MD\/CEO of Transcorp Hotels Plc, Dupe Olusola said\u00a0the key priority of\u00a0its properties, Transcorp Hilton Abuja and Transcorp Hotels Calabar, is safety amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. She said this at the Africa Tomorrow Hospitality conference during her spotlight discussion led by Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard, Founder and Chairman on APO Group, a pan African communications Consultancy.<\/p>\n
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The focus discussion was to deep dive into the leading hospitality brand’s strategy to keep both its hotels open at the onset of the pandemic, the ancillary revenue streams it tapped into and their\u00a0post COVID-19\u00a0plans for recovery.<\/p>\n
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Commenting on the impact of the pandemic, Dupe Olusola said\u00a0\u201cThe COVID-19 crisis is challenging for all industries. However, the hospitality industry has been one of the hardest hit due to the lockdowns implemented globally. The African Union estimated that Africa’s tourism industry lost about $55billion in Travel and Tourism revenue. Bringing this home, we witnessed a drop in numbers in our occupancy and revenue metrics when the virus hit. Regardless, we set our priorities at the onset of the\u00a0lockdown\u00a0which was\u00a0to stay open to cater\u00a0to our extended stay guests, make their safety and that of our employees our topmost priority\u00a0and also keep operations\u00a0running at a minimal level”.<\/p>\n
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“Not closing down the hotel during the lockdown was one of the best decisions we made.\u00a0It gave\u00a0our hotels clarity on the hygiene standards we wanted to maintain,\u00a0constantly\u00a0training the staff\u00a0on operating cleaning protocols\u00a0and set guidelines from health experts to get to where we are now. Our learning curve has been quick as we are better prepared more than ever to welcome all our loyal guests back.”<\/p>\n
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When asked by the host Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard to shed some light on the guidelines the hotels are working with, she referenced\u00a0that\u00a0being part of the Transcorp Group, which also owned a power plant with hundreds of staff\u00a0who were in full operation during the lockdown,\u00a0gave her insights\u00a0into some things that needed to be done.\u00a0Also, the strategic partnership with Hilton birthed the Hilton CleanStay Program\u00a0which\u00a0Transcorp Hilton Abuja has currently employed.<\/p>\n
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Mrs Olusola expatiated on the program saying that\u00a0it emphasizes on extra disinfection of frequently touched areas in guest rooms such as light switches and door handles, increased cleaning frequency of public areas including elevator buttons, hand rails etc.\u00a0Other aspects of the program include the use of a Hilton CleanStay\u00a0Room Seal applied\u00a0on\u00a0the doors of\u00a0all cleaned guestrooms\u00a0to let guests know that no one has accessed the rooms\u00a0since they were\u00a0thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.\u00a0Also, the application of an anti-viral solution to sanitise the air within the hotel space regularly, amongst many other guidelines.\u00a0The\u00a0focus on\u00a0enhanced\u00a0cleanliness\u00a0is\u00a0visible to\u00a0guests\u00a0throughout\u00a0their\u00a0entire stay experience from\u00a0check-in to check-out.<\/p>\n
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She further said “Amid the chaos that the virus birthed, there has been a lot of learning to improve on our already heightened safety standards and to create innovative solutions to maintain top of mind awareness with our guests. One of such solutions is the\u00a0Drive-in cinema\u00a0launched at Transcorp Hilton Abuja which\u00a0provides\u00a0guests a unique\u00a0entertainment\u00a0experience in the comfort of their vehicles, while adhering to the physical distancing guidelines.\u00a0She stressed that Transcorp Hotels has so much to offer to the leisure market and those looking for fun activities and good food while at it.”<\/p>\n
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“The easing of the lockdown, coupled with the confidence our guests have in our standards, have seen our occupancy slowly increase. As we continuously evolve on our hygiene and cleanliness guidelines during<\/p>\n
the pandemic, we are incredibly mindful of providing excellent customer experience and delivering exceptional quality and service that we are known for across our Group.” She noted.<\/p>\n
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The Africa Tomorrow Conference was organised by Africa Hotels and Investment Forum (AHIF) a top-level gathering of investors, developers and business leaders, connecting the industry’s key players from both local and international markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MD\/CEO of Transcorp Hotels Plc, Dupe Olusola said\u00a0the key priority of\u00a0its properties, Transcorp Hilton Abuja and Transcorp Hotels Calabar, is safety amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. She said this at the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n