BROCHURE CORPORATE 2022_ENG | Page 12

Our reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic
Letter from Giammarco Bisogno Founder and CEO of Emma Villas
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EMMA VILLAS - EXCLUSIVE VILLAS FOR RENT IN ITALY

Our reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic

Letter from Giammarco Bisogno Founder and CEO of Emma Villas

Chiusi January 2022 Dear Friends ,
the response that the Emma Villas community has given , and is giving , to the Covid-19 pandemic has made me proud of what we have built together . It is needless to tell you how much this experience , not yet behind us , has marked each one of us and that we will not forget a single day of these long months of great concern but our community , that of the owners - who are our strength , that of our clients and my staff - who converse with them every day , has shown a sense of belonging and great strength . With all of them we have shared that which immediately seemed the only way forward in order to start again : putting the health and safety of our community , clients and owners , at the center of our choices by working for the present , but wishing to guarantee the future . This has been and is our policy for managing the Covid 19 emergency . We had about 1,500 weeks cancelled in 2020 , about 100 a day in the darkest periods and in 2021 we lost the entire initial part of the season . In the most difficult months we spoke with every client , with a staff forced into working from home from one day to the next , always looking for solutions so as not to betray that pact of trust in which I have believed since I founded my company . We tried to go beyond booking a villa and we bet on the fact that , together , we would come out stronger than before . We have had the support of thousands of clients who , by accepting our voucher proposals for 2021 and 2022 , have confirmed that they cannot renounce Italy , their dream holiday in our country , confirming not only the booking of a week in Amalfi or in Val d ' Orcia , but also their love for our country . Today , while I am writing to you with optimism , we finally see signs of recovery from foreign markets as well : the United Kingdom , the United States . In these last two very difficult years we have dissatisfied some - few in reality - but we have built with many a concrete way to return to hosting our clients . The same happened with the owners of our villas ( having lost due to the objective impossibility of opening the villas , the initial part of the 2020 season , as had also happened in 2021 ) with whom we have created the conditions to open the structures safely , with a heterogeneous and constantly evolving regulatory framework . In 2020 and 2021 we convinced the owners , who were fearful of the idea of opening the structures , that we could do it and that we would focus on Italian clients , the most reluctant to take a holiday in the countryside and in the villas . We helped them to solve , through our Safe Welcome Project , the problems related to the sanification of the structures , supporting them in the choice of the companies in charge , in the adoption of safety protocols , facilitating their understanding and adoption and , at the same time , encouraging economically the choice of solutions that guaranteed the greatest possible protection of the health of guests and of the staff who manage the properties . We supported the training of the staff dedicated to the reception , maintenance and cleaning of the villas by creating specially-made informative material and making ourselves available with an active desk during the 2020 and 2021 season on issues related to Covid-19 in order to make it easier to access information and the management of any problems related to the application of guidelines and protocols . We have always been there for them and we will be there again next season , which we trust will be more serene than the previous ones , thanks to a very difficult but formative experience . We asked our owners and clients for their trust , some of them supported us very movingly , understanding the enormous effort , also financially , that we have made such as that of making , in full lockdown , with the uncertainty about the concrete possibility of starting the season , a TV commercial and , to reinforce our loyalty scheme for our Italian clients , planning a new TV campaign for Christmas 2021 as well . In the programmed commercials we asked Italians to choose Italy and our villas for their holidays . Thousands of them responded in 2020 and 2021 , we are waiting for them again this year . We are happy to have been able to offer our clients the serenity of a holiday in our villas ; for many of them it was the first time and we are sure that they understood , by experiencing it , how this type of stay is a satisfying and safe choice for families and groups of friends .
Heartfelt thanks to the clients , to the owners , who have put their trust in us , and to my staff . Thanks to all of them , it was possible to react and get back on the road . In the end , I haven ' t spoken to you about the policies … but I spoke to you about people ; it is people who always make the difference . We look forward with confidence and pride , to start again without forgetting .
Giammarco Bisogno Founder and CEO of Emma Villas