January/February 2021

idealized version of themselves. And,
we, as an industry cater to that — and
that’s not going to change. That’s what
people want and that’s what we deliver
in a hotel.”
Slower to rebound will be corporate
and group travel, as companies and
organizations grapple with liability issues
around sanctioning trips to places where
danger has so recently lurked. “Business
travel is down enormously,” says Peter
Gaudet, vice-president of Horwath
HTL, a global leader in hotel, tourism
and leisure consulting, articulating what
legions of hoteliers know too well, though
no one has precise numbers to account for
it. “It’s very tough to think of [sending]
massive amounts of employees out on the
road when, if they get sick because they’re
travelling for your company, you may end
up responsible for their health.”
Meetings, conventions, events, sporting
groups and association meetups have
been severely hit by the pandemic, the
victims of governmental restrictions
limiting the number of people allowed
in gatherings, to say nothing of the
buffets and sit-down meals of which
they’ve been deprived in convention
centres, event venues and hotels since
mid-March. But short-term corporate
travel restrictions haven’t precluded
innovation in that market. W recently
launched WxW Meetings, a program
that gives companies in
Toronto the
opportunity to
“meet” with
their
counterparts
in Montreal.
Here, small teams can
meet (and stay) at W Toronto
and connect to their teammates
at W Montreal. One point of contact
handles everything — from the technology
and catering to a single bill, along
with all the special touches that go into
holding a meeting at W.
And, hotels have turned their
corporate business on its head, promoting
the idea of guests staying in hotel rooms
during the day to work and going home
at night to sleep — the opposite
of convention.
But, the business-travel norm will
return, Danny Hughes, EVP & president
of the Americas for Hilton, asserts —
even if it does so slowly. “There’s only
so much business you can get done in
a two-dimensional world. People need
to see clients, to connect, to drum up
business, to recruit people.”
From the current vantage point,
following almost a year of volatile
occupancy levels and Average Daily Rates
(ADR), this all sounds a bit fantastic.
But those with their eye on the suffering
industry insist that not only will travel
resume, but the alterations to the experience
will be negligible once it does.
Post-pandemic hotels will be clean — but
that’s not new. “That level of cleanliness
has always been an issue in hotels,” says
Gaudet. “They’ve just kicked it up a notch
in 2020. I don’t think they ever thought
they’d be steaming shower curtains. Some
of that may stay. Clients may get into
that. But if you look at how we are in our
homes, we [were] washing our groceries at
the beginning, but in time fell back into
what we knew. I think it’ll be the same
with travel.”
“We’ll see a lot of the [introduced]
standards remain, because there’s a
psychological barrier for people,
they’ve become a lot more
conscious of hygiene,” says
Newbury. Specifically, he
foresees the endurance of the
sanitization station, but also
the return of buffets. The
plexiglass separating guest
and staffer will hang in for a bit,
he predicts, but fall away as the virus
subsides and vaccinations surge.
Hughes believes the global pandemic
simply accelerated existing trends,
including one toward increased personalization
of hotel stays, whether that be in
guests choosing rooms, customizing what
they want in them or checking in and
opening doors with their mobile devices.
SAFE
Travels
BY NICHOLAS RAHMON
According to Airports Council International,
passenger traffi c volume
at Canadian commercial airports
decreased by approximately 78 per
cent in the fi rst half of 2020 as a
result of pandemic restrictions. But,
as people continue to travel, airlines
and airports admitting domestic and
international travellers are working
in tandem to introduce new safety
measures in an effort to curb the
spread of COVID-19, resulting in
increased operating costs.
As of Sept. 23, temperature
screening came into effect at
Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and
Montreal airports, along with 11
additional Canadian airports.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Toronto Pearson
International Airport rolled out the
Ontario government’s COVID-19 testing
program, offering international passengers
landing in Canada free COVID-19
testing. Those eligible for the program
include returning Canadian citizens or
permanent residents and international
travellers, such as immediate and
extended family members.
Airports across the country also established
safety measures for both travellers
and employees, from baggage
check-in through the boarding process,
including the mandatory use of face
coverings within the airport, keeping
a distance of two metres from others
and cleaning at two-hour intervals
for high-touch-point areas such as
escalators and bathrooms.
30 | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021
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