26 Aug 2020
I can’t deny how much I enjoyed going to my home county Argyll recently, staying at the Loch Melfort Hotel for a few days.
As lockdown was beginning to ease, some people have questioned why anyone would choose to stay in a hotel during these times as it surely couldn’t be a great experience.
But from my own perspective, I can tell you I was very impressed with the way the hotel management had put the recommended COVID-19 processes and protocols in place so that that the visit was as normalised as possible, with the underlying reassurance that their staff and guests’ safety were always at the front of mind.
Bookings and visitor numbers are buoyant in rural areas, and personal experience shows that the West End of Glasgow has been buzzing for some time with a proliferation of restaurants open and welcoming customers back - introducing some radical and imaginative innovations to their business models to do this safely.
Eusebi’s on Park Road, for example, has made wise use of lockdown to be inventive in such a way that as we transition through COVID-19 they can still operate. New digital retail solutions have been developed and core values retained by sourcing sustainable carry-out packaging, thereby reducing their carbon footprint, having anticipated that such requirements would surge under new operating conditions.
In the city centre, to reopen the iconic Café Gandolfi, owner Seumas Macinnes had the challenge of ensuring the signature woodwork throughout was clinically cleansed. His solution was working with Scandi Scotland, using a chemical free and green product to ensure a pathogen-free environment for 30 days each time it’s used.
But speaking of the city centre, with few offices yet to return and that footfall lost, encouraging more people to choose to come and eat there is a challenge that needs addressed. The Eat Out Dine Out scheme has certainly helped to boost footfall earlier in the week but that concludes imminently.
Similarly our hotels have issues with encouraging customer confidence. According to the Visit Britain COVID-19 Consumer Tracker, only 18% of people are expecting ‘normality’ by the end of this year. When you look at how that lack of confidence translates to city hotel bookings it is dire.
Bookings for Glasgow’s hotels sits at 11% for September and October and these statistics are only for those which are open so do not take account of those still closed like Apex and the recently launched Moxy. There will of course be a link between this and the predicament of the night-time economy with theatre, nightclubs and live music venues yet to be allowed to reopen.
I’m told 38 Glasgow accommodation providers are already compliant with VisitScotland’s ‘We’re Good to Go’ accreditation, showing that they have all the required COVID-19 Government and Public Health protocols in place.
If we don’t use our city’s hotels as visitors and residents, we will lose them and that would quite simply be catastrophic.
The City Council is listening to Glasgow Chamber’s call for a Taskforce to practically address some of the wider issues being faced in our city centre. Glasgow Life has also come to the front line with its #Glasgowisopen campaign.
Our city centre and its businesses need customers, and they need them now. But there’s a balance of trust in all of this.
The onus is on each of us as customers to take the required personal safety measures whilst also believing that most businesses are doing the same to ensure we can enjoy the experience and stay healthy.
I’m glad to say the evidence is that most of them are.
