Expert’s Voice: How creatives can help hospitality sector during and after Covid-19

myKidsy creates intelligent playrooms for children in hotels.

Yasmine Mahmoudieh, Founder & CEO at Yasmine Mahmoudieh & myKidsy, brings us her 10 tips for helping your hotels cope after Covid-19.

Get prepared. Don’t put all your energy into complaining about how bad the travel industry is hurt but spend time on finding innovative approaches. “When a problem arises, spend no more than 20% on the problem and 80% on its solution.”

1. Be resourceful: Offer virtual tourism!

Use technology and virtual reality to let your guests see your locations, your brand, your destination and your future vision. Greece has taken proactive steps in promoting its country, despite the current situation. Steve Vranakis, whom I got to know when he was head of Google creative for EMEA, is now the chief creative officer for Greece.

Steve and his team came up with the idea of www.greecefromhome.com in 24 hours, presented it a few days later to the visionary PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who gave the go-ahead and then the site was built in 10 days.

Visitors can take virtual tours of archaeological sites, museums, explore all different landscapes from mountains and lakes to the sea and can view activities like hiking, sailing and many more, all from the comfort of their home. They can also listen to Greek music and find out about Greek food and a Greek wine expert shares tips online.

2. Think about innovation in your hotel and brand

What can you improve? How can you innovate? Have your whole team participate.

3. Accelerate the integration of sustainability in building hotels that innovative with interior materials

If the materials address guests’ concern of hygiene, it will become an important selling point.
We have been creating a library of ecological and sustainable materials for exterior and interior use. We are offering all hotels a consultancy package.

In our recent launch of myKidsy playground for hotels at Imm Cologne, we introduced among many innovative sustainable materials, huge ceramic floor slabs that are antibacterial, anti-odour and even clean the air.

We are working on fabric lines for hotels that purify the air and others that block electrosmog.

4. Gain trust by proving that you take the new challenge seriously

Commitment can be shown by communicating with your guests over social media and your websites. Make connections to your guests and inform them of the innovations of your brand.

5. Think about new concepts

Have artists stage exhibitions in hotels and 50% of proceeds go into a rescue fund for hospitality employees. Having strong ties with artists and galleries, can help hotel brand in assisting.

6. Consider addressing more family needs in hotels and offer educational content for children.

I have recently designed a furniture line for children from toddlers to teenagers which were launched this January at IMM in Cologne. The myKidsy playground is the offline adaptation to our online marketplace www.mykidsy.com. It is a design and built concept for creating intelligent playrooms for children in hotels.

Beyond the modular furniture line for lifestyle and luxury hotels, we supply hotels with all tools to teach children ‘life skills’, unfortunately, neglected in all school systems across the world. such as: coding, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, sustainability, creativity, resilience, critical thinking and mindfulness.

What could be better to come back from a vacation or trip with your kids having gained these valuable skills! We can see now in isolation how badly schools are prepared for online teaching. Hotels can be better prepared.

7. Set up internal strategies now for future execution!

Don’t waste valuable time now but include your team in creating strategies to be ready to implement once the crisis is over.

8. Have your spa and fitness experts offer online fitness classes for your returning and future guests.

Link those classes to your websites. Involve them later to create special spa and fitness packages to keep guests in good health during their stay.

9. Rethink restaurants and food in general

Have your chefs offer online lessons, thereby creating memorable experiences and giving useful tips, ahead of visiting your hotel.

Once guests are able to travel to your hotels again, concentrate on healthy food. Rethink the open buffet, where often food is displayed with little protection and where germs have an easy way to enter one’s dish.

Create healthy meal plans. It is vital to introduce more healthy menus for children than just burgers with fries, pasta or pizza! This is something that has shocked me since travelling with my children, no matter where in the world, when presented with the children’s menu.

Make the options not only healthy, but also tasty. It is possible.

10. Stand out

Work with designers that make your project outstanding and who can brainstorm with you beyond the normal design tasks, as competition will be fierce after Covid-19.

Understand that good design and functionality does matter to create a sense of wellness while away. Bland design is not going to stay in someone’s mind. Authenticity and creativity are in demand.

As much as the little gestures count, the attention to detail is very important for a hotel’s success. If you give the consumer an uplifting experience, that remains beyond the stay, which creates an emotional connection to their journey, you will get loyal customers.

The last afterthought

Covid-19 has forced us to rethink and re-evaluate our values. My advice to big hotel brands is: don’t only think about how many new hotels you can open in a year, but what kind of added value you can create in an industry, that is encountering challenging times. It’s all about making a connection.

When social isolation ends, there will be a gradual process in which life returns to normal. We can’t expect the same ease of travel that we have enjoyed before. By taking on these suggestions, I hope you can see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.