The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire globe in various ways. Its impact can be seen in different sectors and industries. What’s even more disturbing is that there seems to be no end in sight. One of the sectors that has been especially hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic is the hotel industry.
Many developers say that they’ve put various projects on hold and postponed their plans for hotel expansion and renovation to a future date. There are many reasons why the developers are being pushed to make such hard choices.
Coronavirus hasn’t affected all industries the same way. Those that aren’t in the hospitality industry seem to be fairing well, at least for now. That said, many developers say that they’ve experienced a massive downturn in several projects and the amount of business since the corona outbreak.

First off, the supply chain has been affected. It’s hard to import products from China and many other parts of the world. For instance, reconditioned air conditioning units are hard to get. The developers have been left with no choice but to postpone projects that are either in the pre-development, adaptive re-use, or new-construction phase.
And that’s not all, other processes such as bidding have also been affected by the pandemic.
Moreover, many government offices and municipalities have closed. This means that if a developer needs something from the municipal office, such as a title confirmation or a permit, the communication can’t be made. This has made it even harder for developers to complete their existing projects or start new ones.
Then there are the problems being faced by the clients. They’re incurring huge carry costs and are focusing on how to mitigate this. That said, their businesses can be optimized using a few tips.
What’s more, developers are playing their part in ensuring that the workers are well protected and the clients are comfortable with the workers at the construction site, They’re taking steps to make sure that everyone remains safe. This is costing developers and clients a lot of money.
Talking about worker safety, developers have to follow the strict guidelines that have been put forth to protect people from the virus. A good example is social distancing. Workers now need to maintain the right distancing when working on the projects.

This has also affected worker breaks and lunches. They must take meals in shifts. This ultimately slows down the construction but is crucial in ensuring the safety of workers on projects that haven’t been shut down.
Another factor that has affected hotel expansion and renovation plans is funding. While you may expect many owners to have cash set aside for renovations, this is not usually the case. In fact, many owners get funding from their cash flow.
When you consider how the coronavirus has affected businesses and that many businesses in the hotel industry have shut down, it becomes apparent that getting the funding for renovations is extremely difficult.
That said, many owners who have projects that are near completion are looking to finish up the projects quickly in anticipation of things becoming even more difficult in the future.
However, experts believe that the pandemic is eventually going to end. And due to the challenges caused by Coronavirus, many businesses will find ways of doing things better and more efficiently.
They also argue that when the pandemic is over, there’ll be pent up demand for travel, and the hotel industry may see a significant boom. Customers may also want to take things back to normal and try out new and exotic dishes that may contribute to the demand. That said, it’s hard to predict the future with any kind of certainty.
There are several ways that hotels are trying to maintain steady cash flow, such as meal deliveries at home. Technology has made it easier for clients to not only place an order through a phone call, but they can also do so online through the hotel website.
Managers are also offering free giveaways and extras to grab customer attention. Granted that this may result in loss of money, but the bottom line surely goes up.
Final Thoughts
The hospitality industry has been especially hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic. This has made building and renovations hard and many developers have postponed their projects to a future date. Owners are also negatively affected as business has taken a dip and it’s the cash flow that funds renovations.  The silver lining is that the pandemic will surely end, and the pent-up demand will help the hotel industry to recover faster than most people expect.