Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[vikesfan89]

1 minute ago, mission27 said:

At the end of the day I dont think staying in a hotel will be a huge risk. 

There is some risk that someone who stayed in the room before you had COVID and the room wasn't properly cleaned, we'll have to be as careful as possible with that. 

But if you check into a hotel and then go stay in your room, you probably aren't having much contact with the staff or others outside of your traveling party.  The bars should be subject to the same restrictions as non-hotel bars.  Room service is not a particular risk compared to any other way you'd get food. 

Elevators are a problem for office buildings and apartments too, not just hotels

The virus will eventually die in the rooms won't it?

Unless they are busy I feel like they should be able to let rooms sit empty for a few days. And I wouldn't think they'd be that busy for a while Idk though

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

1 minute ago, naptownskinsfan said:

That is how I remember the private pool we had a membership to in the summer.  They didn't care how many memberships they sold or guests you could bring.  

At least for places/towns like that, they survive the other parts of the year, so even without all of that revenue coming from the summer time, they should be able to make it.  

I think they survive the rest of the year BECAUSE of the business they do in the summer. I know for a fact there anyway a lot of business close for the winter. Lake Erie isn’t fun in January and here are some fun photos for reference.

 

 

 

 

If they don’t have this robust business in the summer, not sure they make it through the winter.  

 

[Glen]

bro Idk

that looks fun

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

2 minutes ago, vikesfan89 said:

The virus will eventually die in the rooms won't it?

https://www.goodrx.com/blog/how-long-coronavirus-lives-surfaces-like-food-clothes-wood-glass-steel/ 
 

yes, but it depends on the type of surface.  2-3 days is what the believe for hard surfaces.

2 minutes ago, vikesfan89 said:

Unless they are busy I feel like they should be able to let rooms sit empty for a few days. And I wouldn't think they'd be that busy for a while Idk though

That would be best practice for sure, booking the room that has been vacant the longest first.

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

1 minute ago, Glen said:

bro Idk

that looks fun

We’ll make a weekend out of it sometime.

[naptownskinsfan]

6 minutes ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

I think they survive the rest of the year BECAUSE of the business they do in the summer. I know for a fact there anyway a lot of business close for the winter. Lake Erie isn’t fun in January and here are some fun photos for reference.

 

 

 

 

If they don’t have this robust business in the summer, not sure they make it through the winter.  

 

My dad and stepmom spend some of their time in the UP in Michigan, I understand the weather and seasonality completely.  It's the same thing in Ocean City here in Maryland.  The people who are there working full-time work year round and absolutely benefit.  All of the restaurants there have all of their locations open, and there are people who are working on visas and from out of town working during the summer.  

You won't have all of the out of town business, but some will come.  And you scale the business accordingly.  Some will close for sure, especially the newer ones who might not have years of profits to sustain them.  But everyone is in that boat right now.  The mall near me just had some new openings, and I bet half of them don't reopen.  

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

1 minute ago, naptownskinsfan said:

My dad and stepmom spend some of their time in the UP in Michigan, I understand the weather and seasonality completely.  It's the same thing in Ocean City here in Maryland.  The people who are there working full-time work year round and absolutely benefit.  All of the restaurants there have all of their locations open, and there are people who are working on visas and from out of town working during the summer.  

You won't have all of the out of town business, but some will come.  And you scale the business accordingly.  Some will close for sure, especially the newer ones who might not have years of profits to sustain them.  But everyone is in that boat right now.  The mall near me just had some new openings, and I bet half of them don't reopen.  

let’s hope they make it, lord know we don’t need more chain restaurants taking their place.

[mission27]

11 minutes ago, vikesfan89 said:

The virus will eventually die in the rooms won't it?

Unless they are busy I feel like they should be able to let rooms sit empty for a few days. And I wouldn't think they'd be that busy for a while Idk though

Yeah probably a good idea where possible.  Although honestly its not that hard to clean up after the virus, you basically need to wipe down surfaces and probably change the sheets between guests, which they should be doing anyway

One thing I would suggest is maybe not providing daily housekeeping services, only between guests, so the housekeepers are less likely to get sick themselves although that'd be hard to do at a 5 star hotel, people would freak lol

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

1 minute ago, mission27 said:

Yeah probably a good idea where possible.  Although honestly its not that hard to clean up after the virus, you basically need to wipe down surfaces and probably change the sheets between guests, which they should be doing anyway
 

Yeah they’ll need to up their game a bit most likely, especially at the smaller motels and such. I’m guessing the five star places were pretty good about that to begin with.

1 minute ago, mission27 said:

One thing I would suggest is maybe not providing daily housekeeping services, only between guests, so the housekeepers are less likely to get sick themselves although that'd be hard to do at a 5 star hotel, people would freak lol

If all hotels adopted the policy there wouldn’t be much recourse.  Complain away Karen, such is life in 2020.

I really don’t like daily housekeeping personally, I feel like a moron needing someone to clean up after me for my own benefit.  I usually just try to catch them early and ask for fresh towels and take them the used ones.  And while I’m on the subject, some unsolicited advice directed at anyone who needs to read it.  Tip those damned ladies. If you can’t afford to throw them a few bucks a night at the end of your stay, stay in a trailer park Cletus. Five bucks a night for someone having to clean your toilet and your kids toothpaste off the sink isn’t too much to ask.  Ok, off my soapbox for now.

[bigbadbuff]

Will i be safe to go to Vegas in October? Let’s hope

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

1 minute ago, bigbadbuff said:

Will i be safe to go to Vegas in October? Let’s hope

Who knows man, Vegas is a different animal.  Social distancing on the strip and Fremont street should be a fun thing to figure out, not to mention all the clubs and restaurants.

[diehardlionfan]

1 hour ago, mission27 said:

Definitely a tough question

You've gotta balance what is practical with maximum public health benefit

My personal take would be:

- With plane travel, there are realistically going to be people with COVID going through most major airports most days, as I'm sure was the case every day in January and February and early March around the world.  To the extent these things can be tracked it should be publicly reported and airlines should follow up with customers so they are aware of this.  If you were on a plane with someone who tested positive, you should be informed.  If you were sitting very close to that person, you should probably be encouraged to get tested or at the very least monitor for symptoms.

- International travel should be restricted for those who have recently been to hot spots as it was most of Q1 this year.  Those who have to travel from hot spots for essential reasons should be restricted to nationals and should quarantine 14 days.  For non-hot spot travel we should screen for symptoms.  If it becomes practical to do quick testing on a massive scale, maybe you give folks instant tests before they get on an international flight.  Obviously this would need to be coordinated between countries and initially would be more practical for certain places than others (i.e. would be very easy to do this for US-Canada flights and Schengen area flights, but less easy for large transcon flights between countries without such close travel arrangements).  Ultimately though, I don't think an international flight between two countries with similar # of active cases per capita is any more risky than a domestic flight within either one of those countries ,and I think borders need to re-open as soon as possible.

- Hotels are tricky for a bunch of reason.  I would probably apply the same standards to hotels that are currently being applied to more 'essential' facilities.  If 1 person gets sick at an Amazon warehouse, they dont shut down the whole warehouse, nor would it make sense to shut down an entire hotel and quarantine hundreds of people because of 1 case.  People are inevitably going to come in contact with 1 person who has COVID in their day to day life once this is lifted.  But if it starts to become a cluster with many cases, you need to take more aggressive action.

Plane travel is a big obstacle for a number of reasons. Perhaps not domestically but internationally it’s going to be problematic.

Domestically the U.S. can call it’s own shots but borders aren’t going to be opened prematurely and even when they do get opened a big segment of society is going to wait before travelling. 

The Canada U.S. border isn’t opening anytime soon. The main complaint amongst Canadians is they waited to long to close borders. The PM has addressed the issue as has the Ontario Premier.  One of the big hurdles in opening borders is trust! Some countries have really eroded trust in respective Government.
https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2020/04/16/justin-trudeau-downplays-early-reopening-of-the-canada-us-border-as-he-announces-more-aid-for-businesses.html

Page 1 of the corporate handbook during recessions is the cancellation of all non essential corporate travel. This will be no different except additionally you can’t risk losing key people. In previous recessions it’s taken two years for corporate travel to attain pre recession numbers. Most corporate travel is for meetings and those can be done via video conference etc.This really hurts airlines. The majority of corporate travel is economy but they pay more per ticket contributing a larger portion of seat revenue than other segments. 

Some corporate travel will return when all the underlying restrictions are lifted. My sister is a clinical research scientist with Gilead. She has research sites in Seattle, SAN Fran, L.A., Chicago and a host of Canadian cities. She HAS to travel but can’t because not only are borders closed but each of her sites are locked down. No one gets in except staff.

Recreational travel will be interesting. How soon will people be able to afford air travel and how quick will people be willing to assume the risk? Will the 25-50 age group rush right back? Or, will they decide to install a swimming pool or purchase a cottage? 

I expect it will take some time before seniors flood back to air travel. For those that do travel I expect far more trips by automobile. As an example rather than flying from eastern Canada to Florida I expect many will simply drive. We have already cancelled two trips and a third which we have scheduled for January to March next year will not be booked on an airline. If the borders are open we will drive from Canada to Las Vegas rather than fly. The caveat being they haven’t installed a much better cabin air filtration system. Although driving gives me the opportunity to spend a month in New Mexico which is my favourite place.😎

So, it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. I do know from experience that large upheavals usually change peoples habits and I’m sure this will create large long term changes. Can you imagine being a retailer? Bricks and mortar have been dwindling for years. This crisis has pushed a large number of people to online shopping and banking that wouldn’t have otherwise chosen the online method. Will they go back?

 

 

 

 

 

[diehardlionfan]

13 minutes ago, bigbadbuff said:

Will i be safe to go to Vegas in October? Let’s hope

We just cancelled September and December trips to Vegas. While I personally expect Vegas to be somewhat open by then it certainly won’t be the Las Vegas of last year. Already a number of buffets (who would eat at a buffet) are closed permanently. Rumours I’ve heard is they’re looking at removing up to 50% of slot machines and gaming tables, removing restaurant seating etc. They haven’t even beg7n thinking about how to reopen the shows.

Las Vegas will probably be impacted more than any other U.S. city. It’s really sad. We have a great number of friends there and TIPS make the world work in Vegas so even with relief hospitality staff might get from government it won’t be enough. They desperately need to get back to work.

Its sad because housing prices just reached 2008 levels in January. 

[mission27]

5 minutes ago, diehardlionfan said:

The Canada U.S. border isn’t opening anytime soon. The main complaint amongst Canadians is they waited to long to close borders. The PM has addressed the issue as has the Ontario Premier.  One of the big hurdles in opening borders is trust! Some countries have really eroded trust in respective Government.
https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2020/04/16/justin-trudeau-downplays-early-reopening-of-the-canada-us-border-as-he-announces-more-aid-for-businesses.html

 

Agreed it wont open soon, clearly at least not until late May given the recent announcement, I think sometime in June or July is more likely, but I'd also be surprised if it was closed much longer than that tbh even with a lot of political pressure on Trudeau about his response.  Once you have similar infection rates on both sides of the border and cases are largely under control and domestic travel has resumed, the public health rationale becomes much weaker and the economic and social cost particularly to the large number of cross border communities and families is going to outweigh the marginal comfort people get from the border being closed.  Same thing with the internal borders in Europe.  

I think early summer we see European internal borders and US-Canada border open up, those borders are so heavily trafficked and the countries have close cooperation on border issues so it will be easier.  Other borders will be longer.  Non-essential transatlantic flights we are probably looking at mid-late summer IMO.

[naptownskinsfan]

4 minutes ago, diehardlionfan said:

We just cancelled September and December trips to Vegas. While I personally expect Vegas to be somewhat open by then it certainly won’t be the Las Vegas of last year. Already a number of buffets (who would eat at a buffet) are closed permanently. Rumours I’ve heard is they’re looking at removing up to 50% of slot machines and gaming tables, removing restaurant seating etc. They haven’t even beg7n thinking about how to reopen the shows.

Las Vegas will probably be impacted more than any other U.S. city. It’s really sad. We have a great number of friends there and TIPS make the world work in Vegas so even with relief hospitality staff might get from government it won’t be enough. They desperately need to get back to work.

Its sad because housing prices just reached 2008 levels in January. 

Buffets have been slowly dying off due to a variety of reasons, but this is going to put the final nail in that coffin.  I saw where Golden Corral was offering meal choices for services like DoorDash and Grubhub, but I can't imagine most of these places remaining open over the next year or so.