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“I am confident it is a great opportunity, I am confident that I will be able to recover and that what might not have been a great advantage is now an opportunity, “says Rita Montez to Lusa
For the former journalist, who left “the city and the sea” three years ago and went to the countryside to recover the house that the great-grandparents built 100 years ago in São João da Ribeira, in the municipality of Rio Maior, pandemic of greedy-19 will change the tourism model that has existed until now.
“People will value very few destinations crowded, will give great value to the experiences, outdoors, when you relax, do things, “he says, considering that the fact that it is a” small “accommodation, in an area with a low population density and with” a lot of nature ” it will be “a huge advantage”.
Therefore, after having achieved “one of the craziest and most entrepreneurial ideas” of his life, in which he transformed the property where he spent his vacations as a child at the Casa da Avó Rosa, now with the “zero” business and reservations canceled until AugustRita Montez it will have to start again: “a total overhaul, we have been working here day and night”.
“In the middle of February I had the last clients, the weekend of Valentine’s Day, then I began to realize that the situation was very complicated, “he says.
Keep business, you had a break billing of “something like 20 percent in February, 40 and such percentage in March and now 100% “, will imply adoption of “completely different procedures and rules”.
Without work, the former journalist began looking for the recommendations of the AddressGeneral and the World Health Organization for sector and created a “manual of internal hygiene and safety” with “a great reinforcement of the rules of cleanliness and the rules of the space itself”.
“I had a kitchen and living room that were common to all six bedrooms and are no longer common. I am creating new separate dining areas, the only common space I will have is the pool, and I will create areas for people to be properly separated, with very clear rules. I will be very strict, even when people enter, so that they also feel safe, “he says.
Rules and procedures that also go through things as simple as organizing thermometers for all rooms.
“I’ve been seeing what you’ve been doing in Asia because hospitality in Asia It was the first to reopen, I have been trying to learn from them, “she adds, emphasizing that” the idea is for everyone to feel completely safe “and that their own family is also safe, because Casa da Avó Rosa is where they live, even in a separate space.
The objective “is to reopen May with very strict safety and hygiene norms and standards “and take advantage of the transformation pandemic will bring sector of tourism
“I think everything that used to go against us now is a huge advantage,” he says.
Advantage was also the word chosen by Luís Figueira, owner of GAL – Local Accommodation Management, to position this sector in relation to traditional hospitality.
“We are able to position ourselves in terms of safety and hygiene better than hotels, since it is a complete apartment, it is a complete house disinfected for that guest and there is no contact with common areas such as restaurants. The person can be in complete safety, “he says.
Like rita Montez, Luís Figueira’s business stopped when pandemic He arrived in Portugal.
“From 16 March everything stopped, all the reservations I had, 99% of the reservations I had, were canceled, especially since most of our clients are foreigners, “he says, adding that the only one exception They were two Portuguese who, for professional reasons, rented a small house in Cascais.
Luís Figueira – whose company does at present the management of 26 local accommodation properties in the Lisbon area and in the Algarve, which deals with all the necessary services, from licenses, remodeling or decoration works, promotion, cleaning and reception of guests – recognizes that “people are afraid”.
“We already had reservations for the summer, that continues a little […]Let’s see, summer is the big question mark right now, “he admits, hoping he can return” to the active“with the end of the state of emergency, which ends on Saturday.
In the Algarve, he says, the expectation is that “the summer will achieve a certain internal recovery, the so-called ‘going outside'”.
“Let’s see, it is still very uncertain,” he admits.
A greedy-19, disease caused by the new coronavirus, has already caused almost a thousand deaths in Portugal and more than 25,000 people infected.
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