Company Debt, a top U.K. business website, shared new insights delving into the creative, fun and positive ways the hospitality industry adapted in order to continue surviving the COVID-19 pandemic. Occupancy rates are down around the world, particularly in Europe and North America, with some forecasts predicting it could take four years for rates to return to pre-COVID-19 levels; however, the news hasn’t stopped hotel sales and marketing teams from pivoting and trying new ways to maximize revenues.

Here are eight ways hotels and the hospitality industry adapted amid the pandemic:

• Check-In Changes and Key Digitization: Reducing human contact has been key during the pandemic, with many creating contact-less, express check-in options, and digital keys.
• Whole Spa Rental: While some hotels were forced to close communal areas, others began to allow facilities, like spas, to be pre-booked for time slots throughout the day for families or other similar groupings.
• Day-Only Stays: Spain saw the number of foreign visitors fall by more than 80 percent, prompting hoteliers to turn guestrooms into workspaces and offer day rates at a lower price than overnight stays.
• The Workcation: To give locals a chance to escape the house and work and home school from a new environment, hotels like Rosewood Hotel London offer guestrooms with workstations, butler services, flexible check-in and check-out times and more in order to give guests a change of scenery for a few days.
• Robot Butlers: At the Mercantile Hotel in New Orleans, a robot butler can deliver drinks or food, or assist in other ways. Hotels adopt this policy to reduce face-to-face interactions and also generate some additional revenue.
• Flexibility, Safety and Lots of Information: Not surprisingly, nearly every hotel brand implemented strict cleaning protocols and other measures to increase health and safety, while also offering more flexible cancellation and rebooking policies and making this information more transparent and easier to find.
• Marketing Rooms Differently: Aside from workspaces and workcations, hotels continually find new ways to market in the current environment, allowing essential works to isolate away from family or offering discounted rates on luxury rooms to allow locals to experience their city in a new way.
• Renovating for the Future: In addition to touch-free systems throughout the hotel, hotels are emphasizing health-related features for the future, including antimicrobial finishes, high-performance ventilation and more.

Learn more about Company Debt’s research.

Have you experienced any of these adaptations in your recent travels? What other creative ways have you seen hotels adapt? Tell us about it. Email us at letters@globaltravelerusa.com. Please include your full name and location.