Dealing with the Pandemic
Kalahari Resorts and Conventions successfully opened its fourth resort in Round Rock, Texas, in November amid the pandemic. The company has experience coping with the conditions caused by the crisis at its existing three resorts.
“We were hit as hard as any business in the country,” says Todd Nelson, founder and owner of the family-run company, which shuttered all its properties in mid-March. “Money started gushing out of the checkbooks,” he adds. Nelson says Kalahari furloughed 3,800 employees, issued them two weeks of crisis pay, and paid their health insurance through June with virtually no income coming in.
The Wisconsin Dells property was the first to reopen on May 27, 2020, with the Sandusky, Ohio, and Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania, locations welcoming guests again in mid-June. According to Karolyn Doro, corporate director of rooms, one of the greatest challenges the company has faced is maintaining physical distance between family groups, especially in the water parks. Since signs and floor decals weren’t cutting it, Kalahari came up with an innovative solution.
“We have ‘wellness concierges’ to help manage lines,” Doro explains. They enforce the social distancing policies, as well as answer questions about protocols and safety measures. Because it can be hard to hear in noisy water parks, some of the concierges use hand-held signs to communicate. With a little help from the concierges, “guests have been very cooperative. Everyone is taking physical distancing seriously,” adds Doro.
Kalahari has also upgraded its text messaging system and is using it to deliver coupons, maps, menus, and other info electronically. The resorts are also encouraging guests to use texting to ask for towel deliveries (which, like room service orders, are left outside of rooms), trash pickup, and other requests.
To help minimize contact and protect both employees and guests, the hotels eliminated traditional housekeeping services and removed touch points from guest rooms such as alarm clocks, ice buckets, and coffee makers. Employees also receive daily temperature screenings with infrared camera technology.
Business has not been normal, but visitors have been coming to and enjoying the resorts.
As of press time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Guidance for Public Pools, Hot Tubs, and Water Playgrounds states the CDC is not aware of any scientific reports of the virus that causes COVID-19 spreading to people through the water in pools, hot tubs, water playgrounds, or other treated aquatic venues.
“It’s reassuring to guests that, according to the CDC, there is no evidence that COVID-19 can spread in pools or hot tubs,” Doro says. All four Kalahari resorts continue to follow proper maintenance schedules on water park equipment, along with bathing water disinfection with chlorine and bromine. “That brings peace of mind,” says Doro.
