ROAD TO RECOVERY

Covid-19 has brought down the tourism industry to it's knees.

Here are some actionable recommendations and steps to be taken now, to proactively begin the road to recovery,

Right Time: Keep a close eye on your Hotel’s revenue budget and forecast and keep realistic goals for the next 3, 6, and 12 months with a Business continuity plan. Predictions of speed to market-recovery should not be overly pessimistic, but realistic in the brief term, middle term and long term corresponding with sales strategy change. A well-guided forecasting and dynamic-pricing solution can help to integrate hotel operations and back-office management with your sales and marketing and revenue management teams.

Hotel sales teams and channel managers should also dedicate efforts to maintain good communication with their respective corporate clients and distribution partners. The team should stay connected with clients not only to show concern for their well-being but also to keep up with their travel and reservation policy updates.

In that way, after the epidemic, you may expect a prompt improvement of the hotel performance and shortened duration of the recovery period.

Right Customer: Focus on consumer behavior patterns. Marketing teams with the staffing should spend their time and efforts on analyzing and forecasting future commercial trends, market segmentation, and customer profile changes after the crisis are over.

Hotels analyze their competition intensely. Later, they should supplement competitive analysis with deeper study, insight, and research into the needs, expectations, and the satisfaction of their guests.

Right Product: After the recovery period, the market segmentation will have seen significant change, and hotel management needs to make adjustments accordingly. Optimize your market segmentation and grasp the most valuable customers to secure and reclaim competitive strength.

From a financial perspective, hoteliers need to consider not only business-as-usual revenue streams from hotel operations but also develop diversified products, such as food delivery, professional laundry services, limousine services, to drive profitability through alternative revenue sources.

Right Price: Focus on your competitive set and market trends to make adjustments to your pricing strategy, and monitor your competitors’ reactions, such as whether or not they remain open.

Do not drop rates or give heavy discounting rather add value to price by adding extra services like complimentary Laundry service, complimentary airport transfer.

Right Policies: To build confidence amongst the clients, be flexible while designing the Cancellation policies, Flexible Credit Note Policy for Cancellation/ Postponements. Review Credit limit granted to companies/travel agencies–(if required to re-visit the contract). You want revenue, but also cash flow, hence suggests insisting on direct payment as much as practicable.

Right Process: Develop & implement a process for disinfecting guestrooms to ensure higher hygiene levels. A brief on Cleanliness and disinfectant policies & procedures across the hotel on arrival to build confidence.

Ensure compliance with government orders, guidelines & health advisories on the COVID -19, Ensuring good personal hygiene of employees.

Booking Experience

• We should give more emphasis on Hygiene and cleanliness practices at the hotel, try to include in call script.
• Express Check-in should be promoted by taking the required details during booking to avoid guests waiting at the reception/lobby.
• Express Checkout facility to be informed and facilitated.

Welcome Experience

• Instead of Garland and Cold Towels - a sanitizer shot for the Guest’s hands will be the best welcome to the Hotel.
• Hot drinking water/a flask of warm water in the guest room will be better than a cold welcome drink.
• Encourage Guests to use Hotel cars for airport transfers – you may also go for discounted rates to facilitate purchases.

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON AFRICA MARKET

It is an unprecedented time. As a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, many countries have implemented restrictions on entry and exit, visa and work permit issuance, closed borders, tightened quarantine rules, and taken other measures in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. These restrictions have affected international business travel and assignment plans. We are proud to see that our hospitality and leisure clients, being the first ones that experienced the severe weather, are moving quickly and remain focused to understand and quantify the operational and financial impact for their business. The impact is enormous, and not yet predictable, on both revenue and supply chains. Decisions being taken to shut down hotels, restaurants, theme parks, cinemas, not to mention the entire disruptive effect of the travel ecosystem, all have a significant impact on worldwide tourism. 

According to data from STR, Hotels in Africa reported steep declines across the three key performance metrics in March 2020, reservations plummeted from early March onwards.

March 2020 vs. March 2019

• Occupancy: -51.6% to 31.1%
• ADR: -6.4% to US$102.09
• RevPAR: -54.7% to US$31.72

Africa saw its lowest absolute occupancy and RevPAR levels for any month on record.

The Impact of COVID 19 intensified during the month of April 2020 and the business will solely depend on the intensity of travel restrictions, not only within African counties but equally dependent on the source market and international travel restrictions.

As per the Tourism sector report 2019, America was the largest western tourism source for African Market, followed by UK, India, China, Germany, France, and Italy.

International tourists contribute over 70% to tourism, rest nearly 30% of tourism depends on the domestic market.

The post-COVID-19 era will initially depend on domestic travellers, and as international traveling restrictions get eased from the host and source countries, we will see the contribution increasing from the international market.

There is some pleasant news coming in from the source countries such as Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Spain. These are some first European countries that have eased their most severe restrictions, and occupancies saw an uptick in the last couple of weeks within these countries, however, international travel restrictions not eased as of now.

To further understand the extent to which COVID-19 will affect property or group, hoteliers must evaluate their position and develop plans at a corporate and property level. Hoteliers with a majority of their business originating from one travel market need to diversify their marketing activities to attract new customers.

When travel bans are released, tourist arrivals will rebound, and hoteliers will have greater opportunities.