In an ongoing effort to balance hospitality and security, the hotel and hospitality industry is uniquely vulnerable to crisis. Hotels face safety challenges that range from unpredictable guest behavior to natural disasters, to global pandemics like the coronavirus.
Considering the possible circumstances that can compromise guest experience can leave hotels unsure of how to adequately prepare a crisis communication strategy in moments of danger or conflict.
The good news is real-time communication and well-prepared crisis plans can help stave off the devastation and high costs of crises. Our white paper, “Hotel Crisis Planning and Communications,” navigates the essential preparation measures hotels should implement to ensure cross-organizational readiness in the event of a disaster.
Assess Your Hotel’s Regional Vulnerabilities
Whether it’s determining proximity to earthquake fault lines on the West Coast, studying hurricane forecasts in the Gulf and on the East, or flooding risks in Central Europe, knowing what your hotel may be up against is a key first step in hotel workforce management strategy in the event of a crisis. This preparation includes structural reassurances, such as making sure the building is up to code, or ensuring hotel rooms are equipped with flashlights, first aid kits, and smoke detectors to create hospitality and safety.
Centralize Crisis Management Resources in an Employee App
When it comes to crisis communications, having every member of your hotel using the same internal communication tools within one digital hub is key. There is a multitude of internal communications strategies that can be optimized by technology, including the necessary documents your hotel staff needs to respond quickly in case of crisis. Make information such as emergency exit routes, meeting safe zones, and evacuation plans readily accessible for your hospitality workforce by embedding relevant internal communications within an employee app.
Use an Employee App for Recovery Post-Crisis
Many of the essential functions of an employee app will prove beneficial before, during, and after an emergency situation in your hotel.
- Confirmation campaigns ensure that key memos and announcements are read and understood by your hospitality workforce. Confirmation campaigns can also be used to confirm hotel staff safety.
- Pulse surveys collect employee feedback to evaluate leadership performance under crisis, as well as inquire about ways you hotel could improve handling of unfortunate and unpredictable events in the future.
- Communication streams help distribute real-time safety notifications to your entire hotel staff. An example could be arranging any necessary transportation services for hotel guests and employees in the event of an evacuation.
How to Use Beekeeper During a Pandemic Like Coronavirus
How to use Beekeeper to communicate with your hospitality team during an emergency situation like the coronavirus.
Newsfeed Posts
- Post “Quick Hygiene Tips to Stay Healthy” and use a “coronavirus” label
- Post Travel Guidelines
- Pin a post with symptoms to watch for. For example, “Stay Home if You Have the Following Symptoms: xyz”
- Post updates to Standard Operating Procedures or Uniform Requirements if they are adapted to cope with the virus
- Post video guides for hand washing best practices
- Create a dedicated live stream with real-time updates
Communications Campaigns
- Send a direct message campaign with updates to uniform requirements (for example, if you allow or encourage masks or gloves to be worn during the public health crisis)
- Send a campaign with updated cleaning requirements and request confirmation from recipients
Surveys
- If you have standing meetings or training related to updated procedures, send out a quiz via a mobile survey afterward to make sure your team is retaining the information.
- Keep track of who’s out with an Availability Status Zap, an automated workflow that can be created by connecting Beekeeper with Zapier, a service that lets you connect all your workplace apps.
Chats
- Create a dedicated group chat so employees have a place to go to ask questions relating to coronavirus
In the face of a crisis, there are many tactics that the hospitality industry can engage to assess, prepare, take action, restore, and rebuild. Given the highly-dispersed nature of hotel workforces, providing a mobile internal communications and operations tool for your employees should be considered an essential step as you create a crisis management strategy.
