With both personal and business travel having ground to a halt, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought multiple sectors that rely on travelers to their knees. The hotel industry isn’t immune, but out of the most dire of times, ingenuity sometimes takes hold. All around the globe, hotels large and small are finding ways to pivot their business as they try to stay afloat.
Some are providing emergency housing for exhausted healthcare professionals or safe shelter for the homeless, and more recently, a few are now offering rooms at steep discounts to people looking for somewhere other than their home to quarantine.
In Australia, small boutique hotels are offering self-isolation packages at very reduced rates, according to the Financial Review. Guests get perks like unlimited Netflix, luxury accommodations, and stunning views.
They also can book a room just for the day, if they’re tired of working from home. They just can’t do anything outside their room: restaurants, bars, and other communal areas are closed.
In the US, the Red Roof hotel chain began offering reduced day rates to provide those in need of a quiet place to work with a room. The “workspaces” include WiFi and communication packages and in-room coffee. Guests can even bring one “well-behaved” pet cat or dog along as a co-worker.
For those not on a budget, a Swiss luxury hotel set up quarantine apartments that include COVID-19 testing and food delivery for $800 to $2,000 per night.
COVID-19: Hotel industry forced to pivot
Travel bans and closures of tourist sites amid pandemic fears have devasted the hotel industry, forcing hoteliers to figure out how they can make up for lost revenue. Many hotels have shut down, occupancy rates have plummeted, and millions of hotel staffers have lost their jobs.
According to STR, a provider of data analysis of the hospitality markets, the occupancy rate for the US hotel industry between April 12 and April 18 had dropped to 23%, down 64% from the week of April 14 to April 20 in 2019.
A number of hotels have become temporary housing for medical professionals caring for COVID-19 patients. In the US, more than 15,000 of the nation’s 56,000 hotels and motels offer rooms for first responders, an official with the American Hotel and Lodging Association told ABC News.
Many have partnered with government agencies and healthcare associations to house medical professionals needing to self-isolate from their families, and some have provided rooms for COVID-19 patients.
In California and elsewhere, government officials are working to get homeless people off the streets and out of shelters into hotel and motel rooms to protect them from the disease.
Hello safety protocols, goodbye mini-bar
Hotels that have become barracks for healthcare workers have instituted deep cleaning procedures, virtual check-ins and check-outs, social distancing rules in elevators, and even temperature checks as guests arrive.
Hotel experts told NBC News that they expect the pandemic to alter hotel operations long-term eliminating perks like breakfast buffets and in-room mini-bars and retaining social distancing policies and even the temperature checks.
This week, Marriott International launched a global cleanliness initiative and an enhanced cleaning regimen. The hotel giant is rolling out new technologies, including electrostatic sprayers with hospital-grade disinfectant to sanitize surfaces, and taking a number of other steps such as more frequent cleaning, and removing or rearranging furniture to accommodate social distancing.
Pinning hopes on the future
A new marketing program called Buy Now, Stay Later aims to help hotels during the pandemic crisis by selling “hotel bonds” that are similar to treasury bonds.
This is how it works: A customer buys a bond from the hotel of their choice for $100 and earns an extra $50 to use when they’re ready to book a room at a later date, and after the 60-day maturation period.
Customers can buy multiple bonds for each hotel in increments of $100, so if they buy five $100 bonds now, they will have $750 in credit in June. Bonds will be available for purchase through Aug. 31, 2020.
“The Buy Now, Stay Later initiative is meant to help your favorite hotels support their housekeepers, bartenders, concierges – and everyone who keeps the hotel running,” the campaign’s website says. “Your money will go farther and be put to even better use.”
Speaking of money: If the competition is COVID-19 versus the hotel industry, I’ll put mine on the hotels.
