Two RIU hotels reopen: the first step towards recovery

18 May, 2020

Carmen and Luis Riu communicate to their employees the reopening of the Riu Plaza Berlin and Riu Plaza Guadalajara hotels.

Today we sent this letter to our employees. We wanted to share, first hand, the news that we have reached the first milestone in the process of resuming our activities: The reopening of the Riu Plaza Berlin and Riu Plaza Guadalajara hotels. And, as we want to share the good news with everyone, here is a copy of the letter that Carmen and I have written to inform all of the RIU Hotels team:

Dear collaborators,

Last time we communicated with you it was to talk about how serious a situation we were in at that time. Today, however, we want to share the first piece of good news we have had for several weeks. We are getting ready to open the first two hotels following the total closure in March. On 25 May, the Riu Plaza Berlin and Riu Plaza Guadalajara hotels will open their doors.

Over the last few weeks, we have developed 17 protocols for action, to make up the RIU manual for post-COVID hotels, which will guide every one of you in your work throughout this first stage of reopening. The Riu Plaza Berlin and Riu Plaza Guadalajara hotels will open and put into practice all these measures, whose principal purpose is to ensure the highest possible level of safety for guests and staff.

The return to normality will be gradual, and opening these hotels will be a great challenge for everyone, especially their management team and staff. But it will not be just two hotels opening. It will also be a symbol of the recovery we are all hoping for, and that is why we thought it was so important to share the news with everyone.

We know that when we open some hotels in destinations where the authorities allow travel, our costs will be higher than our income for several months. But we believe that opening hotels is the best way to encourage our customers to visit us again.

We also know that the new health and safety measures mark a big change in our natural way of doing things. Limiting occupancy rates, wearing gloves and masks and, above all, maintaining a physical distance from guests will be difficult. We will have to adapt to this reality, at least for the first few months, even though it will feel inconvenient to you and our guests. We believe they will understand the reasons behind these exceptional measures, and we know every one of you will act with the commitment and professionalism that define you.

At the moment, we are preparing and launching the training to adapt the hotels’ operations to these new protocols. We have given this training campaign the name “SAFE AND SOUND”. You will be contacted about starting it very soon.

Once again we would like to thank you for your understanding in this difficult situation, and we sincerely hope that we can open our hotels soon, so that you can return to your jobs and get back to normal life as much as possible, following this forced standstill.

Thank you, take care and keep your spirits up. We are getting closer to the end!

Carmen and Luis Riu

Fdo. Luis Riu