COVID-19 significantly impacted travel and tourism operations worldwide and navigating a resort opening adds an extra layer of complexity . Mai Khao shares her experience and how they have adapted to the new world order .
What are some of the challenges you have faced opening a resort during the pandemic ?
Opening a resort is an exciting yet challenging experience under the best of conditions ; doing so amid the pandemic involves contending with additional layers of complexity . Amid lockdowns and continually evolving regulations , you must swiftly adapt your plans to what ’ s happening in the country at that time . You also need to read the situation , think about what will happen next and how this will affect the chain of events , and come up with alternative solutions to keep everything moving forward .
As the pandemic has affected the availability and delivery times of materials , domestically and overseas , we ’ ve looked at different resources and have adapted our purchases . As the authorities applied restrictions by province across Thailand to limit the spread of the virus , people were not permitted to come to Phuket without good reason . This has caused challenges in regards to suppliers and workers flying to Phuket .
COVID-19 has also dramatically altered the way we do our sales efforts and recruitment drives . Previously we would go to Bangkok to undertake sales calls but now a lot of this is done online . We no longer set-up the lobby of our hotel and prepare to welcome a large number of applicants for the rank and file positions . Instead , we are constantly interviewing applicants online .
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