As I am writing this, the travel industry has been grounded amidst the Corona virus pandemic fears and I myself am being stranded away from home in one of our projects that is to open later this year, it feels like the most unforeseen Global Tourism Critical mass.

That is why I could not help but agree with Rafat Ali who has called the travel industry “the geopolitical centre of the world” – a statement utterly relevant to the current industry standstill.

How does an operator like Kerten Hospitality deal with this prevalent hospitality existential challenge? The straightforward and plain answer is by being agile, readapting to the current world scenario and continuing to do what we do best: caring for our guests, partners and the communities we are settled in.

They key people are our teams currently located in our hotels and serviced apartment properties, co-working spaces and projects that may need additional support and adaptive measures in the day-to-day operations. To start with: our global offices swiftly responded with remote work alternatives, smart connectivity Team solutions and delivering on tasks with empathy.

By practicing social distancing we have intensified our Virtual Conferencing, WhatsApp group exchange and regular check-ins from all our teams on the ground in Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and Turkey. We ensure all teams get constant online updates on the global status of this industry predicament and the trickle impact it has to all other verticals globally.

We are now more connected than ever! Time zones have been unified, emails have turned into video messaging and interactive videos are circulated replacing (temporarily) hands-on practical training. Some people earlier laughed about the fact that we are spreading everywhere and that our key people move to the opening projects we have, but now, we are probably one of the few teams who are most used to working collaboratively apart. We don't have arguments over coffee or short gossip breaks because we are together when we need each other, and not just to sit together.

Now, one of our key players is with the opening hotels and we are on site and elsewhere needed some teams work from home. We all work in different zones and times, and have done so for a long time and now is the time that we work in this when we are even more on Lots of projects need hands-on support; we are kicking off new project planning with new owners and, as they can see, we know how to work remotely, and the people who move now, are the once who will be the winner.

We remain fully committed to the health and safety of our teams, guests and partners. Just as always, our hygiene guidelines and staff training are placed at the forefront of what we do and we are vigilant about any single sign that could jeopardize anyone’s health and well-being. However, our rebellious DNA has prompted us to be ready to support when/if needed in the new environments.

With flexibility, extra effort and “smart approaches” we can collectively go through this and show the real sense of resilience. Students who are contained by the outbreak and want to be part of what is to become the most significant “human crunch” in history and in our industry are welcome to reach out?

Generation Startups and Scale-ups who are now encouraged to incubate with their teams from remote locations, can reach out for our Ouspace advise. Interns whose plans are detoured by the global scenario, give us a shout and we will arrange a career growth stint as part of our Talent Tank program.

Stay Safe and Vigilant, World! Ready to show what real resilience means!

Marloes Knippenberg is the CEO of Kerten Hospitality / www.kertenhospitality.com