CHECKING IN WITH
HOTELIERS
AROUND THE GLOBE
LANI SHUFELT
PROPRIETRESS,
THE CHANLER,
NEWPORT,
RHODE ISLAND,
NEW YORK
WHAT IS THE STATUS AT YOUR
RESORT?
Our hotel and restaurant are currently
closed, but we are offering “Mansion
at Home,” a new takeout option for
Newport locals seeking gourmet meals.
WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE
CHALLENGES YOU ARE FACING
AND HOW ARE YOU ADDRESSING
THEM?
Our greatest asset is our people. Having
closed the hotel and restaurant, we do
not have work for our team. Many of our
colleagues have been with us five and 10
or more years and we feel so lucky to
have them, so we have been creative in
developing projects that allow us to keep
the team engaged. Our takeout allows us
to keep some of our culinary team working,
provides a program for the marketing team
to focus on and opportunity for our rooms
team to take orders and carry out to cars.
We have also decided to focus on some
capital projects,
such as painting
the exterior
of the hotel,
which provides
work for our
colleagues as
well during this
time. We are
so fortunate
to have an
incredible sense
of community amongst our team at The
Chanler — almost every team member
has been in touch with me, checking on
how things are going, how they can help in
any way. I feel incredibly grateful to have
the support of a great team and I make
it a point to speak with different team
members who are currently out of work
every day.
DO YOU ANTICIPATE A STRONG
REBOUND? WHAT IS YOUR
STRATEGY OVER THE NEXT FEW
MONTHS?
We anticipate our guests will want to
travel and have new experiences. We are
discussing a lot around what about Food
& Beverage program will look like in the
immediate future when we reopen, and
potential long-term effects. We feel
comfort food will have a huge comeback —
as we are already seeing with our takeout
program — and are working on reinventing
a collaboration of fine dining and comfort
food. During the summer season, we open
our outdoor terrace restaurant which
abuts a large lawn overlooking the ocean.
We feel guests are going to continue to
practice social distancing in some capacity,
so we are looking at ways we can spread
our terrace tables out over the lawn by
at least six feet apart. We also anticipate
that guests will want grab and go items on
a more regular basis, so we have a luxury
gelato cart in the works that will allow
guests to experience the property and
views without too much close contact.
14
ILHA