Things are better today. We see tourism recovering faster than expected in Costa Rica, Panama and in the luxury market where we operate.
I know that things are still quite difficult in many parts of the world, but recently we have seen a significant increase in demand for our hotels and lodges. Many guests that call us are either vaccinated or about to be vaccinated and can’t wait to get out and travel again, with most of them aged 50 years or above. On the other hand, we have guests that are ready to travel again after a year of lockdown who are 50 years or younger.
Let’s be honest here. Who has felt some degree of mental health turbulence in the past year? This crisis has been difficult, and it has been dragging on and on. I think the antidote to anxiety and depression will be travel, which breaks routines and offers something to look forward to. The medical professionals did their job during the pandemic in hospitals and doctor offices taking care of COVID-19 patients. A big thank you goes out to them. Now, it is up to us in the hospitality industry to heal the world from the traumatic effects of lockdowns, not being able to socialize and most of all ongoing uncertainty. We have a big responsibility and should seize it; for our guests and our own benefit.
Small boutique hotels in remote locations with tropical open-air architecture are well-positioned for this comeback. A stronger outdoor activity focus of the vacation experience also helps as many travelers are longing to reconnect with natural surroundings. The luxury or high-end segment of the market is seeing a faster comeback right now. There is not only pent-up demand, but lots of disposable income that was not spent on leisure activities in many months of being restricted to staying home. The guests that currently call our reservations teams show little price sensitivity. Quality of the lodging experience, private transfers, solid health protocols and booking and cancellation flexibility are their main requests.
But there are of course challenges associated with this comeback and we need to be aware as an industry and do our best to overcome them.
The biggest challenges are related to human resources. It might be difficult for us to staff our operations as needed when demand comes back strong. Many of us had to let go of employees when borders and airports closed due to travel restrictions. Many of them looked for opportunities outside hospitality, and we know now that other industries are in love with hospitality people and the skills they bring to the table. Many industries offer more attractive salaries, benefits, working hours and conditions. We might have lost a lot of talent for good.
The employees that stayed on and were asked to do several jobs at the same time are feeling overworked and underappreciated on top of taking salary cuts and foregoing bonuses. We need to take special care of them and get them excited about a solid recovery and opportunities in the near future.
Even though demand has not fully recovered, I am asking my managers to hire back talent quickly as I expect a shortage of skilled and motivated hospitality employees, especially at the management and middle management level, very soon. The companies that have done things right during the pandemic, treated their staff well and developed a good reputation within their communities will have an advantage in attracting the best talent.
Another challenge has to do with efficiency. Like many other companies, we have become leaner and more efficient than we ever thought possible in the past 12 months. Sometimes we ask ourselves why we did not make the operational changes to cut costs while things were “normal." It would have prepared us better for what we just went through. Right now, we are building a culture to make sure that once demand comes back, we don’t lose those efficiencies. While we are excited to reinvest in guest experiences as well as our teams, we want to keep changes that were achieved through technological upgrades as well as administrative reorganization.
This also includes the relationships with suppliers. We want to support and reward our suppliers that stood by our side and offer services and values beyond what was compensated and expected. We also made some significant changes with some suppliers that were not responsive, and some outsourced services might never come back as they stay in-house or evolved from monthly fixed costs to on-demand variable costs.
Last but not least, a word on sustainability. During every moment of the crisis, sustainability and making sure we were doing things right was top of mind. We never went back on our pledge not to use single-use plastics, even with our strict COVID-19 protocols. On the contrary, we think our focus on sustainability helped us get through this crisis better and come back faster. With our focus on people and everything local, we were able to ensure the support of our local staff and the communities we operate in.
However, as demand comes back, so will issues such as overtourism and climate change. As an industry, are we prepared to create a better model in 2021 or are we satisfied just going back to business as usual as it was in late 2019 and early 2020? This is something I have been thinking about a lot recently and would love to hear your thoughts.
Hans Pfister is co-founder and president of the Cayuga Collection of sustainable luxury hotels and lodges.
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