Skift Take
It's not if you get knocked down, but how you get up that matters. Not only do hospitality teams have the opportunity to provide guests with shelter and stability, but they can expand their impact throughout their local communities highlighting the strength and potential for our sector to be force of good.
More than a month has passed since storms such as Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria started their destructive journeys across the U.S. and Caribbean causing an estimated $188 billion or more in damages.
As Skift tourism reporter Dan Peltier wrote last month, U.S. and Caribbean destinations were quick to launch marketing campaigns encouraging visitors to return and leveraged social media to chronicle the recovery progress made in recent weeks.
Luxury hotels were also eager to welcome back guests and a semblance of normality once the worst of the storms were over. This is still not possible in some areas. Hospitality teams traditionally dedicated at excelling their customers’ expectations have gone back to basics where safety and basic comfort come before five-star luxuries.
With repair and normality slowly returning to many of their operations, Skift spoke to leaders at luxury properties to learn what goes into preparing for natural disasters, how they take care of customers, and what lessons they gained through the experience.
Clear Communication
Communication is of course the first line of defense for any team during such dynamic and unpredictable situations.
Each of the hotels’ staff that we spoke to routinely go through a series of measures prior to storm season. Team members test power gener
