Reopening post-lockdown: five things you need to know

After 10 weeks of lockdown, measures are being eased to allow tourism, leisure and hospitality businesses to reopen – provided there are measures in place to help limit the spread of Coronavirus.

Markets and non-essential shops can reopen from 15^th June, while most visitor attractions, accommodation, pubs and restaurants will be allowed to reopen from 4^th July.

So, is your business ready to reopen? If not, what do you need to do before your premises are safe for visitors?

Here are some points to consider:

Social distancing

At the time of writing, the Government guidance is for people to stay at least two metres apart from others not from the same household.

UPDATE: 2 m rule has been replaced with '1m Plus' guidance.

Have you considered how you will keep your guests socially distanced?

You may need to limit visitor numbers, so think about how you can do that and remain viable.

Ensuring all visitors pre-book in advance of their visit, utilising online booking or payment systems and providing options for ‘timed slots’ or ‘sessions’ are some of the measures you could usefully consider.

In some cases, you may need to mark out areas for queueing or one-way systems, and space out or remove tables and chairs in food & beverage areas.

Think about the ‘pinch points’ where people gather in your business/premises. How will you mitigate them? For example, some essential retail businesses have placed staff in these areas to ensure visitors remain a safe distance apart.

You might want to install temporary signage and protective screens in areas where staff and guests are likely to interact, such as reception desks, admissions, and payment counters.

If you run an accommodation business, can you use technology to enable remote check-in/check-out?

You must also have a clear policy and guidance on what to do if a guest becomes sick, or starts to display symptoms of COVID-19, whilst staying or visiting your business.

Image: https://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Article/2020/05/07/Social-distancing-for-restaurant-re-openings-Coronavirus

Enhanced cleaning & hygiene

All tourism and hospitality businesses will need to demonstrate enhanced cleaning and hygiene measures to reassure potential visitors.

Accommodation businesses can do this by implementing online and/or contactless payments, limiting occupancy, increasing change-over times to allow for deep-cleaning, and moving to room-service only.

Self-catering providers may wish to remove non-essential communal items such as board games, books, and DVDs, and provide additional cleaning/sanitising products for guests to use themselves during their stay.

In food & drink service areas, consider adapting your offering to include pre-packed options, avoid self-service ‘buffet style’ service, change how cutlery and condiments are distributed, and limit the number of diners.

Will you need to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – gloves, masks, screens and hand sanitisers – for staff and visitors?

You’ll also need to consider the cleanliness of communal areas, like public toilets, and touchpoints including light switches and door handles.

And encourage or remind guests to adopt increased personal hygiene by providing good supplies of hand sanitisers.

If someone falls ill on site

Many potential visitors will expect you to be ready to manage guests or employees showing symptoms of Coronavirus.

The global association for the attractions industry, the IAAPA, has made the following suggestions, which can be applied to other tourism and hospitality businesses too.

If you provide First Aid internally, you should ensure the appropriate PPE is available for staff. If First Aid is subcontracted, insist the supplier provides the appropriate PPE for their employees.

Develop an isolation or quarantine area, to be used by the individual and their party while they are being assessed. This area needs to be clearly signposted so guests can find it easily.

Once the individual has been assessed, thoroughly clean and sanitise the isolation area, following professional healthcare guidelines.

Image: https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/11/disease-caused-by-the-novel-coronavirus-has-name-covid-19/

Communication with potential visitors

Once you have made these changes, you need to give people the confidence to return by demonstrating your premises are safe.

You should publicise your COVID-19 policies on your website and social media, update your booking policies/terms & conditions on cancellations and refunds, and encourage your visitors to take out holiday insurance.

Guests have responsibilities too, so ensure they are clearly communicated. For example, if any of the party are not feeling well, they should cancel their visit and plan to come when everyone is well.

You may also request that visitors wear a face mask, for their own protection and to keep employees and other visitors safe.

Make sure your staff are fully trained on all the new health and safety measures.

And let us know too! We can help to promote you on our social media channels, through our consumer e-shots and on the Enjoy Staffordshire website.

Your listing on EnjoyStaffordshire.com

Be ready to promote your business everywhere you can as you prepare to reopen.

If you’re a member of Enjoy Staffordshire, you have your own listing on our website, with images and a description, plus your contact details, a map showing your location, and a link to your website.

If you are an accommodation business, you can also take bookings from the site via a number of booking channels including Expedia, Booking.com and Guestlink Direct, so please make sure your availability with these channels is up-to-date too.

Visitors to our site frequently search for availability on specific dates when planning their visit, and the places to stay with their known availability will appear higher in the search results.

APPLY NOW: VisitEngland's 'We're Good To Go' Industry Standard and Consumer Mark

Working with our partners at VisitEngland, as well as other destinations and industry associations, we can announce that a new Industry Standard and Consumer Mark has been launched.

Called 'We're Good To Go' it includes a free online assessment of the measures you’ve introduced to make your business safe for visitors.

It takes around 20 minutes to apply, and if successful, you will be able to display the mark on your premises and promotional materials.

The initiative will be backed with a major national public information campaign 'Know Before You Go' to raise awareness, so your potential customers will be looking for it when they plan their visit.

We have updated the Business Support page with further details.

Useful Links

The UK Government website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19

VisitEngland: https://www.visitbritain.org/business-advice/advice-tourism-and-event-businesses-affected-covid-19

UKHospitality: https://www.ukhospitality.org.uk/page/coronavirus

IAAPA, The Global Association for the Attractions Industry: https://www.iaapa.org/news/covid-19-resource-page