Lily Beach Resort has given the best of Maldives hospitality for 22 marooned guests amid the pandemic.
At the end of March, Maldives closed its border for incoming tourists which was followed by the cancellation of airlines to repatriate tourists back to their countries. As a result, Lily Beach Resort had 22 guests since mid March who were unable to return to their country.
The lockdown and travel ban between the islands in Maldives left the resort’s 200 staff and these 22 guests marooned on the island. As a result the guests got to indulge in exclusive Maldivian hospitality from morning to night by their team.
“Because there has been no new guests or staff to foot step on the island for more than 2 months, and of course no suspicious cases in our resort, we do not feel the constraints that families around the world have in terms of social distancing and being locked down; we are locked down but on a beautiful island,” an official from the resort said.
“We have changed our activity calendar to match the in-house guest’s interests. Night fishing, swimming with whale sharks and manta rays, lagoon tastings and theme nights in different locations around the island.”
The management has also taken part in some of the celebrations with guests, notably for the 13th birthday of one of the guests. The resort’s whole team met for a BBQ dinner on the beach on a communal table and enjoyed the celebration with Bodu Beru dances and bond fire. Other guests bought presents for the lucky birthday boy and the resort upgraded the family stay to the Sunset Water Villa. It is interesting to see how people approach to one another has changed during these times, for the better.
“This peculiar situation has made us become even more flexible and creative because it is not so common to have guests in your resort for more than 2 months and somewhere, we need to entertain them more than what we would normally do when they are here for one or two weeks,” the resort representative further said. “They are concerned about the situation back at home, and it is also our responsibility to try to make them “forget”, even if it is only for one evening, what the world is going through.”
Lily Beach Resort also adapted their room prices as it would not be ethical to try to benefit from this situation and guests are more than appreciative of it, according to the resort. Looking at it from a business angle, this allows anyone to build trust and loyalty.
Looking at the future, Lily Beach Resort have also launched an attractive offer to allow guests to book now and choose at a later stage their dates, as it is difficult for the time being to commit. “That flexibility in this offer has been extremely well received by guests and it gives us an optimistic view for the future,” a statement by the resort read.
As it has always been, the safety and security of their guests and team members remains the highest priority at the resort. They are reportedly doing everything they can to ensure travel safety and provide maximum flexibility as the situation around novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to evolve.
Guests Travel Safety:
In response to COVID-19, Lily Resorts have taken additional measures developed in consultation with Ministry of Health and local public health authorities (including the HPA and MOH) to make their cleaning and hygiene protocols even more rigorous:
• The resort teams are receiving ongoing briefings and enhanced operating protocols.
• They have increased the frequency of cleaning of public areas (including lobbies, door handles, public bathrooms, FO, Resto, Recreation areas etc.) and have continued the use of hospital-grade disinfectant.
• Lily Resorts will continue to adjust food and beverage service in accordance with current food safety recommendations.
• The resort have increased the deployment of antibacterial hand sanitizers. They have also activated their operations response teams to provide around-the-clock assistance to their resorts and are prepared to act swiftly should they be alerted to a case of coronavirus at one of its properties.
