Is your hotel staff geared to handle some situations after re-opening?
A manager of a four-star resort hotel located down south recently expressed a key concern associated with the re-opening of hotels. This is what he wrote when seeking advice.
Quote “… A lot has been said on COVID-19 safety and hygiene protocols including social distancing. However, when many hotels re-open, I fear staff may not be properly geared to handle certain situations – many of which are new to all of us in the hospitality industry…” unquote.
Usually, the initial approach is two-fold. Staff awareness of COVID-19, what it is, and can cause, how it is transmitted and means of avoiding it, and so on… is the 1st step. The 2nd step is ensuring that guests and fellow employees are safe when providing hotel facilities and services. These two-steps are an absolute minimum.
Most importantly, hotels long before re-opening must conduct staff training and convey information - particularly for those in the frontlines who deal with guest. This communication should be done, or have already been done ‘online’ – through information sessions, presentations and workshops. Staff must also be kept informed of the latest developments as the COVID-19 saga unfolds.
The next stage is to have procedures in-place, to deal with the ‘never satisfied’ and ‘rule-breaker’ type of guests. Two types of guests we have all encountered since the inception of hospitality.
Thereafter, new standards of operations (SOPs) will have to be drawn up, covering several likely-to-arise scenarios - such as dealing with a guest who refuses to follow regulatory guidelines including social distancing or wearing a mask, or by misbehavior that exposes themselves and others to potential harm. Then there can be children who disregard certain protocols when not under the watch of parents? The list can go on…
So, how do you handle such situations? Do you ‘police’ such guests by watching their every actions and chase after them for every misdemeanor – to eventually, chase them away from your property or have properly trained staff, who can step in at the right moment, to tactfully defuse the situation from becoming unpleasant and ruining everyone’s’ good time?
Hotels with strong and good leadership teams will train and prepare their staff for both the predictable and unpredictable, while other hotels, doing much less, will be hard pressed to survive.
Hospitality Sri Lanka
The above article is from our video series “19-Hospitality Related Questions on Covid-19", which can be viewed on our Youtube channel here. Why not take a moment to share your experience with us, or if you have a question you'd like answered, get in touch through reachus@hospitalitysrilanka.com We hope to hear from you, and in the meantime, check out our social media feeds on Facebook and Instagram.
Shafeek Wahab - Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka
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