Tamarack Resort Announces Plan for Phased Reopening Beginning May 16

In accordance with Idaho Rebounds, Gov. Brad Little’s guidelines for opening up Idaho, Tamarack Resort has received approval from Central District Health for its phased reopening beginning on Saturday, May 16.

The phased approach prioritizes the health and safety of employees, guests, and homeowners while resuming dining, lodging, and recreation-based activities.

Starting May 16, Tamarack will resume its dining and lodging services and will also open its meadow hiking and biking trails for complimentary use while encouraging appropriate social distancing. Tamarack’s recently opened retail outlets, including the Clearwater Coffee Shop and Village Market and Deli, will also reopen with enhanced health and safety protocols. Construction on The Village at Tamarack will resume, including real estate tours of the Village residential units and the real estate gallery. Additional activities will resume on the following dates:

• May 21: Scenic lift rides on Tamarack Express

• May 22 (Memorial Day Weekend): Waterfront Cabana motorized & non-motorized boat rentals

• May 28: Lift-served mountain biking (dependent on mid-mountain snow melt)

• June 6: Tamarack Zipline Tours (dependent on mid-mountain snow melt)

• Mid-June: Guided whitewater rafting trips on the Cabarton stretch of the North Fork of the Payette River.

For all recreation updates, guests are encouraged to visit TamarackIdaho.com for the latest days and hours of operations, and to pre-book excursions.

Several of Tamarack’s new protocols and procedures across the resort will include:

• COVID-19 training for employees pursuant to Central District Health (CDH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines

• All employees will receive daily temperature checks and be provided gloves and masks to wear during interactions with the public

• Enhanced cleaning and sanitizing of all high-touch surfaces, lodging properties, and recreation equipment

• Installation of Plexiglass dividers at all point of sale locations

• Hand sanitizing stations located throughout the resort, including all high traffic areas, elevators, and entry ways to main buildings

• Signage and markers to support all social distancing guidelines

• Limiting the number of guests inside dining, reception, and ticket areas

• Use of one-time menus in dining establishments

• Use of touchless card readers for transactions

• Complimentary masks available for all guests who forget to bring their own

  The resort encourages all guests planning to visit Tamarack and surrounding mountain communities in Valley County to respect new protocols in place at local businesses and recreation areas – by continuing social distancing, wearing a mask in public, practicing good hand hygiene, and staying home when feeling sic

Domio Develops Apart-Hotel Industry's Most Comprehensive Cleaning Program

Domio, the apart-hotel hospitality company, unveiled its new Domio Difference program outlining industry leading guest experience enhancements to provide guests with peace of mind while they relax in the comfort of home and confidence of a hotel during their Domio stay. The Domio Difference program outlines a series of innovative guest-facing technology combined with enhanced cleaning measures and health amenities to provide guests with assurance of safety and security during their stay

The Domio team developed the cleaning portion of its new program with guidance provided by the CDC, EPA, WHO and leading cleaning chemical manufacturers including Ecolab to formulate its new 100-point cleaning process. Additionally, all Domio guests will be provided with in-room face masks and disinfectant wipes.

While certain technology improvements such as keyless entry and mobile check-in and check-out were already under development by the Domio team as part of its long-term vision of inserting leading technology into hospitality to create frictionless guest experiences, the thrust of the Domio Difference cleaning enhancements were fast-tracked as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic

The Domio Difference program highlights, include:

• In-Unit Health Kit: Guests will be provided with complimentary face masks and disinfecting wipes in each Domio apart-hotel unit.

• 100-point CDC Compliant Apart-Hotel Cleaning: Domio has developed a 100-point checklist inspired by CDC research to ensure clean room stays.

• Contactless Check-In and Check-Out: Domio guests can now check-in and check-out via Domio’s mobile app, enabling guests to bypass the front desk if they so choose.

• Keyless Entry: Domio’s proprietary technology enables guests to use their mobile device to unlock their apart-hotel removing the need to use a key or keycard.

• Voice-Enabled Assistant: Designed specifically for our apart-hotel guests, our in-room voice-enabled Angie units provide guests with a touchless interface for communication.

• Focus on Fitness Centers: Improved guidelines for disinfecting the hotel Fitness Center, closing for cleaning multiple times daily and limiting the number of guests allowed in at one time.

• 80-point CDC Compliant Public Area Cleaning: Increased frequency and detailed checklist inspired by CDC research along with social distancing.

• Employee PPE: Rest comfortably knowing all employees will be provided masks, gloves and other PPE to ensure your well-being.

U.S. Leisure and Hospitality Industy Lost 8.2 Million Jobs in 2 Months

The U.S. leisure and hospitality industry in April lost 7.7 million jobs, a 47 percent drop, and was the worst-hit sector among non-farm payrolls for the second month in a row, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

April was the first full month where the coronavirus pandemic raged in the United States. The job losses come on top of half a million jobs lost in leisure and hospitality in March.

It was food and drinking establishments, rather than hotels, that were most-impacted in April. The bureau stated that restaurants and bars lost 5.5 million jobs in April, or 71 percent of the total decline in leisure and hospitality employment.

The April job loss in leisure and hospitality was more than three times greater than the second-most-impacted sector, education and health services, which saw a decline of 2.54 million jobs.

The two-month employment drop, including March and April, reached 8.2 million in leisure and hospitality. Some 459,000 jobs were lost in leisure and hospitality in March, versus February, as the coronavirus pandemic began to take its toll. As in April, dining establishments and bars took the brunt of the hit.

In late April, the U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics projected that the coronavirus pandemic would lead to the loss of 8 million jobs out of a total of 24 million in the U.S. economy. 

Responsible Tourism Is Key To Driving Travel Industry Recovery In A Post-Lockdown World

The travel industry has been impacted by environmental disasters including the droughts in Cape Town and the bushfires in Australia, which have awakened our business and personal consciousness. The industry has arguably been late to sustainability and we are now at our own ground zero. This is a unique moment in time to take a pause, right the wrongs, and move away from viewing responsible travel as a 'nice to do'. There should be no such thing as 'sustainable tourism', simply 'tourism' where acting ethically and responsibly sits in the DNA of every travel brand.

 Destinations need to move away from acting as marketing organisations and focus on being responsible management companies with an environmental and social emphasis which in turn will help reap long-term economic benefits

Health and safety will also be embedded into travellers' decisions. This means that destinations will need to work closely with the health ministries, banks, investors, insurance companies and the private sector to achieve this moving forward in a well-coordinated, informed and transparent way. Carbon offsetting also needs to be looked at more closely by all travel brands to ensure their schemes are ethically driven.

It's important, now more than ever, that brands and destinations prioritise responsible travel as the cornerstone of all recovery plans. Amid Covid-19, we can't lose sight of the Paris Agreement, out of this tragedy will come innovation and greater responsibility that the travel industry must act on.

Coronavirus Pushes a Traditional Industry to Go Digital

 Kempinski Hotel Beijing Lufthansa Center innovates its food and beverage service to reach customers to combat the novel coronavirus restrictions. Updates to recent delivery services include a new delivery app addition to the restaurant's repertoire, alongside the advanced WeChat ordering options. The unveiled WeChat online menu allows customers to pre-order online and set up a pick-up time at the restaurants

The novel coronavirus pandemic of 2020 quickly brought the topics of public health and non-contact services into the public eye. 

Bilingual Ordering and Social Distancing

For the convenience of surrounding businesses, residences and embassies, a clear bilingual system created the newest WeChat ordering function. Guests can easily find Paulaner Bräuhaus's full Bavarian menu,

'Bilingual services are very important to Kempinski Hotel Beijing. We hope guests, both Chinese and foreign, can have a simple and easy-to-use platform to enjoy the services of the five-star hotel at such a time,' Hotel Managing Director Brice Péan explained. Continuing to describe the benefit to guests, he said, 'This system allows customers to take the food without having to wait after they arrive at the store, reducing contact and gatherings.'

Numerous Take-out Platforms and 100s of Five-star Food Delivery Services

Kempinski Hotel Beijing implemented more stringent safety standards, including mandatory temperature checks for all kitchen and restaurant employees; a requirement to present public health certificates in public areas ;air sanitisation in the dining area daily; strict ingredient regulations; and frequent disinfection of all equipment. 

Paulaner Bräuhaus's operating hours have been adjusted to 12:00 to 21:00. Kempi Deli's operating hours have also been adjusted and are now from 8:00 to 20:00.

 At the same time, we hope to explore how to reduce the number of plastic products to lessen the environmental impact caused by excessive packaging, as we have the opportunity to create sustainable development of this entire industry,' Brice Péan, the Hotel Managing Director

.