The hospitality sector has regretted today that the Government has not taken them into account when preparing the plan to de-escalate the activity. The main organizations in the sector have produced their own draft on how they think this business opening should be, so as to guarantee security but also their survival.

With the plan presented by the Government "the number of shutters lowered will double." The fall of the business "is going to look like the moat of the Marianas" , has illustrated José Luis Yzuel, president of Hospitality of Spain.

The draft of the sector contemplates measures, not so much of capacity, but of social distancing. They consider that there are premises where the tables are already sufficiently separated, that comply with that requirement of maintaining the safety distance, and in these cases "it does not make sense to limit the capacity to 30%". In fact, what the sector had proposed to the Government was to reduce it by 30%, not leave it at that figure.

This draft has been submitted to the Institute for Tourist Quality of Spain (ICTE), which has been entrusted with the mission of unifying a single sanitary protocol, and has been prepared by the Hospitality of Spain (organization that represents more than 270,000 restaurants, bars , cafes and pubs), Aecoc, which integrates more than 30,000 manufacturers and distributors, and Fiab (which represents the food and beverage industry, with more than 30,000 companies and almost 500,000 workers).

Capacity

The document does not specify what is the minimum capacity that a business needs to be able to operate and that it is profitable, since "the hospitality industry is highly diversified". "The capacity of a local is not what determines profitability," said the CEO of Aecoc, José María Bonmatí at a press conference.

As José Luis Yzuel has illustrated, "a business with 100% of expenses, selling 70%, can no longer open." They consider that "opening below 60% capacity is difficult". "What should prevail is not so much the percentage of capacity allowed in establishments as that the health and safety requirements for employees and customers can be guaranteed," added Bonmatí.

Measures for staff

The document establishes the security measures to apply in each circumstance. For example, business workers should avoid physically greeting customers, and may wear a mask when it is impossible to maintain a safe distance . It is recommended to throw them away once they have been used.

They will be trained to know how to prevent Covid. In the premises , spaces or lockers must be enabled so that employees can change clothes and leave their personal belongings in their own space and thus avoid touching those of their colleagues.

The use of commonly used equipment or devices will be avoided. For those that are unavoidable (a letter or a menu, for example) guidelines will be established. The tasks will be planned to avoid contact between workers, as far as possible.

Table service

The capacity will be linked to the distance measurements between clients and tables. In other words, if a local has a space between tables of three meters, in theory it would not have to reduce its capacity, given that this minimum security would already be guaranteed.

Payments will be by card, but if it is not possible, there will be a single worker who centralizes payments in cash and on some support (glass tray ...). In any case, the dataphone will be disinfected after each use.

Regarding the measures to install partitions in the premises, they criticize that they cannot take "measures that have not been required of other sectors, we cannot be asked for longer distances than other sectors."

Tablecloths to use and throw away

Single-use table linen is recommended. The one to use and throw away. And self-service products will be eliminated, such as napkin rings, toothpicks, cruets, oil cans ...), prioritizing single-use disposable or their service in other formats by waiters upon customer request.

Letter "sung"

It will try to avoid the use of letters in common use to avoid the risk of contagion, choosing to "sing it", or the use of technology (digitized letters, QR), blackboards, posters. If not, disposable cards with each use. If this is not possible, they will be disinfected.

In the kitchen it is recommended to separate the zones of the different workers by means of marks on the floor or other similar measures. Before starting each service, a general disinfection of the work surfaces must be carried out.

Pedal bins

Disinfectant soap dispensers will be located next to the sink. To dry, paper will be used, which will be disposed of in a dustbin with a non-manually operated lid. The use of these pedal bins is recommended both in the bathrooms and throughout the premises.

In bar

As for the bar service, "the safety distance between customer and staff must be respected,

using, if this is not possible, other protection measures (masks, face shields ...) ".

The positions to be occupied by the client or groups of clients in bars must be established in such a way that crowding is avoided and the safety distance is guaranteed. It is something similar to what is already happening in supermarkets, where distances are marked on the ground or by means of signs.

In the case of exposed products, where appropriate, in bars (skewers or tapas), they must be suitably protected towards the client and the employee. Self-service at the bar by the customer will not be accepted.

Table on terrace, on request

In these outdoor spaces what it is about is to prevent the client from touching other tables. To do this, you will be informed that you must maintain the safety distance. You will not be able to occupy a table without the authorization of the local staff (it will be disinfected before)

Dimensioning the terraces (with cords, ribbons, marking on the ground or other elements when the competent authorities allow it) can also help to achieve this objective.

Other measures

Apart from these measures to be applied in the opening, the sector is demanding financing measures, with microcredits for companies with low interests or the reduction of VAT on these businesses, as Germany has done, for example, which has dropped it from 19% at 7%. "That would prevent the closure of establishments that are with the dropper," said Yzuel. Also that the ERTE are made more flexible, so that the workers of bars and restaurants can be gradually incorporated, as activity increases.

Without all these proposed measures, they believe that the closure of hotel establishments could amount to 30%. The three entities representing these unions, which make up the entire hotel value chain, together account for just over 29% of GDP and employ nearly 7 million workers.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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