27 May 2020|Noida | Amity University, Noida
Webinar on Hospitality Industry after Covid 19 and Job Opportunities
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A webinar on ‘Hospitality Industry after Covid 19 and Job Opportunities’ was conducted by Dr. Sudhir Andrew, Author & Executive Director, SkillMaker Training Services. He shared how the hospitality industry had gone through many emergencies before that had paralyzed the hospitality industry. It was also discussed how the industry was grappling with concerns related to health & safety and cash liquidity. Also, the challenges ahead revolve around social distancing; staff safety; working capital; providing maximum physical evidence and high quality service despite the situational restrictions.
Dr. Andrew recommended the hotel industry, in the present scenario, to do a ‘soft opening; opening of few floors; have just one 24 hours restaurant with limited kitchen; all staff to wear surgical hotel sponsored gloves and masks and hire a chief safety and sanitation officer to oversee the safety standards. “The hotel should look to provide booklet of hotel sanitization standards in all guest rooms; sanitize rooms to hospital standard and to ensure that tie-up with partner hospital; put sign of confirmation at the room door to mention about the sanitization and put visual stickers in lobby, elevator and behind guest room doors,” averred Dr. Andrew.
He also suggested that in the coming times people are more likely to avail in-room dining and there should be gourmet food dispensers on floors; have snack dispensers; full mini bar drinks with glasses; install microwave in rooms; use RFID technology for clearance in corridors; room service staff to wear badge of ‘screened’. “The future in the sector will see lean staffing with people having good skills. There will be hiring of chief hygiene and sanitization officer and house- keeping staff will be the most important now,” stated Dr. Andrews. He also stated measures to maintain liquidity by doing cost control; avoid discount panic; buy essentials only for existing occupancy levels; focus on energy consumptions; have extended payment cycles with vendors; keep inventories low; think of lean staff and focus on recycling & doing wastage control. He asked students to have faith as they move ahead in the industry and opt for a specialization in the field of hospitality to get a secure job. He also suggested students to explore entrepreneurship as it was not difficult for them in this era with abundant opportunities for an entrepreneur.
A webinar on ‘Concierge as a Profession’ was conducted by Mr. Nitin Srivastava - Eazy Concierge Services Entrepreneur, Ex. Travel & Experience Manager - Ex-Crowne Plaza, Greater Noida where he shared how concierge is an integral part of the front office department of a hotel and has people in the profession for a long time. “Concierge can be identified by the golden keys on the lapels on their jackets and it is a work done under the motto service to friendship’ and they accommodate every guest request as long as it is morally, legally and ethically possible. They are motivated by a genuine desire to serve,” shared Mr. Srivastava. He also averred that a concierge is a problem solver, loves a challenge and takes joy in surprising each guest with an elegant solution. “In layman’s terms he can be known as walking talking google,” averred Mr. Srivastava.
He also stated how a concierge has grown over the years from just being a doorkeeper to being in charge of the entire building and is often the owners’ representative. Students were also given an insight into the various types of concierges including personal concierge; luxury concierge; corporate concierge; business concierge; residential concierge; commercial concierge and reseller concierge. “Concierges have their fingers on the pulse of their cities and are able to advise guests on restaurants, night life, sporting and theatre events, shopping etc. The global environment of today’s business world demands concierges to be technology driven and to be able to converse with all travelers, from Albania to Zaire,” shared Mr. Srivastava.
A lecture by Dr. Vivekanand Jha, Executive Director, The George Institute for Global Health India (TGI), Professor of Nephrology and James Martin Fellow, University of Oxford; Conjoint professor of Medicine, University of New south wales, Sydney was delivered on ‘The forgotten population during COVID19 Pandemic: Impact on people with chronic diseases’. While addressing the virtual audience, Dr. Jha shared the total number of deaths attributed to COVID in India is 4024 whereas estimated number of deaths attributable to Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in India in last 4 weeks was 484,750. In 2016, about 62.5 million years of lives were lost prematurely in India due to cardiovascular diseases. NCDs are estimated to account for 63% of all deaths. The NCD burden in India comprised of 27% cardiovascular disease, 9% cancers, 11% chronic respiratory diseases, 3% diabetes, 11% injuries, 26% Communicable maternal, perinatal conditions and 13% other NCDs.
“The COVID-19 has also impacted people in informal settlements. Fake news and information is rife among urban slum communities, causing fear and panic. Lack of accurate information means communities is unaware of preventive and protective actions to tackle the disease. TGI India has been working to improve heath outreach services in the slums for past two years. Field staff living in the slums is using comics, posters and illustrations to raise awareness around handwashing, physical distancing, masks etc. through the accountability for informal Urban Equity programme. TGI is also working with waste picking communities, who depend on daily wages and have no safety net,” shared Dr. Jha.
A lecture by Dr Anil Roy - Associate Professor - CEPT University, Ahmedabad was delivered on ‘Environmentally Sustainable Planning while resuming Indian Economy Post Covid’. Dr. Roy shared his discourse on finding relations between sustainability and regional economy in India; how sustainability can be brought in practice while achieving the economic targets and perspective on achieving sustainable development goals in line with dropping down economy. He averred on the need for paradigm shift in economic goals and moving from high growth of GDP to Green GDP; call for unprecedented change in the entire production process and transport systems; new normal will demand more green spaces and green energy to sustain the gains of COVID-19 and worldwide lockdown; how circular economy, industrial symbiosis and eco-industrial parks are the new emerging production systems to be adopted and the need to focus on decentralized production system for essential goods and services, local supply chains, city level food security through urban agriculture and provide housing not shelter for all.