Welcome to the Covid Lisbon episode of Fawlty Towers
It looks as if we will manage to get Tings Lisbon through Covid
Hi Everyone, I hope you are all well and we can get back to normal life as soon as possible. Regarding the payment I would like to know how much are we going to get during the layoff. And i also wonder if we can have any projection/ idea about when are we going back to work and if we are all getting back at the same time?
Mail from our employee
Covid 2021
Sorry - but this is NOT funny. It's grotesque - and tough.
Free – but with no places to go, why take the tram? We left the seat for one of the many homeless souls who used the trams as ‘shelter’.
When this message hit our inbox we couldn’t help thinking: We would love to know the same…
We felt sorry for the sender and for all our staff – the mail just exposed the frustration we all share. At least all of us who work with tourism.
When we got the mail all restaurants in town were closed. So were all museums, churches and other tourist sights. You were not allowed to go to the beach. The touristic parts of Lisbon looked like ghost towns. And the police stopped people trying to bypass the fencing of the benches in parks and at our Miradouro. All public transportation including Tram 28 was free – but where should you go to?
So why on Earth should people go to Lisbon?
Today it’s not that bad. If you keep the social distance, you can go to the beach or hang out on our Miradouro.
How are we doing?
We keep getting questions about how we are doing – not so much about our health and well being – and not the usual courtesy greetings: How are you doing or – Tá bem? we get from friends, neighbours and other relations. These questions come from people who are seriously interested in or maybe even worried about our Hotel in Graça. We find a bit strange because everybody we know on this planet is struggling themselves. In Nepal we were forced to close Tings Kathmandu months ago – our staff there are facing much bigger problems than us here.
In case you want to know: Our situation here in Lisbon is bad!
Like the rest of Portugal – and Europe for that matter – SMEs (aka Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) are facing huge problems. And like in the rest of the world, the government has launched a range of programs to support us getting through this crisis.
So we were optimistic when we got the news about the government’s Covid support program that would help us Tings Lisbon to survive the lock down period and open fully operational after Covid.
What businesses like our need in a situation with no/low business AND an uncertain future is low costs which we can increase with growing sales.
If we want to save Tings Lisbon and the jobs, we cannot accept a support program that forces us to keep the biggest cost - the staff - fixed.
So we have been forced to decline the support program, and dismiss all staff.
If we want to save Tings Lisbon and the jobs, we cannot accept a support program that forces us to keep the biggest cost - the staff - fixed.
So we have been forced to decline the support program, and dismiss all staff.
Annette & Thomas Fawlty
Actors in a tragedy
Just because we open the doors does not guarantee business!
We are pretty sure that the people behind the programs only had the best intentions. But they don’t necessarily know how to run a small business in Tourism Industry.
Unlike most other SMEs hotels like our don’t know what happens, when we open our doors. We need guests. To get guests we need travelers which is a crucial problem for the whole industry:
- Travellers have been hit financially by the crisis and have to get their economy back on track before they start traveling again.
- Portugal is opening up. But a lot of our guests come from parts of the world that are seriously hid by the virus and are more or less closed. It’s uncertain when they will open their borders. And most of the domestic travelers stay with family and friends.
- And how and where will they Travel? The good thing about the Covid Crises is that it has opened people’s eyes to the world’s climate problems. People all over the world have not only seen the clear blue sky for months. They appreciate it. So the question is: Do they appreciate it enough to change their travel behaviour? What we hear from Denmark, the new trend is going towards exotic domestic destinations easy to reach by low carbon means of transportation.
- Travelers who don’t mind flying – or need to fly because of their work – are facing other and very serious problems. The most important Airlines for Portugal have either closed down completely OR reduced their direct traffic to/from Lisbon considerably.
- You can get from Northern Europe to Lisbon. BUT it takes at least a day – and the price is at least the double of the price in February – so Lisbon as a weekend destination – a very important part of our business – will be a ‘challenge’.
- Finally: You don’t have to be a professor in Business to figure this out: The previous years increase in Hotel Beds combined with upcoming decrease in visitors will pressure the Hotel Prices. In other words – the profit per guest will go down.
Add to all this a potential financial crises that will hit Portugal when people who have invested in real estate in recent years can’t pay their mortgage because the income the expect from AirBnB and similar short term rentals is gone. Then the banks will start panicking – and who knows what happens then.
In other words – the whole travel industry is so chaotic that nobody on this planet knows when people will start travelling again and how and where!
The Covid Program forces us to dismiss our staff
Virtual Covid Staff meeting with our lawyer – one of the few who knows everything about rules and regulations regarding our staff’s situation. Due to their contracts, social security will help them all staff through the crises.
2 week ago we got our application for the support program approved. But when we were about to sign it, we realised that in order to get the loan we would have to keep all our staff for the next 5 month.
One of the main reasons for doing what we do is to make a difference. We want to create and maintain serious jobs with contracts, social security etc! Keeping our staff has been one of our main concerns for the past several weeks.
Our staff costs are based on a >60% occupancy. But the occupancy for as long as we can forecast will be at least 5 times lower means that we would be forced to close Tings Lisbon in less than a month if we signed up for the so called Covid Help. So buy, buy to all the jobs it has taken us 4 years to create.
Instead we will dismiss our staff, keep Tings Lisbon open and get the staff back one-by-one along with our booking growth.
We just did that 🙁
We feel like actors in a bad comedy
This is not comedy – its tragedy
The ‘good’ thing about this crazy situation is that it will (hopefully) be possible to keep Tings open so we (again hopefully) will be able to take our lovely employees back at Tings in spring 2021.
Until we get enough guests we – Thomas & Annette – will manage the hotel ourselves: Reception, Breakfast, book-keeping, night duty, bar, bookings etc.
The situation is sad, grotesque and funny at the same time. So we will try to get the best out of it…
It’s too early for welcome hugs. But we would love to share a glass of wine or beer or a cup of coffee or tea with our guests.
We are desperate to meet travellers again
All the best,
Annette & Thomas
Remember!
Laughter makes you feel good. And this positive feeling remains with you even after the laughter subsides.
Humor helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments, and loss. More than just a respite from sadness and pain, laughter gives you the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope.
Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh – or even simply a smile – can go a long way toward making you feel better. And laughter really is contagious — just hearing laughter primes your brain and readies you to smile and join in the fun.
Humor helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments, and loss. More than just a respite from sadness and pain, laughter gives you the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope.
Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh – or even simply a smile – can go a long way toward making you feel better. And laughter really is contagious — just hearing laughter primes your brain and readies you to smile and join in the fun.
