2020 was an extremely difficult year mainly for the tourism industry due to the pandemic. New data for guest service, a sufficiently diversified way of operating so that we can ensure the health and safety of guests and staff.
Now visitors will turn to contactless solutions, digital services, protection of their personal data as a result of all this social distancing.
Travelers will be more tech savvy and all this concern for ensuring one's health will create new patterns of traveler behavior.
Most important of all is proper preparation and alertness.
Despite the challenges and uncertainty, Cactus Hotels started their operations a little later than the scheduled time in order to host their guests and give them the unique vacation experience they chose while respecting all health protocols.
The company has chosen to suspend the operation of one of its 5 hotel units in order to provide the infrastructure of this unit to the guests of the remaining Cactus hotels, in order to ensure a more comfortable hospitality and with the corresponding distances defined by the EODY instructions. A conscious decision by the management which proves its responsible attitude towards the human factor.
The Management of the Company, after taking into account the instructions of the World Health Organization as well as the national legislation for the implementation of health protocols in tourist accommodation in the country in view of their re-operation in the context of the new reality created by the disease COVID-19, proceeded to draw up a similar plan action where he recorded in detail the operation of each department and the management of a suspicious case in the hotel.
The purpose and objective of the Action Plan is the prevention of occurrence as well as the effective management of suspected cases to limit the spread to visitors and staff.
To achieve the above, the Management of the Organization:
- It provided sufficient training to its staff in the required practices to be able to respond and contribute to the company's effort to prevent and properly manage a possible case incident
- It provided the appropriate equipment, space configuration and working conditions that ensure the Safety of its Customers.
- He changed the way the hotel units operate, immediately following all instructions regarding the disinfection and hygiene of our facilities, and we obtained the "Health First" mark.
- Monitored the Quality and Safety of its Products and Services by implementing the ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 22000:2005 System
- It ensured the recovery of their opinion regarding the level of quality - safety of products and services
- Analyze the generated data in order to continuously improve the action plan for the safe service-protection of customers and staff
- Monitored the effectiveness of the implementation of COVID-19 management procedures in relation to the P.O.S.I.
- It has established a special COVID-19 response unit, which includes a doctor specialized and trained to handle COVID-19 cases. He also supervises the safe and unimpeded operation of the hotel, while giving instructions and guiding the staff, if necessary, always in accordance with the instructions of the EODY.
- In order to achieve the highest standards of cleanliness and hygiene, we have partnered with a certified company so that we can ensure the proper disinfection of the hotels, the certification of the methods we follow, as well as the systematic training of our staff.
One of the hotels, Cactus Beach in particular, was the first hotel in Crete to be certified with the TÜV AUSTRIA CoVid Shield Private Certification Scheme, with the "High" level, with a view to the safety of employees, visitors and society in general .
Always with the safety of its staff and guests in mind, the hotel has operated and continues to operate with absolute safety, adhering to hygiene and safety standards for many years and possessing a number of important certifications. Based on the new data, due to the spread of the Covid-19 virus, the operation of the business was and is completely intertwined with what the legislation and health protocols stipulate, respecting everyone's safety and health.
At the same time, the responsible Covid team as defined monitored on a continuous basis and made sure to carry out the necessary updates of the action and operation plans of the departments based on the changes in the legislation, which were quite a lot especially in the first year of operation in Covid conditions.
Considering that everything should be evaluated for its effectiveness, which is also evident from the multitude of standards with which we are certified, once again we wanted and decided to carry out and organize a simulation and preparedness exercise for suspected Covid case management - 19.
So, on Thursday, August 27, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. in the presence of the Director of the 7th Sanitary Region of Crete, Ms. Lena Borboudakis, the Professor of Internal Pathology and Infectious Diseases of the University of Crete and Coordinator of the Committees, Ms. Gika Achillea and the Coordinator of Hospital Infection Committee Nurses, Ms. Astrinaki was held in one of the hotels us and specifically at Cactus Mare, a simulation and preparedness exercise for the management of a suspected case of Covid-19.
The purpose of the exercise was the evaluation by the health scientists, specifically two of which formed the central committee nationwide for the establishment of the health protocols, the effectiveness of the procedures and the vigilance of the action group to respond and faithfully follow the plan which has been drawn up to deal with an emergency.
The scenario of the exercise involved the existence of a guest with suspicious symptoms who is vacationing at the hotel. After the visitor telephones the reception, he reports the symptoms and you faithfully follow all the action plan for which the staff has been trained in the presence of a cooperating doctor to take a smear in order to do a molecular control test. Then all the prescribed procedures are followed, based on what the health protocols define. Procedures such as the service of feeding the customer in his room as well as the cleaning of his room with all the prescribed Personal Protection Equipment based on the instructions of the EODY. As the visitor's condition is not considered serious by the doctor, he remains in his room until the results of the test are announced. After the announcement of the results, the patient is confirmed as a patient with Covid-19 and you follow the procedure of transferring him to a hotel accommodating patients diagnosed with Covid-19.
The report of the exercise, based on the comments and observations of the health scientists, was the completely successful preparation and the responsible attitude of the whole team to manage any Covid-19 incident.
In conclusion and now in the years 2022, we concluded how important proper preparation and prevention is after all in all these difficult situations that we are still unfortunately called upon to manage.
