Timeout's New Normal interview series: Where does hospitality go from here?
British hotelier Deborah Clark on the effect of Covid-19 on hospitality and the path forward for entrepreneurs in the industry.
The ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic is changing our world in unprecedented ways. In this series of conversations with movers and shakers from both Japan and elsewhere, we're taking a look at how the pandemic is already transforming city life and what changes are still on the horizon. Hoping to find out what's to come for society, daily life and the environment, and eager to hear how urban space will accommodate and leverage the 'new normal', we've lined up interviews with experts from a wide range of fields. In this instalment we hear from British hotelier Deborah Clark, who specialises in converting historic buildings into stylish, modern spaces.
This is part of the New Normal interview series. For the list of features, click here.
The outlook
'We were shedding bookings from Southernhay House, our boutique hotel in Exeter [in Devon, one of the UK's most popular areas for international and British tourists], through the whole of March and by the time the government announced an official lockdown we had already decided to temporarily close, we didn't need the government to tell us to do that.
'Southernhay House is something of an outlier in the market because it's a small boutique hotel, based in the middle of a relatively quiet city. I think that's actually a plus once restrictions are eased because it seems like a very safe space. We've just got 12 rooms and we're obsessive about treating the guests as individuals and addressing individual concerns.
