Hospitality in the News - 14 May 2020

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Your latest instalment of articles and opinions from across the Hospitality sector.

TW: thinkingdifferently

Is it Hindsight 20/20 or "Hindsight 2020"?

Hindsight 20/20 is a saying which means that it's easy to know the right thing to do after something has happened, but it's hard to predict the future. COVID-19 is giving us "Hindsight 2020" – it's still as hard as ever to predict the future, but it's pretty clear what we would have done differently with the benefit of hindsight.

The more interesting question though is what you will do differently going forward with the benefit of Hindsight 2020?

How many of you now see moving to the countryside and working remotely as a viable option? Does the rise of webinars, which we are sure you are all attending, lead to the decline of large scale conferences in 2021 and beyond? Would this have happened without the COVID-19 pandemic? Will there be as many "road warriors" actually on the road visiting customers, or will this happen more through Zoom? The employees of the hospitality sector have been hit as hard as any sector around the world. Will this have a long-term impact and lead to a further reduction in graduates choosing to work in the hospitality industry, a sector that has already had difficulties in recruiting and maintaining its workforce? Finally we have seen that a number of the big operators have put new extensive cleanliness programmes in place, will these stay post lockdown?

Did you know?

The Grand Hyatt Shanghai at the top of the 88-floor Jin Mao Tower holds the record for the world's longest laundry chute. It stretches all the way from the 87th floor to the basement of the tower – a total distance of more than 1,080 feet.