The past few months have seen a lot of changes and disruptions to our normal lives and businesses, and throughout March and April a number of hotels around the city had to quickly adapt their operations to accommodate the large influx of Macau residents return- ing home from overseas who needed to be under “medical observation” for 14 days.
Two of those hotels were the Grand Lapa, Macau with 435 rooms, and Grand Coloane Resort with 208 rooms, both managed by Artyzen Hospitality Group. Both hotels were at full capacity for a period of around 16 days, and understandably had to deal with a number of challenges and some steep learning curves.
“We had a nice open discussion with the Macao Government Tourism Office, and they asked if Grand Coloane would like to participate in this program. That was the first step,” explains Mr. Rutger Verschuren, Area Vice President – Macau Operations, Artyzen Hospitality Group and General Manager – Grand Lapa Macau.
“Together with Artyzen, the hotel management company, the owners and the management team, we very quickly decided yes, we would like to support the community and the government, so we went ahead. And then, a few days after Grand Coloane started, we got another call asking, “How about Grand Lapa?’”
From then things moved very quickly. “From the moment we agreed, we only had about 24 hours to get ready, because there were so many people arriving back from overseas, especially students,” notes Rutger.
Naturally, planning had to happen very fast and there were a lot of concerns and questions that had to be answered. The hotel management worked closely with MGTO as the central coordinator, as well as the Health Bureau and Customs Bureau.
“We established a chat group so we could coordinate and keep in touch 24/7. I must really praise the cooperation,” Rutger says. “We quickly vacated the hotel by relocating the guests we had to Mandarin Oriental, and closed the public areas.”
Another important issue was allaying any health concerns that the staff might have, many of whom lived with family members and elderly relatives all under the one roof.
“My strategy was not about minimising the risk for the staff, but making sure the risk was zero,” the general manager explains. “Just reducing the risk was not enough. So we created a health team to work with our security, front office and F&B teams to fully train them on how to use the protective hazmat suits and other gear, and how to keep clean and safe everything from A-Z. That took away a lot of anxiety for the team.”
The challenge was exacerbated by the fact that many of the hotel employees were blue-card holders living in Zhuhai and were unable to return to work, leaving some departments short-staffed.
“It was very heart-warming that many of our office employees, who have usually not much to do with the operations, including my personal assistant, volunteered to help,” says the GM.
In fact, even Rutger decided to suit up in protective gear and greet all the guests as they arrived in batches from the airport throughout the day and especially at night.
“As a hotelier I would like to know my guests,” he comments. “Most of them were students and their English was perfect, so it was easy to communicate. Upon their arrival, I could see from their eyes that some were OK, but some were nervous, and some were just relieved to finally be back in Macau because they had been travelling for three days to get back. Some of them had been waiting in airports and hospitals, so they came in with lots of emotions. We told them this is ‘your home nearby your home’.”
Once all the guests were settled, the hotel staff began the job of making sure they were all safe and well-informed of the careful procedures that had to be followed every day, in terms of taking their temperatures and receiving their meals, and fresh towels and linen.
Meals would be delivered at a certain time every day and left outside the rooms. Temperatures would be taken every morning and evening. But of course, staff could not enter the rooms or have any close contact with the guests.
“The meals had to be nutritious, healthy and tasty, hygiene had to be 100 percent with zero risk, and the Internet had to be upgraded. One of the first things we did was to call CTM and ensure the fastest available connection,” says Rutger.
With the hotel at full capacity for two weeks, the staff spared no effort to make the guests feel more at ease and welcome during their stay. Every day Rutger sent out a newsletter with words of encouragement, and his team organised online quizzes for the guests with prizes. They even went to Toys R Us and bought some gifts, puzzles and games to help people pass the time.
“We knew their birthdays, so we sent guests hand written cards and birthday cakes with their names. We had daily special treats like Haagen Dazs ice-cream, giant home baked cookies and warm egg tarts, and our room service team drew smileys on the meal bags every day 450 bags per meal, so all of them had a unique ‘smiley of the day’,” notes Rutger. “What I learned is that guests appreciate small things from the heart, much more than we thought.”
Finally, when the medical observation period was over and the guests began to leave, the general manager once again made a point to say good-bye to them all personally at the lobby.
“We got lots of positive feedback,” Rutger says. “This was something very personal for ourselves and our entire team. We were very honoured that we had the chance to help by giving back through our resources and skills: our manpower, our know-how and our hospitality from the heart.”
