Welcoming hotel guests post lockdown
Following many daunting weeks of lockdown and hundreds of thousands of holiday cancellations, as planes were grounded and hotel doors closed, eager travellers will be delighted that the travel sector is slowly coming back to life.Hotels across the continent are starting to welcome guests back through their doors. It’s reassuring news for the hospitality sector, but how can hotel operators safeguard staff and guests while ensuring an enjoyable experience amid the restrictions that remain in place?
Last minute bookings are very quickly building up as people seek to venture further afield pursuing a change of scenery and mindset following weeks of lockdown. Hotels will need to ensure they are effectively communicating social distancing measures as well as changes to usual service that have resulted from the pandemic. It has always been the hospitality sector’s mission to provide enjoyable, memorable experiences, and this now matters more than ever to rebuild client confidence as businesses begin to bounce back after months of closure.
Communicating clearly and effectively through signage will be essential to ensuring guests follow official government guidelines during their stay. Those guidelines could include requirements to practice social distancing; limiting the number of staff and guests in common areas such as at the reception desk, restaurants, bars and meeting rooms; and health and safety guidelines in restrooms.
Communicating to drive confidence and repeat bookings
Being able to easily create signage in-house and on-demand will allow hotels to take control of the branding, messaging and design of their visual communications to protect and inform guests without impacting their enjoyment.With access to the right media and printers available in-house, hotel operators can quickly adapt signage that communicates official Covid-19 guidance as and when it changes with minimal stress, time and costs. Being able to change printed collateral on-demand also helps to meet guests’ expectations for personalisation, such as using customers’ names and native languages for key card sleeves and collateral placed in their rooms such as room service menus, door hangers and notices.
On-site restaurants and bars will be impacted by social distancing measures and regular cleaning requirements. Waterproof menus and placemats can be sterilised after each use and QR codes can be printed on tearproof, waterproof stickers and flyers that can be placed on tables for contactless access to bar, restaurant and wine menus. Housekeeping notices can be placed in cloakrooms to instil confidence they are regularly cleaned. Window clings can be stuck on meeting room windows advising guests of the restriction in the number of people allowed in a room, and floor stickers can remind guests to keep a safe distance. All this and more can be easily printed and implemented in-house, enabling hotels to quickly adhere to changing government guidelines.
Hosting private events is an opportunity to access additional revenue for many hotels. Printing in-house and on-demand will help hotels reduce print costs when it comes to supplying wristbands, directional signage and event decorations such as banner stands, posters and flyers. Social distancing notices and floor stickers will be essential, and being able to print these on demand will help hotels personalise events quickly, easily and cost-effectively.
Lower costs and zero lead times
OKI Europe Ltd recognises the challenge hotels face when encouraging social distancing and has teamed up with Floralabels to offer free* social distancing media and artwork to create self-adhesive floor stickers that can be printed quickly and easily from an A3 colour printer such as OKI’s C800 Series. The free designs include a self-adhesive floor circle (285 x 285mm) and rectangular floor banners in two sizes (215 x 900mm and 297 x 1,320 mm) with various messaging options to choose from.
Ideal for hotels, restaurants and other hospitality businesses, OKI’s multi award-winning C800 Series is perfect for printing in-house. This compact printer is designed to take up a minimal footprint in the back office and will supply everything from door hangers and placemats, to 1.3m metre hanging and freestanding banners, posters, self-adhesive floor and window stickers, as well as waterproof menus that can be sanitised after each use, and much more.
Following weeks of staying at home, the re-opening of hotels will be welcome news for eager holidaymakers as well as a relief to hotel operators. However, the necessary steps must be taken to protect the well-being of both staff and guests and contain the spread of the virus, while ensuring guests have an enjoyable experience post lockdown.
Please note, for information on specific media that should be used with OKI printers for the applications specified on this page, please contact your local certified dealer or contact us.
