Covid19 live blog roundup: Hotels start welcoming guests once more

by | 30 Jun 2020 | General News

We summarise updates shared on the TOPHOTELNEWS Covid19 live blog to draw a picture of how the international hotel industry is negotiating the ongoing crisis.

The international hospitality industry has been sent into a tailspin with the sudden onslaught of the coronavirus crisis. From lockdowns to travel bans and border closures, hotels are having to navigate more uncertain waters than ever before.

TOPHOTELPROJECTS has been tracking in real-time how the industry is reacting to the continuing crisis, and here we recap some of the recent activity around the world, focusing on positive developments in particular.

Hotels reopen in time for summer

As societies around the world begin to open back up, the hotel industry is keen to get business back on track (insofar as it can) to make the most of rising demand from both domestic and international travellers. The next few months are high season in many markets, and a host of properties are starting to welcome guests once more following the easing of lockdown restrictions.

Among them is Spanish hotel group RIU, which has announced the reopening of three Mexican properties, while various hotels in the Dominican Republic are preparing to open their doors again. Similarly, MGM Resorts Delano Las Vegas is gearing up to reopen on 1 July.

Last but not least, Accor brands Novotel and Ibis are working to launch their new property at DĂĽsseldorf Airport in November 2020.

Innovations, policies and precautions

As the weeks go on, we are seeing more and more hotels come up with innovative strategies to entice guests back in, not least by highlighting the robust safety and cleanliness measures in place.

Spanish hotel chain RIU Hotels & Resorts is seeking to build trust in its offering with the RIU Protect initiative, a new service for guests that responds to any issues around Covid19 for the duration of their stay. CitizenM, meanwhile, is launching a contactless app, which allows guests to open their rooms and create a key card, removing the need for person-to-person interactions.

Construction continues despite coronavirus

While construction was one of many industries to grind to a halt as the virus spread around the world, it’s also proving to be one of the first to get back on its feet in those countries where the situation appears to be improving. In some markets, it never even stopped, with hotels continuing to rise out of the ground despite the challenging restrictions facing many development teams.

To give just a few examples, construction of The Pad hotel in Silverthorne is still ongoing, as is construction on Pullman Nairobi Westlands hotel in Kenya. Over in Germany, Arcotel Hafencity is still on track to open in November, and the same is true for Hampton by Hilton in Regensburg, where construction work is continuing despite Covid19.