During the quarantine, not all water parks will close their doors: they have discovered how to avoid the restrictions

Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis announced on Tuesday that the work of public catering establishments, except take-out food, will be suspended, and massages, except medical services, as well as sports clubs and spas will be suspended.

According to him, hotel activities will not be prohibited, but it will be proposed to prohibit group services, restrict meals, allow delivery in rooms or take away. The government will make the decision to impose restrictions on Wednesday.

Although hotel closures are not being considered, according to E. Šiškauskienė, without spa services or catering, they would lose their meaning.

“Hotels can close as much as they want, because they don’t have any population anyway, and hotels with spas, if they close spa services, then all resort hotels would close the same. Without services, the hotel is a dead hotel, ”E. Šiškauskienė told BNS.

Only the spa will continue to operate

Jūratė Vaitkevičiūtė, director of marketing and sales for the Druskininkai water park, says the entertainment complex will have to implement whatever decision the government makes.

“We have seen the project, we are not happy with it. We want to work and give joy to people. But if it is decided that we have to close, we will,” he says.

Druskininkai Water Park offers services at the Druskininkai Spa Center and Spa. The latter is a health institution that provides medical services, so J. Vaitkevičiūtė does not rule out that the spa may continue its activities, but the spa services will cease to exist.

The hotels are reserved for park visitors only.

Druskininkai Water Park also offers accommodation services and has two hotels. However, according to the interlocutor, as the number of visitors to the water park disappears, the number of customers in the hotels will also decrease.

“Most of our guests, individuals, stay for the entertainment of the water park, additional services that we receive in our complex. If the water park is closed, we anticipate that the number of clients in the hotel will also decrease”, says the manager of marketing and sales of the Druskininkai water park.

According to her, groups of guests stay in hotels, but not many: “Groups traveled more often from abroad to Poland. As we are not going at the moment, we do not have many groups of guests. “

During the first quarantine, the Druskininkai water park was closed on March 13. From then until the resumption of operations, all employees of the complex were on leave.

“We believe we will continue to do so, or those who have vacations will use their reservation,” says J. Vaitkevičiūtė.

Asked what to do with visitor subscriptions, the interlocutor says that they will be renewed: “The subscriptions or gift vouchers that were valid on the closing day during the first quarantine were extended until the park opened. We do not harm our customers, whatever the solutions. Later, when we are allowed to operate, we will continue to avoid customers. “

Consider how it will be needed to survive

At that time, the Vichy water park located in Vilnius, following the government decision on Wednesday, will not be able to provide any services at all, so the water park will need to be closed. How Delphi commented company manager Marius Šiškauskas, the new restrictions will affect the water park directly and at a loss.

“It just came to our attention then. Visitor flows have been reduced by as much as 50 percent. But at least that, we have a chance to plan and recover. I don’t know how to survive the second hit.” There will be no other way out than to close. , because we will be forced to do it “, admits.

The Vichy Water Park has pool, sauna and spa areas. The company owns a restaurant and a Delfi sports center, but the activities of these facilities will also be restricted or banned altogether.

The new restrictions are currently scheduled to last for three weeks, but according to the businessman, this is only a consolation. “I am more inclined to believe that this will continue until after the New Year. According to the authorities, it would be logical for people not to walk or gather anywhere, because the Christmas period is quite feverish. The last time, it was only two weeks before. to continue, ”he recalls.

M. Šiškauskas assures that the company lives on financial reserves since the last quarantine: “Our stocks have practically run out, we have to start paying deferred taxes. I do not know what to do. We decide all day how we will survive. It’s a very important question. “

You will not have to contribute to grants.

The businessman notes that at present, he does not know at all, because he learned about the new planned restrictions only from the media, but he has no knowledge about future support: what, to whom and when it will be provided. As they say, the state expects to receive various support measures.

“We have tenants, it is terrible that tenants also go bankrupt, so rent subsidies would be very helpful. Compensation for employees would still save, the only question is how much managers will be able to keep it to a minimum. Subsidy limit: the minimum wage. Without receiving any income, we don’t have to pay a certain percentage to the employee, 10 or 30 percent, ”says M. Šiškauskas.

When asked if a better solution would be to close the business completely and wait for support measures, or to continue operating, only possibly at a loss due to reduced flows, the interviewer notes that the first step is to know what the package of support for closure: the fact that this is an even worse option. “

Still, the manager points out that there was no fireplace in the water park. The pool here is cleaned with various chemicals, so the interlocutor does not believe that there is a high risk of infection in the water park.

Vichy The water park plans to extend the gift vouchers, continues to consider the extension of subscriptions: “Who wanted, we discussed in different ways how and what to do. We were hoping that people would be able to use the annual subscriptions until the New Year, now I don’t know if they will probably need an extension. “

Changed to medical services

Rasa Fedijienė, communication manager of the Palanga “Holiday Park” recreation and wellness complex, says that the operating restrictions mean significant losses for the company. But he said he was ready for the second quarantine. For example, with the entry into force of the government-announced quarantine, Holiday Park has developed a new package, a 4-step treatment program with medical consultation, instead of the usual water treatments that hotel guests receive. The provision of medical services as planned will not be prohibited.

“We lost a third of our planned annual revenue during the spring quarantine. We also fear such a drastic drop in revenue this fall. But we learned a painful lesson. We have introduced particularly strict security requirements for our employees and we strive to maintain so many services. medical, hotel and catering as we can guarantee.

Even before this quarantine, we changed the purpose of swimming pools from recreational to therapeutic, we introduced many new medical services, such as therapeutic water procedures, therapeutic massages, that we can perform during the quarantine, “says the representative of the Holiday Park.

Employees will decide individually

The recreation and wellness complex in the Kretinga district is one of the largest employers. When asked what will be done with the employees during the quarantine, R. Fedijienė assures that the company will strive to maintain as many jobs as possible.

“Employees in those areas who will be able to perform their tasks remotely will continue to be employed remotely. All those whose functions can only be performed directly must already comply with strict hygiene regulations, limit personnel communication between departments and seek to minimize risks due to other media.

However, of course, some of the work will not be possible due to restrictions, so we will treat other employees individually: downtime will be announced or other more favorable alternatives will be sought. We seek that the solutions do not generate an unbearable financial burden for the company, but that at the same time they are as beneficial as possible for our employees ”, highlights the interlocutor.

It is anticipated that the hotel will not be prohibited, only the service will be allowed to individual guests. A representative from Holiday Park says he was preparing for this situation beforehand.

“We have created an opportunity for people to enjoy more private relaxation in eco-friendly log villas with private hot tubs. It is a private room where guests can feel safe. Food is delivered safely to hotel rooms and wooden houses, ”says R. Fedijienė.

All residents who have purchased Holiday Park gift vouchers, subscriptions or pre-ordered services, the provision of which will not be possible due to the quarantine announced by the Government, will first be offered an alternative to receive medical services for the same value. According to the representative, it will also be proposed to extend the validity of gift vouchers or subscriptions accordingly.

Šiškauskienė: Employees may have to be fired

Following the tightening of restrictions, the government also intends to reimburse business support measures taken during the first wave of coronavirus, including subsidies for downtime. However, E. Šiškauskienė BNS says that the company will not be able to contribute even 10% of the grants, so employees may have to be laid off.

“I would like to talk to the authorities about employees, how to keep them, how much an employee can sit on the minimum (…) and how much a closed business can cost 10 percent. having obtained a loan, ”he said.

According to the head of the association, the occupancy of resort hotels has decreased by more than 50 percent, in cities it reaches 5-6 percent, in addition, about 30 percent. the hotels have been closed since March.
The quarantine of the country, which would be introduced starting Saturday for at least three weeks, will be decided by the government on Wednesday.