Hotels in Asia Find Locking Down Easier Than Unlocking
Though seasoned at crisis management, Asian hoteliers are writing the textbook on how to reopen hotels when the only certainty is occupancy and room rates will be low. So why unlock, or when and how?
As countries in Southeast Asia such as Thailand and Vietnam ease lockdown restrictions, hoteliers that are raring to reopen are finding that unlocking is harder than closing.
While many by now have a respectable crisis management textbook, thanks to past disasters that have included tsunamis, volcano eruptions, earthquakes, terror attacks, financial crises, military coups and SARS, there isn't a chapter on how to unlock a hotel when the state of play is still unfolding.
One of the most exasperating challenges of reopening, as Thai hoteliers have discovered, is choppy regulations. Thailand's Civil Aviation Authority on May 15 extended a ban on all international flights, due to be lifted end-May, to end-June without clear reasons. Phuket International Airport, a key domestic hub, was to reopen for local flights on May 16, but the authority announced, without advance notice, that it would remain close indefinitely.
Thailand has successfully contained the Covid-19 pandemic with just three new cases as of May 26, bringing the total number to 3,045.
Even if regulations don't chop and change, unlocking is a gamble. Hoteliers can be certain about only one thing: occupancy and room rates will be low.
