T&L：本次疫情对酒店业冲击巨大，截止目前酒店有采取哪些措施克服面临的苦难，效果怎样？
The outbreak has a huge impact on the hotel industry. What measures have been taken by the hotel to overcome the suffering, what is the effect?
Richard：病毒对旅游业产生了毁灭性的影响，酒店业是其中的一部分，昆山瑞士大酒店也不例外。虽然我们目前正处于复苏状态，但这是一个缓慢的攀升阶段。昆山是一个制造业城市，所以我们依赖于进入昆山的旅客以及当地公司的诸多客户。我们严格遵循当地政府和雅高酒店集团公司的建议和指导，以减轻客人的恐惧，让客人入住的安心、放心是我们酒店的第一要务。我们简化了一部分业务流程，以满足客人的需求。谢天谢地，自去年以来，我们一直专注于昆山和上海市场，这有助于我们迎头赶上。我们预计这种情况将持续到明年，因此在长期的运营和规划中会将这点考虑进去。
The virus has had a devastating impact on the Travel industry of which hotels are a part of and Swissotel Kunshan is no exception. We are in a state of recovery but it is a slow climb as Kunshan is a manufacturing city so we are dependent on the output and visitors to the factories. Trust is our hotel’s number one priority so we have followed the guidance of the government and our managing company Accor to allay fears of our guests. We have streamlined operations to accommodate our guests and thankfully we have focused on the Kunshan and Shanghai markets since last year and this has helped us to catch up a bit. We expect that the situation to be ongoing into next year so operations and planning will be with this in mind.
T&L：中国国内的疫情已基本得到控制，酒店行业正在逐步复苏，贵酒店目前恢复的情况怎样？
The epidemic situation in China has been basically controlled and the hotel industry is gradually recovering. What is the recovery situation of your hotel?
Richard：经济环境仍然比较严峻，许多公司已经缩减了他们的商务旅行以节省成本，而且外国人仍然不被允许随意入境，所以这也是目前我们酒店所面临的一个严峻的局面；我们正在努力生存运营，但这并不是一件容易的事情。
The business environment is still difficult as companies have streamlined their business travel to save costs and foreigners are still not allowed into the country so this is also a problem for our hotel; we are surviving but its not easy.
T&L：疫情期间，酒店有采取哪些措施保证员工及客人的安全？效果怎样？
What measures did the hotel take to ensure the safety of employees and guests during the outbreak? What is the effect?
Richard：即使在病毒最严重的时候，我们也从未关闭过酒店，这是因为我们始终遵循严格的健康和卫生安全规程，作为一家获得HACCP认证的酒店，我们的食品安全以及卫生情况已根据雅高规定的流程以及当地政府的指导方针不断进行完善和优化。
We never closed the hotel even at the peak of the virus and this because we always follow strict safety protocols for health and hygiene as a HACCP certified hotel. Our hygiene has been increased according to the special procedures implemented by Accor in tandem with the government’s own guidelines for guests and staff.
T&L：目前市场正在逐步恢复，酒店在当前及今后一段时间内，在卫生安全方面会做怎样的安排？
At present, the market is gradually recovering. What arrangements will the hotel make in terms of health and safety at present and in the future?
Richard：尽管中国目前相对安全，但病毒仍然存在，因此我们的政策和程序将严格继续执行，直到病毒被完全清除或有疫苗保护我们，在此之前我们不能放松，也不打算放松。
Even as China is currently relatively safe now, the virus still lives so our policies and procedures will remain in place until it is clear it has been eliminated or there is a vaccine to protect us, we cannot relax and don’t intend to.
T&L：本次疫情对消费者的心理也造成了不小的冲击，您觉得怎样才能重建消费者对酒店环境安全的信心，使他们能放心、安心地入住酒店？
The epidemic has also had a great impact on the psychology of consumers. How do you think it is possible to rebuild consumers' confidence in the safety of the hotel environment so that they can stay in the hotel at ease?
Richard：我相信这是可以的，因为政府在控制和管理局势方面做得很好，尽管疫情期间的确比较痛苦，但公众对政府的行为很有信心，对公众来说，也已经有了一定的心理建设。我们已经看到客户有来昆山出差，我们面临的最大威胁实际上是一些商旅公司或商旅客人的商旅费用削减，这大幅度影响了酒店的价格。此外在酒店举办大型活动时，我们也必须谨慎举办，即使酒店得到了这些活动，价格也非常低，竞争对手们都在降价，所以现在是一个买方市场。酒店的上海市场也正在恢复，这也得益于我们酒店有一个优越的地理位置，酒店附近还有两个很棒的公园。
I believe this will be okay as the government did a great job in controlling and managing the situation even though it was painful at times, therefore the public has trust in the government’s actions and this is a big help psychologically to the public. We have seen customers returning for business and the biggest threat we are challenged with is actually the cost cutting by companies of business travel or types of hotels business travelers are allowed to stay in which has depressed rates, with larger events in the hotel we have to be cautious hosting and even when we get them the rates are very low as everyone is offering low rates to win the business so it's a buyer’s market. The Shanghai market is coming back also as we have a nice area with two parks close to us.
T&L：您对酒店行业的恢复前景怎样看？您预计什么时候能基本恢复到疫情爆发前的水平？在市场恢复的过程中还有哪些方面需要特别关注？
6.What do you think of the recovery prospects of the hotel industry? When do you expect to return to the level before the outbreak? In the process of market recovery, what other aspects need special attention?
Richard：业务会逐渐恢复，但这将是一个艰难的攀升过程，我认为疫情将持续12到18个月，因为各公司的现金流都很紧张，所以旅行预算将会被严格控制，另一个对酒店生意不太好的发现是，许多公司逐渐认识到视频会议可以完成许多基本的工作，因此这也会影响很多公司的决策。但是我相信，随着时间的推移，一切都会恢复，因为没有什么能比面对面地共进晚餐、开怀畅饮来谈生意更合适，不论视频会议有多方便，它终究是比不上这种面对面的体验的。
The business will recover but it will be a difficult climb and I see this ongoing for the next 12 to 18 months as companies are hammered for cash so travel budgets will be managed very tight, the other unfortunate thing is that many companies learned that video conferencing can be done to get basic work done so this will also shift a certain amount of companies as well. In time things will recover as nothing beats a face to face of a dinner or drink for building relationships in business and one cannot truly enjoy the intangibles and experiences of a destination from a video regardless of how good it is.
目的地需要真正推动上述目的地、飞行体验、酒店体验的营销活动，而不仅仅是依靠策略性的价格驱动，因为这不是推动复苏所需要的举措。大多数调查显示，不仅在国内，在国际上也有许多旅客有对旅游的渴求，中国也不例外，过去10年左右的时间里中国一直在推动旅游业的发展，这是一个对旅游行业来说的利好消息。
Destinations need to really drive the aforementioned home in destination, flying experiences, hotel experiences marketing campaigns and not only rely on tactical price driven ones as this is not what is needed to drive the recovery, the good news is that most surveys show that there is pent up demand for travel not only domestically but also internationally and Chinese are no exception as they have been driving the travel industry for the past 10 year or so years.
