A case study from GSA on Rathbone Hotel, Fitzrovia

The Rathbone Hotel, Fitzrovia is situated between the glamour of London’s West End and the offbeat counterculture of Fitzrovia and has been welcoming guests with warmth and hospitality since 1975.

The challenge:

The global Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the hospitality industry and on traveler confidence. Hotels, restaurants and other hospitality providers are now focusing on how best to rebuild the confidence that will be needed to return to pre-Covid 19 revenues. Travellers and those with obligations for the security, safety and wellbeing of travellers are seeking greater clarity about health security standards and greater assurance that these standards are being met.

Daniel Harris is a Director at The Rathbone Hotel and takes responsibility for the well-being of all guests.  Historically, during weekdays, corporate travel is particularly important to the Rathbone Hotel (10 RFP’s per annum) – with up to 70 percent of guests staying for business.  As travel abruptly halted in late February, the Rathbone took immediate action to look at ways they could demonstrate their commitment to providing a safe environment for their employees and guests.

During the early stages, Daniel recognised the importance of seeking an independent assessment of the hotel’s Covid-19 processes and procedures. He comments “The hotel has always taken health and safety very seriously, and this is only amplified with the impact of Covid-19 and people’s expectations.”  Daniel Harris states “there are a lot of template models in circulation which provide guidance and a check list for hotels to ‘self-certify’ that they are Covid-19 safe, (but) they fall critically short in validating compliance as it remains a ‘mark your own homework’ model.”

The GSA Solution

Travellers used to ‘assume’ their safety, but the sheer number of worrying events happening around the world communicated nearly instantly and constantly through media apps, hyper connectivity, and social media has challenged that assumption.

GSA’s COVID-19 Certificate of International Good Practice has been developed to ensure a hotel is taking all necessary steps to protect its guests and staff from the virus. By meeting the internationally researched good practice Standards and Guidance, a hotel can provide reassurance about health, hygiene, safety and security that are independently certified.

Through structured engagement with the hotel, GSA assesses evidence provided by the hotel which demonstrates that it maintains good hygiene and operational standards likely to prevent the spread of respiratory diseases like Covid-19. GSA experts review and present that evidence with any  recommendations to the international awards organisation, SFJ Awards for certification thus providing guests, staff, and corporate clients with independent assurance that a hotel is a safe place to stay.

The Rathbone Hotel prepared for the GSA assessment by conducting a thorough review of all its material, related to safety processes and procedures. “The GSA assessment was extremely professional, beyond thorough, the process was easy to follow, more in depth, practical, used common sense and the team were extremely helpful”, commented Daniel.  “It was definitely not a box ticking exercise because you could tell they read every line in the information provided and the team made valuable comments and gave assistance as and when needed.”

Results

The Rathbone Hotel achieved the Covid-19 Certificate of International Good Practice in September 2020 and GSA provided the hotel with both certification and RFP supporting documentation on the hotel’s practices and processes. “This information will be used on all forms of marketing and promotion to demonstrate to bookers of our achievement” reported Daniel Harris.

“Achieving the Covid-19 Certification sets us apart from our competitor hotels,” Daniel comments and  goes on to say “the international SFJ Awards independent process and certificate was very important as it demonstrates that two parties are reviewing the data and collectively deciding whether or not we deserve the accreditation. With other companies, they assess and self-certify which is not in our interest.”

He added, “I am confident it will have a positive impact for travel management companies and corporate  offices to differentiate our offering and am sure will really help in the RFP process with the answering of questions around the safety of guests, by providing evidence of an additional certification where our answers have been fully and independently assessed. They can see that safety of guests is extremely important here at the hotel.”