Summer is historically the biggest travel season of the year. But with a global pandemic, travel volumes are significantly less. Now that states are starting to lift their stay-at-home orders and transition through phases of reopening in the United States, what does this mean for travel?
If You’ve Already Reopened: Travel With Caution
While travel is possible, that doesn’t necessarily mean many are planning to take a trip – only 4 in 10 regular vacationers are planning a trip this summer. Even with smaller capacity requirements due to social distancing, you should not expect to see your hotel fully booked. The CDC is still recommending to travel only when necessary, and many are listening. For those who are traveling, they are more likely to deep-dive into hotels’ safety protocols to choose the safest accommodation option, so make sure you are transparent about the steps you are taking to keep a clean and socially distant hotel environment.
If You’re Planning To Reopen: Know Your Vulnerabilities
If you’ve decided to reopen your hotel, it is important to conduct a thorough audit of your hotel’s daily functions to identify any weak spots that may create a liability for the spread of COVID-19. Elevators, indoor restaurants, and fitness centers are some spaces that may pose a risk to your hotel, and you should develop protocols to keep these areas safe. Additionally, you should build an emergency plan in the event that one of your guests does test positive for COVID-19. See below for Front Desk Supply’s link to our free Hotel Checklist of items for opening..
If You’re Still Unsure: Do Your Research
If you’re not sure when to reopen, the decision to welcome guests through your doors should not be taken lightly. When deciding what date to open, it is important to take into consideration not only your state or county’s phases of reopening but also trends of COVID-19 cases in the area. There are hoards of conflicting information available, so take caution to research only on reliable websites (our advice is to stick to scientific sources, and avoid mainstream news almost entirely for COVID-19 information). Err on the side of caution when it comes to picking a date – if you’re not entirely confident you can maintain strict cleaning guidelines and social distancing, it may be best to wait.
A successful hotel reopening needs to be well-planned and well-equipped to keep guests safe. Having proper PPE in place is vital to keep everyone safe and keep your hotel functioning efficiently.
Unsure about how to fully prepare for reopening during these changing times? Download our Free Hotel Checklist. This list provides your hotel with information on how to open up your doors safely and successfully.
Many of the items on our checklist are available for purchase on our new website.
In order to keep our team healthy and safe, we have taken precautions, and all team members that are not needed in producing or warehousing activities are working from home. Further, we have built additional redundancy in our supply network. Although we have not experienced any significant delays in our supply chain, we will continue to monitor changes and will utilize alternate vendors if needed to ensure we can hold to our normal lead times. We are in close contact with our shipping partners and will advise our customers of any widespread issues affecting delivery.
Front Desk Supply is here to support your hotel. We encourage you to reach out to us at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns about us, our team, or our products.
