How Whitby’s Holiday Property Owners Are Adapting To The ‘New Normal’
As the Coronavirus lockdown begins to lift, Whitby’s holiday property owners are establishing new ways of working. In order to keep visitors and cleaning staff safe, Whitby’s holiday cottage and apartment industry is needing to adapt.
Much of the change revolves around improved cleaning techniques – aimed at ensuring that holiday properties remain as COVID secure as possible.
We spoke to one owner, Lisa Pollard, to find out what she is doing to ensure her holiday accommodation remains a safe and welcoming place for visitors to Whitby.
“We have two holiday properties in Whitby that we let out, one through airBnB, the other through Sykes. We have been thinking long and hard about how we welcome guests again as safely as possible in the ‘new norm’ after the Covid 19 pandemic, especially as there is so much guidance out there from various organisations and groups but very little solid guidance from the government.”
Lisa says that she has decided to do the following:
- Discussed the new cleaning procedures in-depth with our cleaning team and added some additional measures
- Increased time allocated for the clean
- Committed to professional decontamination fogging at every turnaround
- Removed all soft furnishings including ‘dress cushions’ and ‘throws’
- Removed any ornaments to make the cleaning process more efficient
- Increased turnaround time to 1 day
“We realise that our overheads have increased dramatically and that we can’t pass all these costs onto the customer, but we will be advising potential customers on the new measures and in our hearts we know we are doing absolutely everything in our power to ensure the health, safety and welfare of our guests.”
Lisa says the she is also looking into terms and conditions that potentially guests can read and sign specifically for COVID-19. It will be important for owners to confirm that visitors are not travelling with any symptoms and to clarift what the cancellation procedures would be if they had to cancel. It will also be important for owners to determine what to do if any symptoms occurred whilst guests were staying at holiday properties. However, much of this remains unknown at this point, whilst the government determines what new laws may need to be implemented to protect both guests and owners.
How are you adapting your business practices?
We’d love to hear from more businesses who are adapting their processes in light of the Coronavirus situation. What have you had to change in order to protect your staff, customers and revenue? Get in touch and let us know.
We know Whitby is full of creative and resourceful businesses. We have every confidence that the town’s economy will recover quickly once visitors can travel freely, eat, drink and stay in popular holiday destinations once again.
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