In the latest in a series talking to members of the sector during the COVID-19 outbreak, Julie Rey-Gore interviews Pieter van Tilburg co-founder CityHub
What is your immediate priority at the moment?
Our first priority is the health and safety of employees, keeping a good morale and tight relationships among the teams despite social distancing. Setting up tools and processes to provide a healthy working condition and remote as much as possible has been on top of our mind too.
What is your hope for the hospitality industry in a post COVID-19 world?
First of all my hope is that people will be able to enjoy travelling with a light heart again and that the hospitality industry will be resilient and innovative enough to make it possible for them.
In countries where social distancing is being enforced, how many properties do you expect will be kept open for use by the state? And how many in general?
In most countries social distancing has currently been enforced, nevertheless the specific rules widely vary per country or even per region. In the Netherlands, we currently have social distancing rules in public areas, and restaurants and bars had to close. Hotels are allowed to stay open provided that staff and guests are safe and respect the rules. Most of the properties that are currently closed are not so by the State’s decision but had to do it because of the dramatic drop in demand.
How many staff have you been able to retain and what jobs have you found for them?
We have made an effort to retain all of our staff and are making use of the opportunities that the downturn provides by devoting attention to different types of projects. We are currently updating our SOP and making it ready for CityHub’s growth, refreshing our brand strategy and image and working on our company culture and internal communication. A lot of attention continues to go out to the development of our first international location in Copenhagen, which is planned to open by the end of this summer. Furthermore, we are busy making sure that, we are ready to bounce back up quickly when the crisis comes to an end
Also the staff on location is kept in place and busy with interior updates, maintenance and brainstorming on creative ideas to adapt to the changing circumstances.
How effective has state aid been for retaining staff? And helping owners?
The government’s initiatives to help companies affected by the crisis are playing a very important role, especially for what concerns retaining staff. In the Netherlands the government set up a system that covers up to 90% of payroll expenses dependent on the decline of turnover. This is a huge help, but it only alleviates a part of the fixed costs companies cope with. To overcome this crisis all stakeholders need to be involved in finding solutions. Government intervention or alleviation with respect to other main costs drivers, for example real estate costs, might be inevitable.
When all this has passed, how easy will it be to open the shutters and start trading again?
We haven’t closed operation completely, so we are there for our guests as soon as travel restrictions are lifted or loosened up.
Do you anticipate a rapid or gradual recovery?
As it becomes safe to travel again and air traffic is resumed, we expect a bounce back at least for domestic and European leisure travel, which will hopefully help with a relatively quick initial recovery. Nevertheless we do not expect occupancy and pick up to be back to the 2019 standards earlier than 12-18 months from now.
And any permanent changes to operations?
We have adapted our operations so that we can provide a safe and comfortable environment even during the current circumstances. Mainly by making sure that higher hygiene standards can be guaranteed at all times, and that our staff is properly trained. Where necessary, we are also making some changes in interior design or user policies for common spaces. While our Hub solution already provides enhanced privacy and safety compared to a traditional hostel, we are looking into adapting our common areas in order to be able to provide a safe distance between travellers.
And any changes to how people travel which you can envisage?
As for the period immediately after the crisis, I expect leisure travellers to opt for shorter trips and destinations closer to home, travelling by train or car rather than flying. I don’t think people will be discouraged to travel, though. They have been staying at home for very long now and are eager to travel again. Especially Millennials will crave to get back to travel regularly. A more permanent change could concern business and corporate travel since companies are adapting to perform tasks remotely.