Back to the Business of Busyness

Work is busier than an airport lounge during a strike by air traffic controllers. There are people everywhere and it's such a different vibe from two weeks ago, when we were running at about 20% capacity and had time to spend chatting with our permanent residents. Surprisingly, I like it when we're full. Everything seems to run more smoothly when it's all going flat out and no-one has time to think or worry or procrastinate. We've already had a case of Covid confirmed the day after someone arrived, and we've already had a young child vomit in the play pool, so we've really hit the ground running. The Covid thing is a bit awkward because we can't legally stop anyone doing anything once they're here, but we don't want a massive outbreak that leads us to having to shut down the whole site while we do a deep-clean. So it's a case of talking to the family involved and asking them to be sensible and keep away from other holidaymakers. Fortunately, they're a really nice group, and it's only the dad who has tested positive so far, and he's more than willing to stay in the caravan until he's returned a negative LFT. We're providing them with free tests daily, which is something I decided to instigate for this year - anyone with symptoms can text a certain number and we'll bring them tests to the caravan door. It was a battle to get it approved by Gavin, because obviously we have to pay for them all now, but it makes sense to me. There's no government-mandated requirement for them to mess up their holiday by avoiding other people, but if we work with them and encourage them to play fair, we're less likely to have huge numbers of cases and see our attendance suffer as a result. If anyone is positive, we'll arrange to have everything they need brought to their accommodation and offer them another break with us later in the year, when hopefully they'll be fighting fit and can enjoy the facilities to their fullest. Again, Gavin is not happy about the financial implications of this, but I think the wider Customer Service angle is a winner. We accept that the virus will continue to be a problem, we're putting protocols in place to mitigate this, and we're taking as much of a hit from it as our clients, if not more, so they don't have to feel like an illness has butchered their family fun. Hopefully, it won't happen too often anyway, and hopefully the people affected will appreciate our efforts and give us lots of lovely online love in the form of social media posts and reviews, which Gavin is a bit obsessed with. I'm pretty sure that once he sees a few 5-star ratings on TripAdvisor he'll stop moaning about the cost of testing.

RC 12-4-22