Crisis Resilient Guidelines for Hospitality Sector
In response to the increasing frequency and severity of natural hazards exacerbated by climate change, HOTREC, in collaboration with Hotel Resilient (consultant on climate and crisis resilience for the hospitality sector), has released new Crisis Resilient Guidelines for hotels, restaurants, bars, cafés, and night-life venues. These guidelines aim to help hospitality businesses better prepare and recover from natural disasters such as heatwaves, floods, windstorms, droughts, and forest fires.
Natural hazards already pose a significant threat to the hospitality sector, and climate change has only intensified these risks. As such, resilience in the face of these growing crises has become more crucial than ever. The new guidelines focus on strengthening the industry's ability to cope with and bounce back from these threats.
For context, the guidelines were inspired by scientific research developed by EU funded project Myriad, which focuses on multi-hazard, multi-sector, and systemic risk management, and has tourism as one of its sectoral priority areas.
"Crisis resilience" in the hospitality context prioritizes the safety of guests and staff above all else, ensuring that essential services can continue, if possible, during disasters and that businesses can recover quickly from any impacts.
The Crisis Resilient Guidelines outline nine key criteria, categorised into three main areas, and provide practical advice on why each criterion is important, how to implement it, and what resources are available for further assistance. While the guidelines apply broadly across the hospitality sector, special considerations have been tailored to different business types.
Importantly, these guidelines are voluntary and represent recommendations rather than mandatory requirements. Businesses are encouraged to adopt them to improve their crisis resilience but must also comply with local and national legislation.
With these guidelines, HOTREC hopes to empower its members to safeguard their businesses, employees, and customers, while also ensuring the continuity of services during increasingly frequent natural disasters.
For more information, find the Crisis Resilient Guidelines below.