal. Remember, “half a loaf is better than none at all.”
Cheaper rooms mean a faster turnaround of profit. Keeping your rooms, the same price as pre-COVID-19, with zero occupancy makes no economic sense.
2. Encourage Direct Hotel Bookings
Direct hotel bookings should be encouraged (with a discount), instead of third-party booking agents. Which will mean you retain the full amount paid for the room and no percentage pay-outs going to booking engines like Expedia, hotel.com, etc.
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3. Advertise and Promote New and Improved Services
Advertise, Advertise, Advertise! Some promotions that you can highlight are:
- Encourage early-bird bookings at discounted prices/special deals (even if it’s for the years 2021 /2022).
- Offer potential guests free and or no-penalty fines due to cancellations on bookings or date changes.
- Show potential customers/guests your cleaning process (through advertising) and how you are sanitizing the rooms for their safety.
4. Focus on Promoting “Staycations”
Focusing on advertising to attract mainly locals is a brilliant idea. Have an advertising budget for this focused market…LOCALS! A home away from home (staycation) package could be a win-win for both the hotel and locals.
This especially for those needing a change of scenery away from their homes. If your borders are open, and regional travel is allowed, then advertise/promote Regional stay as well. However, your focus should be on the citizens of your country, where I think there is an immediate and potential market.
Many are travel enthusiasts. If they cannot travel internationally or even regionally (where borders are closed), believe or not, they will do so locally. Show people what they are missing. Room packages with a big, comfy bed, peace of mind, relaxing massage, etc. etc.
Many people will prefer a staycation than nothing at all, reasons being:
- People are still taking vacation breaks from their workplaces during the pandemic and want a quick getaway.
- Boredom at home.
- A change of scenery.
- Time away from family.
- Conflicts in the homes. and a timeout/time-away will be the best solution.
- Celebration of anniversaries/birthdays.
5. Offer “Self/Guest-Cleaning” Rooms
Now, this is an offer I will grab. Due to the coronavirus, I would much prefer to go to a hotel where I am the only one having access to the room throughout my stay. With this offer, what will be the outcome?
- The hotel will need less Cleaning Staff.
- Guests and Staff are less-exposed to the coronavirus because of less interactions.
- Less money spent on sanitizing and cleaning products to clean and disinfect rooms daily.
6. Sell Hotel-branded items/Memorabilia
What could be better than your previous guests being able to purchase and own something that reminds them of their visit to your hotel/island?! That applies to those who have never vacationed at your hotel as well, and would love to own/wear something with your brand/logo.
How will this work, one might ask? Companies who are already supplying you with these items can do so on a larger and more varied scale. As sales for these items increase, so also will their sales, profit, and employment as well. Items like bedroom slippers, robes, pajamas, satin sleep caps, dog tags, candles, linens, etc. the list is endless.
Many people, and more so the sentimental ones, will buy a piece of vacation memory they once had and or cannot presently.
Reach out to your former guests via emails and newsletter campaigns and introduce them to this new line of keep-sake items.
Be sure to promote these items on your website with a sentimental message like “I hope you miss us as we’ve missed you” or “Until we meet again”. I am sure you get the idea.
7. Revaluate/Realign Staff
Even though an employee is doing a job in his specialized field, doesn’t mean he/she doesn’t possess’ other skills of which you may not be aware. Many workers would prefer to do another job than being laid off. Those who want it bad enough will do what it takes to maintain employment.
Even managers and front desk staff can clean rooms or may have skills in the kitchen or another department.
8. Relinquish the use of the kitchen to Guests (if you didn’t Pre-COVID)
If, for some reason, the hotel had to cut/dismiss their kitchen staff or don’t provide meals. Opening your kitchen to guests as an option to prepare their meals is an innovative idea. This can attract families and budget visitors who see preparing their meals as an ideal cost-cutting idea.
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9. Offer Attractive Weekend Packages
Promote and more so push advertising for weekly rates and packages, instead of daily rates. These at “hard to resist,” attractive, and reduced prices. Give them “catchy” and appealing names/taglines like:
- Give your spouse a pandemic breathing space – weekend/nights.
- Family retreat from COVID-19.
- Father and son specials or Mom and daughter COVID specials.
- Alone-time in a relaxing, new environment (see 25 ways to cope alone during coronavirus lockdown).
It is quite visible that many relationships are falling apart due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many couples and families being confined together at home for long periods with no social life. Presently, it is one of the contributors to lots of conflicts in the homes.
Sadly, it is a situation you can capitalize on, however, it could be a win-win for both hotels and guests. This initiative is to give families a some breathing space and a much-need time apart. It will help them to refresh and relax before returning to their “COVID-19 lock-down.”
10. Collaborate with other Resorts or Restaurants
Have a working partnership with restaurants or another resort-type hotel (most provide all-inclusive meal plans) to provide meals for your guests. That’s in case you have downsized or retrenched your kitchen staff and cannot provide meals for guests. However, it is a request made by potential guests (don’t lose potential guests).
Everyone wins here, your guests have meal options, and the supplier gets some extra business as well.
11. Lease or Rent out your Parking Space
Renting or leasing your parking lot/space, especially if you are in a prime area, can be very profitable. It matters not whether it may be to the general public or companies, monthly or daily. It is another way to retain employees and generate some much-needed income, no matter how small.
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12. Launch and Promote the Hotel’s Restaurant to the Public
Hotels with restaurants can now promote their restaurants as a separate entity to the public. This can be another dining option, whether it might be a dine-in (if allowed) or curb-side pickup experience.
Another viable option is open-air dining (with a view). It will encourage more people to get out of their homes in a safe open atmosphere (with fresh air) whilst dining.
Promote special and unique dishes that you know will draw the crowds. It will bring in some much-needed cash flow and keep your kitchen staff employed. Of course, seating will be strategically spaced, for the health and safety of diners.
13. Upgrade your Rooms and Entice with Amenities
Many people are bored at home, and yes, many are still employed and are spending less due to the curtailment of social activities. Therefore, it means many have more money to spend.
Show them what they are missing, bring the entertainment to them through advertising. Remodel rooms with comfy plush beds, free games, free pay per view and extra channels, and other specials inclusive of massages, etc. that would be enticing to all.
Here is another opportunity where you can capitalize on the situation, due to people having money but nothing enticing to spend it on nor anywhere to go.
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14. Promote Work Station/Rooms for Business Employees
Promote and rent/lease vacant rooms at hotels to companies as work stations. Employers get the best out of their employees when they are comfortable and happy.
Many may not have the luxury of a workstation at home and or the environment to be productive. That may be due to family distractions and or noisy neighbourhoods etc. Therefore, working away from home in a secluded, well-equipped, and safe environment could be the ultimate solution.
15. Re-purpose Unoccupied Rooms and Spaces
Unoccupied and under-utilized rooms at the hotel like the gyms, ballrooms, conference centers, could be reassigned and redesigned. You can promote these spaces and introduce them to companies as meetings, team building, and conference spaces.
Remodel the rooms and install plexiglass. It will allow for required safe spacing and the proper health and safety guidelines kept. All this will be for the protection of those sharing the space.
CONCLUSION
The COVID-19 pandemic will be with us for a while. How long? No one knows. However, what we do know is, complaining and “sitting it out” is not the answer, nor will it solve the current problem. The hotels and guest houses, like other businesses in and outside the travel industry, will have to adapt and experiment with new innovative ideas to survive. Not only to survive but to remain economically viable and competitive.
Temporary closure or receipt of financial bailouts from your government isn’t and will not be the short-or long-term solution. Experiment with your own ideas or some of the 15 survival tips for hotels during COVID-19 I shared above. See which will work for your establishment by trial and error. It is better to have tried and failed than to have never tried anything and continue to complain about COVID-19.
You are part of an industry that is most affected, but you can rise above this. Here is a perfect example of resilience and innovative thinking! Some airlines have been offering scenic “flights to nowhere.” Many airlines have been successfully doing so (all sold out flights) due to their innovative ideas.
Those who love travelling/plane rides are eager to book these flights. The airlines take passengers on the scenic “dine and fly” flights over the scenic landmarks. They then return to their departure airport after a 3 – 7 hours flight. That is what I refer to as “making lemonade out of lemons” that life presents to you.
Remember, something small is better than nothing at all! Therefore, put your thinking caps on. Come up with initiatives that are going to get the industry back up and running. Together with your employees, work in unison to make some magic instead of waiting out the pandemic. Remember, we may have to adjust to and live with this pandemic for a long time.
Share your Thoughts
Please share your thoughts on ways hotels and other tourist lodgings, can keep their doors open. Not only operational but profitable as well, and their employees gainfully employed during this pandemic.
If you are a hotelier who decides to try some of my tips and has a successful outcome, I would love to hear from you as well.
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