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The need to bring travel up to scratch again after the long Covid-19 Winter

The need to bring travel up to scratch again after the long Covid-19 Winter

Covid

Jan 26, 2021 | Covid, Travel Safety, Youth Travel

With the 2nd dose of the Covid-19 vaccine already being given in some countries, travel can start gearing up to re-opening again in 4-6 months from now.  It has been a crazy year of numerous uncalled stops, openings, all in very short notices, and the world of travel has changed dramatically, maybe in some irreversible ways – changed forever.

There are talks of issuing a “green passport” to those vaccinated, what about issuing a “green clearance” for each travel establishment deemed as safe enough to use or stay? Current self-declaration generic labels are not the real assurance needed.  They lack particularity, lack depth and adaptation to the attributes and weaknesses of each specific place.

Here at EBI Consulting we highly recommend these steps to be considered now:

  1. Have your own pre-Covid 19 operations SOPs (or norms) first carefully reviewed now, and if needed – have them completed and revised to meet the new threats posed by the pandemic.  There might be a need for some dramatic changes in some facets, not just cosmetic minor updates.
  2. Have it written down logically, not keeping it just verbal or in your head – in order to satisfy both regulators who are likely to demand much stricter regulation and also to a much fussier clientele – looking for extra assurances of safety measures, before placing a booking.
  3. Conduct a comprehensive quality assurance and safety audit now, before re-opening and after a short re-igniting phase of your business. Verification by a 3rd party, independent audit, would be ideally the best.
  4. Appoint local resources to be trained as “safety champions” for your organization. Any responsible staff member to check and verify – have them qualified for this task.

These steps will give greater confidence to the travelling public who will be nervous about venturing out. The greater the confidence, the greater the return in both the numbers of clients and the revenue they bring.

We invite you to contact us and test out our dedicated documentation and audit skills to help you have your business truly seriously verified, benchmarked and then improved.

https://ebiconsulting.ca/risk-management-self-assessment-tool/

Jan 26, 2021 No Comments
Hostel Safety during Covid-19

Hostel Safety during Covid-19

Covid

Nov 20, 2020 | Covid, Risk Management, Travel Safety, Youth Travel

As full members of WYSETC we applaud the confederation’s initiative as outlined in the weekly newsletter of September 25, 2020, to develop the WYSE COVID-19 safe accommodation declaration as a good first step in ensuring guests are assured of a safe and comfortable stay in hostels.  We were happy to offer our expertise as contributors, however small, this summer as the confederation was trying to finalize the concept. Furthermore, as the Canadian representative on ISO/PAS 5643 — Measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus, an ISO committee focused on managing COVID-19 in tourism, we believe we have every interest in ensuring the seal succeeds. However, we also are concerned about the practical limits of such an approach. EBI Group is in the business of doing customized risk management and quality assurance audits activities, and this seems particularly apposite for our comments below; and as such, we offer the following observations:

The WYSE-TC program is self-declaration.  This is in contrast to ISO standards certification procedures, which set out a clear set of processes and rules in order for an operator to be successfully certified, and clear conditions are attached to this certification; however, the anti-COVID-19 sanitary seals do not have clear, detailed rules for obtaining and keeping the declaration.  We would encourage WYSETC to clarify the audit process and requirements, as well as how the weekly spot check would be carried out.  As well, we would encourage participating hostels to invest in a third-party audit with us or some other professional firm to help build capacity and refine policies and procedures.

The newsletter mentions that “[i]f an accommodation provider is not able to commit to the required standards; it will be removed from the scheme.”  We suggest that it be clearer that this would be indicated to travellers.

Sanitary labels are essentially newly described protocols to tackle and prevent COVID-19 spread. They are quite generic, and therefore a particular degree of customization is needed in our opinion to adapt them individually for each hotel, hostel, resort chain, or other establishment seeking this certification. We have not identified such a developed approach yet. We would encourage participating operators to engage with a specialized firm that can handle such projects.

We look forward to the implementation of the WYSETC plan to help tourism businesses recover from this unprecedented challenge.

Nov 20, 2020 No Comments
Are new COVID-19 travel safety seals that credible?

Are new COVID-19 travel safety seals that credible?

Covid

Sep 30, 2020 | Covid, Risk Management, Travel Safety

In today’s Covid-19 stricken world, safety seals are becoming now the main tool to assure potential hotels, hostels and resorts bookers – their selection of a specific place is indeed right, and they could feel relatively safe through their stay. Concerns and case studies from this past  2020 summer provide strong testimonials that these seals are oftentimes not that credible and were awarded too easily because they do not follow a professional and meticulous verification or audit step phase approach.

The EBI Group experts have identified just some key concerns as follows:
  1. Some individual establishments in “red” countries have been awarded international sanitary clearances, whereas the general national situation does not justify any awarding. A situation that could become highly misleading and harmful to potential visitors.


  2. Unlike ISO standards certifications, for example, where a clear professional echelon dictates clear “rules of the game” to get successfully certified, and clear conditions are attached to the certification, the anti-COVID-19 sanitary seals do not have clear, detailed rules for obtaining and keeping the certification.  It might be the case that these will come over the coming months (or not), as the awarding process appears to have been done quite hastily and under strong pressure to open very quickly.


  3. Much more credibility (of the sanitary seal) might be achieved as travel and hospitality establishments will occasionally fail to obtain the seal. Only those really committed and proving outstanding cleanliness and sanitary measures over time will ultimately receive it.


  4. Sanitary labels are essentially newly described protocols to tackle and prevent Covid-19 spread. They are quite generic, and therefore a particular conversion phase is needed, in our opinion, to adapt them individually for each hotel, hostel, resort chain, or other establishment seeking this certification. We have not identified such a developed conversion phase yet. Furthermore, we can often see that “corners are sometimes being cut” not to deter guests from placing a booking.


  5. Lastly, the sanitary and anti-COVID-19 labels tend to concentrate on mainly the highly visible “front end operations” and could neglect the less visible (to the guest) back end issues. It is natural that investing in physical partitions, encapsulations, hand sanitation stations, etc. would preside over to assure the concerned guests quickly, but what about preventive maintenance and re-configuration of operations to suit the new post-COVID-19 world?  Issues the guests cannot identify fast or at all but are essential to allow their long-lasting well-being.


EBI Consulting Group believes in laying profound and solid foundations for these sanitary anti-COVID-19 seals to be effective in the longer run. Coming from the world of Quality Assurance, we know that without having clear Standards of Operations, professional work instructions, and a solid verification (audit) tools – COVID 19 infections and contaminations might ultimately repeat in any establishment, foregoing all efforts invested in preventing them.

Sep 30, 2020 No Comments