The current global pandemic has exposed a devastating disconnection: Two industries, hospitality and healthcare, that have been living worlds apart, yet now find themselves in desperate need of one another.

Upon initial reflection, one might think of these two sectors as completely distinct, unrelatable and so fundamentally different that it would be too difficult to find a way to get along. And yet, if you pause just long enough to see how lost in fact we both are alone, arguably you cannot help but take note that we have more to gain in coming together than we do in living apart.

COVID-19 has been the most challenging of unwanted guests for both hospitality and healthcare — its arrival unexpected, its length of stay unknown, and its demands completely unreasonable. In its presence, it has revealed some horrific shortcomings, notably our lack of preparedness and our inability to continue fulfilling our most fundamental shared purpose — to serve.

So how do we move beyond this current global state of relative paralysis? How do we relieve the pressure on the millions of exhausted global health care workers? How do we generate opportunity for the millions of hospitality professionals who have lost their jobs? And how do we restructure the framework, so we don’t find ourselves down and out and all alone again?

The calling is urgent: Hospitality and healthcare must converge. We must come together, sit at the same table, learn from and support one another. To serve, to be in service of, is at the heart of work in both industries. A new collaboration is required to get us back to the work we love.

The labor gap is obvious. The near complete arrest of international travel and the dramatic disruption to domestic tourism has left more than 100 million global hospitality and tourism professionals unemployed. Conversely, the need for healthcare workers is soaring. According to a recent study by Mercer that identifies critical workforce gaps, demand for healthcare workers in the U.S. will outpace supply by 2025, if it hasn’t already.

In the short term, borrowed talent is available. As hospitality professionals, we can lend our soft skills and support on the fringe, if only to ease the sheer burden of volume on overstretched front-line workers. We can be an extra set of hands, a warm smile, someone to fetch a cup of coffee — little things that in today’s current environment could go a long way.

In the middle to long term, there are rumblings that we hope evolve into a rallying cry, of a more robust aggregation — a renaissance of traditional medical care. The pandemic has highlighted just how reliant we all are on the healthcare industry yet just how overlooked it has been. Bridging the gulf between our two sectors would undoubtedly support and uplift both.

Alarming stories from several of the worlds most-developed countries have documented the dismal state of many hospitals and long-term care homes. Beyond dated, buildings are often lacking basic infrastructure to support their inhabitants. The World Health Organization reports that a staggering 1 in 4 healthcare facilities worldwide lack basic water services.

On the contrary, our industry is home to some of the most beautiful, well-appointed buildings across the globe. Iconic properties are a feature in almost every major urban center, often designed by the most pioneering and talented designers. Recent advancements with design have moved well beyond the aesthetic to impact environmental health.

Indoor air quality is a prime example. Under a lens like never before, some incredible advancements in features are explicitly meant to mitigate the risk of respiratory illness and microbe transmission, including coronavirus. In communal buildings, HVAC systems are being upgraded to allow for compartmentalization between units or zones, and robust filtration systems are capable of capturing bacteria and fine particles.

More upgrades would naturally arise if the healthcare industry considered design as closely as the hospitality industry does.

New collaborations between the two sectors have emerged in recent months — a hopeful sign of early connections and conversations that could evolve into fulfilling long-term relationships.

Vacant hotels in urban centers around the world continue to be repurposed into designated quarantine facilities, fulfilling a mutual urgency and great void in both hospitality and healthcare. In recent months, empty conference rooms and convention halls have begun conversion into mass vaccination sites.

As the pandemic and needs surrounding it persist, a longer-term collaboration is required. We have millions of empty hotel rooms. There are millions who are struggling, have suffered and are in need.

What might it look like if numerous hotels and resorts were fundamentally repositioned under the union of hospitality and healthcare — transforming into rehabilitation and recovery residences, purposefully serving those who have battled COVID-19 and the staggering number of front-line healthcare workers in need?

The time is now to leverage our strengths and come together so we can again fulfill our essential common purpose — to serve. It is up to all of us to heed the calling, and with any degree of luck we will set a microcosmic example of the tremendous benefits that can be realized when focusing more on what we have in common than on what sets us apart. Let this be just the beginning of a new lifelong love affair between hospitality and healthcare.

Jennifer Findlay is the founder of Core Essence, an International Wellness Design and Consulting Firm. Contact her at Jennifer@coreessence.ca.

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