Politicians and industry leaders are struggling with when to allow hotels to open. Even when policy changes, just because hotels can reopen does not mean they should. When the pandemic hit the U.S., owners and operators were immediately concerned with the health and safety of their employees and guests. As occupancy levels plummeted, they scrambled to determine at what level it was more "profitable" to stay open than to close. A common range was between 8% and 12% occupancy. With that analysis, they then considered things like the duration of the lack of demand. At that point in time, hotel owners had the clarity of knowing that things were going to get worse: Cases would rise and travel would be discouraged, if not banned, by the
government.
Now, more than a month later, things appear to be getting better. Cases are leveling off in some places, and governments are looking at when and how businesses can reopen. The challenge for owners is balancing the desire to resume business as soon as possible and the reality that sooner isn’t always better, particularly when dealing with a pandemic recovery. When weighing the decision of when to reopen, owners should consider the following:
|
