The City Lodge Hotel Group said the group has experienced a significant downturn in occupancies since the covid-19 outbreak.
The hotel group revealed that they initially wanted to temporarily close 24 of its 62 hotels, but following the lockdown news, further closures were imminent. The company said despite the impact, it still fully supported the president’s call for a lockdown.
The hotel revealed it implemented many proactive cost containment measures to improve the resilience of the business and minimise the impact upon our valuable employees. These include a freeze on all uncommitted capital expenditure, culling of variable costs and the reduction of fixed costs, all of which are designed to preserve and maximise our cash flow.
Andrew Widegger, CEO of City Lodge Hotel Group, said: “The extent of further closures will be dictated by the degree to which the group is called upon to provide support to government and essential and critical business continuity services, as well as other enabling services in the form of either quarantine facilities or staff accommodation.
“Good discussions have taken place in this regard and we stand ready to support such initiatives as part of a coordinated response to this pandemic.”
Widegger is confident that it is “well-positioned to re-open any of its hotels on very short notice as circumstances improve.”
The hotel group will use the time to focus on core central office functions, which will continue to operate remotely. All booking channels, including the website, www.clhg.com, will remain open for all our hotels for reservations for any period in the future.
Widegger said: “While we are deeply aware of the impact these difficult but necessary actions will have, not only on our employees, shareholders, service providers and suppliers, they are required to ensure the Group is optimally positioned to navigate the pandemic.
“As the situation develops, we will review the decisions taken and arrangements that have been put in place and implement additional measures, as necessary. We will update the market of such developments promptly."