COVID-19 requires an extraordinary response in order to protect our people – particularly the vulnerable. It is already creating uncertainty in the global markets and this will undoubtedly have rippling effects for quite some time.
President Ramaphosa called for a 21-day national lockdown in an effort to combat the spread of the virus. City Lodge Hotel Group fully supports this measure – when so many lives are at stake, it is important to take the utmost care. And so the Stay At Home movement began.
As a hotel group, this has some ramifications for us, which we will be unpacking in this post. During the lockdown all of our South African hotels will be temporarily closed. Should any individual hotel be called on to provide support to government or essential businesses – we are more than happy to help, and these hotels will remain open for those purposes. In essence, our hotels are ready to reopen at a moment’s notice when we are called to do so.
Core central office functions will remain operational during lockdown as well, as the staff members responsible for these functions work remotely. This is to provide our guests with important assistance, like the processing of refunds for stays that fall within the lockdown period and the handling of future, post-lockdown reservations. Feel free to reach out to us via social media if you need anything!
Our Protocol
Prior to lockdown, President Ramaphosa pronounced a national state of disaster, leading us to put certain protocols in place to ensure our staff and guests remain safe. At the forefront of that is screening our guests upon check-in. While this may seem obtrusive and inconvenient, we are obliged to do so in accordance with the national state of disaster. This screening involves, but is not limited to, completing and signing a questionnaire and the scanning of their temperature with a thermal scanner.
These measures are to ascertain our guests’ risk of carrying or potential of exposure to the virus. If a guest’s temperature is high or if they are experiencing symptoms of the virus they would not be allowed to check-in and would be referred to a medical facility to receive care. This may feel extreme, but, as with the heart behind lockdown, they are necessary precautions that we have implemented in order to be sure our guests have a safe stay and our staff are not at risk.
After Lockdown
No doubt, everyone will have a bit of cabin fever after being cooped up at home for three weeks. We’re looking forward to getting back to work and offering you affordable accommodation while you stretch your legs. It won’t quite be business as usual though, particularly as the above protocol will still be in place while the national state of emergency is in effect.
We have a whole host of precautions that we put in place to ensure our hotels are clean and happy places to be, such as providing guest and staff hand sanitising points, regular routine cleaning and protective wear provided to our cleaning staff. All these measures are taken with our guests and staff in mind, knowing that, though they may sometimes feel a bit odd, they are necessary to ensure that everyone stays healthy.
We have published our full COVID-19 protocol, if you have any concerns or would like to read on what we’re doing to ensure the safety of our staff and guests, please be sure to consult it. If the situation to change, this list would also be updated with any further measures or announce any precautions that are no longer necessary.
Stay safe and we’ll see you soon!