The pandemic has altered the hospitality landscape in so many ways, with an understandably strong focus on health and safety. 

One Antigua resort, the Hodges Bay Club, has announced a major new initiative to transform its operations to reflect the new realities of travel, particularly as Antigua begins to reopen for tourism next month. 

That includes the introduction of a viral mitigation guide for the property, which covers “the prevention of any viral strain that may threaten the well-being of its staff and guests.”

The plan highlights all standard operating procedures to be adopted by the property in the event of any viral outbreak, including the actions of staff in areas of guest management, cleaning and disinfecting, room management, laundry operations and food and beverage.

Some of the resort’s measures include a 48-hour hold on rooms recently vacated, daily sanitization of rooms, a 48-hour laundry lock and pre-wash sun disinfecting process.

“Hotel management is cognizant of the extenuating circumstances caused by the onset of COVID-19 worldwide and sought to adapt the best practices of leading global corporations such as Disney, who enlisted the experts of the John Hopkins University to compile their list of operating protocols,” said Jeff Wellemeyer, CEO and Chairman of Hodges Bay.

A nurse’s station has been secured on property with two nurses and two doctors on call for 24-hour periods, and temperature checks have become a mandatory part of the resort’s staff and guest check-in procedure.

All staff members are also being asked to complete an on-line health checklist prior to leaving for work and this checklist is instantly screened to prevent sick staff members from attending work while exhibiting symptoms of a viral infection.

Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Minister Charles Fernandez said he was impressed with the level of commitment exhibited by the management of the property.

“They’ve covered all of the bases to ensure the safety of not just their guests but their staff as well,” he said. 

“The good thing about this is that a template has been created to ensure consistency of operations to prevent or to contain not just COVID-19, but any similar viral outbreak that may threaten industry operations in the future, and I foresee that other properties will (and should) adopt similar procedures for guidance in these circumstances,” he said. 

Once inspected and certified by the ministries of tourism and health, the resort plans to officially re-open for operation in early June 2020.

For more, visit Hodges Bay Club. 

— CJ

The post How This Antigua Resort Is Transforming Its Operations appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Southwest Airlines is planning to relaunch a number of routes as the Caribbean begins opening up once again for tourism, the carrier said. 

While the launches are dependent on each individual destination’s reopening plans, Southwest Airlines said it would be resuming service to destinations in both Mexico and the Caribbean. 

For now, Southwest plans to resume service to Havana, Cuba; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Nassau, The Bahamas beginning July 1. 

It should be noted that those Caribbean destinations have not yet officially announced when they will be reopening their borders.

In Mexico, Southwest also plans to resume service to Cancun, along with flights to San Jose del Cabo/Los Cabos. 

“Southwest continues to monitor conditions in 14 international destinations on the carrier’s network map and update operational plans,” the company said in a statement.

The flights are available for purchase on the company’s Web site, Southwest said in a statement. 

It will not be a complete relaunch however — routes will be limited, however, according to an analysis by Caribbean Journal.

For example, Southwest will be operating flights from Baltimore-Washington to Montego Bay, and Nassau — not from its growing Caribbean-focused hub in Fort Lauderdale. 

Havana flights will be operated out of Tampa, Fla.

The move comes as other carriers have begun to resume service to the Caribbean, most notably Delta Air Lines, which is set to resume a wave of routes to the Caribbean in June. 

So far, the only Caribbean destinations that officially plan to reopen are the United States Virgin Islands, which is planning to open June 1; Saint Lucia, which has announced a June 4 reopening; and Aruba, which has announced plans to reopen sometime in the second half of June.

For more, visit Southwest. 

— CJ

The post Southwest Airlines Is Planning a Caribbean Relaunch appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Guyana has drafted a four-stage blueprint for the reopening of the country’s airports. 

The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority has submitted the plan for review with the country’s National COVID-19 Task Force. 

Guyana’s airports have been closed since the early stages of the pandemic. 

The first phase is the planning stage, followed by the resumption of regional travel. 

“Our third phase is really now expanding [the reopening] some more- taking in foreign nationals and this phase runs right through like between August and December,” said Lt. Col. Egbert Fieldm Director General of the GCAA. 

The fourth phase would see an extension of the airports’ reopening into 2021, with what officials called a “possible resumption to normalcy in the aviation sector.”

— CJ

The post Guyana Considers “Phased Reopening” of Airports appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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