Response to Covid-19 Barrière takes action

Twenty twenty. This year will remain etched in our minds. The records won’t show it as figures, business volumes or visitor numbers for holiday, leisure and entertainment venues.

Covid-19 has handed a heavy sentence down on the hotel industry in France: close the borders, halt international air traffic and business travel, postpone seminars for businesses and professional associations, fourteen- and seven-day quarantines – whatever the number of days, social distancing and permanent use of an anti-virus kit: mask and alcohol-based gel. The Group’s immediate response to the situation, including the introduction of special health and safety procedures and the development of new digital solutions to simplify the customer experience, such as the mobile restaurant payment system BPay, are all evidence of staff efficiency and commitment. Efficiency and commitment that, in these complicated times, have led to the revival - patchy, yes, but not inconsiderable – of Barrière venues in an economic context more than ever dependent on the health situation.

So, what was to be done? With and for the 7,000 staff in the Barrière Group? Anticipate and adapt, as it has always. Before the summer – three months ago – Barrière CEO Dominique Desseigne set the course in an interview on the Le Point.fr website: "At times like this, it’s really not about  announcements. So, no mincing words. The French hotel and leisure sector is facing the worst of unprecedented times: a void and the unknown. The void is the absence of customers. The unknown is the time we still have to wait until the coronavirus pandemic ends." He added: "Our decisions today are about the very near future. Anticipation has been the mantra at Barrière for over a hundred years and will continue to be so. "Anticipating means: holding on, keeping things going. In spite of the hundreds of millions lost.

Three months and a few economic projections later, one essential requirement remains for the tourist industry in France, Europe and the rest of the world: the health and safety of customers and staff. But "keepingthings going" also imposes another requirement: employment throughout the immediate future in an economic sector that has reinvented itself, restructured itself and evolved over the last fifty years. Becoming a cornerstone of the financial infrastructure of most powerful nations in the G20 world. Our objective is to keep things going. Transform ourselves without compromising the heart of a profession that is valued by our customers. Adapting does not mean submitting. 

Now, more than ever, Barrière is all about the action that it takes.

Health and safety adviser Barrière takes action 

An adviser isn’t an inspector, of course. Across all Barrière establishments, their role – now permanently embedded in the daily routine – is as a point of contact and conveyor of information who can raise awareness and train staff in the adoption of health and safety measures imposed by the Covid- 19 pandemic and certified by an officer of the court. They are also there to answer any questions arising on a daily basis in terms of the supply of PPE (gels, masks and gloves etc.) and interaction with customers. As they continue to enjoy a peaceful stay. Nothing much has changed with the adviser, just a few extra precautions.