How Guest Expectations Have Evolved Post Covid-19

"For the first time ever, more than 70% of the worldwide hospitality sector has been shut down."

By Nathan Gawlik
Nathan Gawlik's experience includes being a General Manager of a Hampton Inn and other front line roles such as a Banquet Captain, Front Desk Agent, Housekeeper, Catering Event Manager, and Director of Sales.

How Guest Expectations Have Evolved Post Covid-19

"For the first time ever, more than 70% of the worldwide hospitality sector has been shut down."

By Nathan Gawlik

Even so, guests expect a frictionless experience. They want fewer touch points physically, but also ease of use over web, email, and mobile in an effort to minimize direct contact.

There are several trends we see in the hospitality industry that suggest things will never quite be the same, or at least not for many years. Here are a few that might surprise you.

1. Social Distancing and Facemasks are Here to Stay

While we all know that social distancing is part of the new normal, will it last? We are all far more conscious when we go outside to bring our facemask and if you are like me, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes. This engenders a feeling of not wanting to go out at all. With so many gig workers, it's just as convenient to order whatever you need online and have GrubHub or UberEats deliver it.

We have already seen some of the social distancing measures lifted. We can expect this to be a gradual and slow process, likely with many setbacks; especially as school starts across the nation. Like some have suggested, this is a war. And with that stance comes a lot of parry and joust as we learn to contend with this foe.

Of course, eventually we will get back to sporting events and large gatherings, but I wouldn't count on it until at least 2021. Some form of social distancing might even persist intermittently through 2022, according to a group of Harvard disease researchers.

Whether government mandated, CDC guided, or out of an abundance of caution, we will all likely be thinking twice before reaching out to shake hands going forward. Whatever the case, if you haven't invested in signage, floor stickers, or other distancing directives for your hotel, you are late and should make your patrons feel comfortable, as such items are expected.

Three people stand at one side of the reception desk to check in, while another person checks them in

2. PPE Check-In

The best way to prevent infection is to avoid exposure, which, per The World Health Organization (WHO) and other government guidelines, means:
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. Avoid close contact with people who are unwell.
Stay home when you are unwell.
Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue.
Ensure staff are appropriately trained.
Wear PPE as directed by your hotel, department and specific task at hand.

Properties have lost occupancy and are certainly feeling the financial strain this pandemic has put on all of us. Properties should also provide Personal Protective Equipment to all staff members and make such products available for use should any guests need it to feel comfortable.

Hotels and Inns are highly trafficked areas. Providing the essentials, even just to have the perceived feel of cleanliness, could save you on any potential refunds for perturbed guests. I've heard from others in the industry that they have had guests cancel on the spot once noticing the Front Desk Agent isn't properly wearing a facemask.

Have the following readily available for guest use: Screens, gloves, hand sanitizer, disposable masks.

3. Temperature Sensing Kiosk

Some high traffic areas, especially those catering to travelers with greater risk of bringing disease to the community, like hotels, are taking temperatures at all entrances. Some properties have chosen to just perform temperature checks on staff members while others have extended this to guests. While this practice certainly isn't mandatory, it could help save lives.

Drawing parallels to the 2003 SARS outbreak, another Coronavirus epidemiologist worked hard to identify so called super spreaders so as to better contain future outbreaks. One such super spreader was a man named Dr. Liu Jianlun, who checked into the Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong and infected at least 7 people with SARS during his one-night stay.

Those 7 people stayed on the same floor as the respiratory doctor before traveling to other countries and contributing to nearly half of the over 8,000 people infected, killing 774 of them. Now that hotel is still remembered as ground zero for one of the worst global epidemics, even after 17 years.

That being said, taking temperatures also comes with its own set of challenges. Are you prepared to deny someone access to a guest room if they have an elevated temperature? What if they refuse to leave? Will you allow them to stay but put the room out of order for 72 hours?

And naturally, before getting to this question, you might ask, "does taking their temperature even work," given how many people infected may show no signs of the disease at all. Temperature checks will only be further complicated as we head into flu season. The following article and the World Health Organization have some guidelines that should be considered.

4. UV Light Cleaners

Can a light really neutralize the coronavirus? Well, the type of light used, ultraviolet C, has been shown to render SARS, another coronavirus similar to COVID-19, inactive, meaning it can't replicate and spread, according to WebMD. Unfortunately, the light has some drawbacks. This method hasn't been conclusively proven to be effective against Covid-19 for starters and the study referenced here found that the virus needed at least 15 minutes of exposure to have the desired effect.

While this might help on surfaces and high touch areas, there are places the light won't reach.Plus, too much UV light can cause permanent damage or even cancer, over extended periods of time if exposed to the skin.There are machines that provide light exposure, but these machines are expensive and again, the jury is still out on their effectiveness.

5. No Community Dining

Hotels should expect that the industry will continue to move away from buffets and minibars to touchless options, like room service options. If you had a buffet, consider ways that you could adapt. Current requirements dictate if a buffet is served, staff must serve the guest and not allow guests to serve themselves. This is a labor-intensive option and generally not recommended because of the close proximity of guests and staff.

All efforts are being made to reduce the number of times the same item is being touched by different people. Most places have closed community drinking fountains and discontinued coffee in the lobby for this reason. Be sure to review your local health authority to ensure compliance.

6. Leave a guest room Out of Order for 24-72 hours after each guest stay.

Finally, many properties have adopted the policy to leave departed rooms out of order for an extended period of time. This is done in an effort to allow the virus to die on its own. Covid-19 thrives in the moisture of our lungs. When someone sneezes on a surface, the virus will eventually dry out, leaving the virus to die in a couple of days.

We are anticipating things will radically change for the hospitality industry going forward. Some of the above items that were nice to have are now must haves.

Market Recovery

We anticipate that travel is going to explode. People are cooped up and want to get out. Below is a brief recovery roadmap:

Short Term Recovery Strategy

Short haul feeder markets - close proximity to your property will come back first
Focus on leisure and unmanaged business travelers
*This is what we are seeing in Asian markets, a couple months ahead of the USA.

Long Term Recovery Strategy

Corporate travel groups will come later
Special occasions will come later Distribution Partners will come later
*These groups will see how the industry responds to the pandemic and act accordingly. Now properties have to contend with yet another determining factor in their purchasing decision. Is this property prepared to welcome me in a post-Covid World?

Industry Trends

We anticipate that travel is going to explode. People are cooped up and want to get out. Below is a brief recovery roadmap:

As an industry whole, cancelations were still outpacing new bookings through the end of May and early June; with stronger demand during the weekday, than over the weekend. We saw this trend continue through the summer of 2020 as a whole with steady growth.

That being said, urban hotels have averaged 38% occupancy through August; worse than the industry average. But the industry as a whole is suffering. 65% of properties were at or below 50% occupancy in August. Referring to the chart above, provided courtesy of STR, trends show that the occupancy growth trajectory seems to have slowed and leveled out.

Going into September 2020, 27 million Americans were still collecting some form of unemployment. According to The Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the Leisure and Hospitality sector was left with a devastating unemployment rate of 38% compared to the national average of 10.2% which continues to fall but at a slower rate than anticipated. And we have seen that this sector has the largest change in employment since February with a reduction by nearly a quarter (-24.5%), although unemployment this past month has decreased as a nation, showing signs of recovery.

Tactics to Adopt at Your Property

Promotional tactics to allow guests to easily extend their stay.

Ex: Buy one get one

Seasonal Multiplier

Spend X$ and Get Y discount % or towards any future stay. "stay now, save later promotion"

Other Discounts to get cash flow now.

Holiday promotions, start promoting now!

Partnerships

Your vendors and other outlets are likely considering similar promotions. Consider a partnership to boost sales for both.

Ex. Beer and Wine promotion. Feature the local brewer on your website. Or provide a package that they get free tickets to tour the brewery with free tastings when they stay with you.

Tactics to Avoid

Try to avoid having the guest print coupons or bring something with them. We want this to be frictionless and touchless. You don't want to take an item from them to store for tracking purposes. Go electronic with a QR code or just have the guest forward an email promotion.

Third Parties and Other Distribution Channels

Direct Channel ADR is 6-8% greater than on OTA. It's important to manage your OTAs carefully so you aren't leaving money on the table.

As of June, Google has rolled out its new pilot program "pay-per-stay" program to hotels in direct response to the global health crisis, according to Phocuswire. This means Google is sharing in the risk of it's hotel partners - even not charging a commission for canceled bookings. This risk free approach to attract new demand is "nothing short of revolutionary," states Pablo Delgado, CEO of Hotel Direct Sales Consultancy Mirai.

Google's direct booking funnel is in contrast to the traditional OTA offerings. According to a June Phocuswire article, "early returning demand will come through third parties - even wholesalers." And with them comes their high commissions, with the industry average hovering around 18% and continuing to grow. Don't be surprised as we all feel the crunch during these hard economic times, if properties are the ones that bear much of the cost and OTAs take their generous share of the pie to one-fifth in commissions and beyond.

These commissions further exacerbate the Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) Index as rate leakage from undercutting providers continues to be a concern. If you offer your accommodations on any third party sites, they should be monitored closely. RateGain or OTA Insights are a great option to catch rate leakage offenders in real-time.

Max Starkov, Adjunct Professor of Hospitality Technology at NYU, advises properties to "Immediately cancel your agreement with any site undercutting your agreed upon rates." This is nothing new as a contributor from TripTease, Lily McLlwain stated back in a January 2019 press release, "Hotels have to retake control over their inventory, their distribution and ultimately the end-to-end customer experience." If they don't, innkeepers run the risk of leaving money on the table. Expect consumers to be more price conscious, meaning they will undoubtedly shop more sites looking for the best rates.

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