The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

It was mid-2020 and my team and I had only months earlier celebrated the grand opening of our beachfront resort Meliá Koh Samui. At the property's January 10, 2020 debut, just before the onset of the global pandemic, we were bristling with excitement, as usually the first two years after an opening make for the gift that keeps on giving.

However, as COVID-19 spread its tentacles worldwide, Thailand declared a state of emergency in late March and in early April, the mayor of Koh Samui island announced a ban on travel to the island, forcing the temporary closure of our resort just three months shy of its launch.

In the throes of a nationwide lockdown, the once thriving tourism mecca Koh Samui became eerily quiet. Deserted beaches and streets. Empty bars, if they had managed to stay open. Stretches of local family shops shuttered, doors fastened with chains and padlocks and windows boarded up. To this surreal, albeit devastating, backdrop our team set out to remain as productive as possible during our hotel's temporary closure, developing new guest experiences, as well as fine-tuning the guest services we already offered, in the lead-up to our reopening on July 2, 2020.

Inspired by our wish to bring some happiness to the island's locals amid such unprecedented times, I asked our executive chef Azizskandar Awang if we could begin developing an exquisite buffet brunch experience, despite how counterintuitive that felt at that time. I insisted upon two things: we had to offer quality yet we couldn't afford to lose money on it.

I'm the first to admit we never anticipated our Sunday buffet brunch would become such a wildly popular experience with locals and expats alike on the island. Staged once a month at The Breeza Beach Restaurant and Bar, the brunch brims with all sorts of indulgent options at a series of stations including 'Carving', 'Japanese' and 'Artisan Pasta' stations. As I highlighted earlier quality was not to be compromised, in our bid to position Breeza as one of Koh Samui's leading fine dining restaurants.

The brunch's 'Raw Bar' serves imported fresh French Fine de Claire oysters, poached Koh Samui tiger prawns, blue crab and steamed Surat Thani mussels. In addition burgers cooked in our resort's Josper Oven and topped off with foie gras, our roasted Australian beef, braised lamb shoulder with mushroom risotto, salt-crusted whole sea bass and Spanish black leg ham are also hits with the guests.

The Italian corner offers black truffle ravioli with brown butter, spaghetti puttanesca with anchovy and capers, penne with pesto cream and more. Seafood paella, spicy potato with aioli, 'pulpo a la gallega' and 'pintxos gilda' are among Spanish highlights, complemented by an expansive charcuterie board. The brunch's 'Wellbeing by Meliá' section features healthy dishes such as quinoa salad with beetroot, broccoli and pumpkin. Our extensive brunch menu is rounded out with vast selections of imported cheeses and desserts.

So much for COVID-19 killing off the insatiable demand for an exceptional buffet experience! Our Sunday brunch attracts at least 200 people each and every time. We never lose money on it. It is well-known on the island and has helped position our resort as offering a quality service among our local community. A key reason why I raise this example of the Sunday Brunch in this article is to demonstrate that despite the pandemic, and even the debate surrounding the supposed death of the buffet, guests definitely expect the return of some of the much-loved hotel services of the "old normal" that have, for the most part, sadly fallen casualty to COVID-19.

I'm not advocating we abandon caution to the wind and simply go back to the way everything was before COVID-19. Far from it. In those months leading up to our reopening on July 2 of 2020, we were busy implementing stringent health, safety and hygiene measures in the wake of COVID-19 that remain in place. As our resort is the first property in Thailand launched under Spanish hotel group Meliá Hotels International, we introduced the new measures under a global program called "Stay Safe With Meliá" developed in collaboration with certification, inspection and testing company Bureau Veritas.

The 360-degree Stay Safe With Meliá program entails a strict cleaning and disinfection plan endorsed by supplier Diversey and uses technological solutions to minimize physical contact between guests and staff, utilizing occupational health measures to identify people at risk and management of possible cases of infection. The program also includes post-COVID-19 standards to ensure the safety of food and beverage, wellness, entertainment and in-room experiences as well as operational guides targeting staff procedures, training and maintenance of facilities. We studiously trained our staff in these operating procedures and standards to ensure the highest levels of health and safety in this brave new world and appointed a person responsible for verifying compliance with the program at our resort.

Our resort has also been granted the Thai government's 'Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration (SHA)', 'SHA+' and 'SHA++' certificates in recognition of our health, safety and hygiene measures. SHA is a project by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to set high safety standards for the Thai tourism industry in the new normal and to demonstrate to tourists that hotels and other services are taking measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 seriously. The SHA PlusCertificate recognises that our staff are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and SHA Extra Plusmeans we arealso able to provide accommodation in partnership with a certified hospital for RT-PCR tests as required under Thailand's 'Test and Go' program for fully vaccinated international tourists.

You may be asking what all of this looks like on the ground? Arguably the most visible changes, particularly from the guests' point of view, are the likes of everyone wearing masks, screens at check-in desks, an abundance of hand sanitiser, and social distancing. We are more conscious about disinfecting everything but we've always focused on strong hygiene so, I think that, in this respect, there has been change yet not that much change.

Social distancing is applied in person as well as technologically. There's the digitalisation of services throughout, from the booking process through to QR menus and our Meliá stay app, whereby guests make requests such as for room service through their mobile phone. Our team also communicates with the guests through the Meliá stay app, and among their own departments and across the resort via apps.

The digitalisation of the hospitality industry was already upon us well before COVID-19, with the emergence of online booking and paperless menus, and I'm a firm believer that the pandemic has simply expedited the inevitable. From this perspective, there hasn't really been all that much change.

Due to COVID-19 we stopped our buffets, particularly our breakfast buffet, so that they were more of an a la carte affair. In addition to promoting safety through means such as social distancing, not offering buffets – the monthly Sunday Brunch has been the exception, of course - was admittedly also out of necessity for financial reasons. When occupancy numbers have been low, there are no people to justify the costs and an a la carte menu obviously reduces food waste too.

Pandemic or no pandemic, wellness and protecting the environment have been, are and will continue to be hugely important to the hospitality industry. Wellness and sustainability are integral to the Meliá Hotels International brand. Guests not only appreciate wellness offerings and hotels protecting the environment, they expect them. Arguably the pandemic has heightened people's awareness of their health and immunity, and serves as a huge reminder to look after not only our health but also the well-being of our local communities and the planet.

Meliá Koh Samui's complimentary recreational and wellness pursuits range from kayaking and aqua exercise classes to gentle flow yoga and "walking meditation" at a "massage river"; a reflexology path situated between our resort's infinity pool and lagoon pool that meanders through our grounds like a river. For an additional cost we also offer private Muay Thai classes, held at our lush garden lawn in front of our Pool Bar that merges into our lagoon pool. It's a spectacular spot to learn this discipline with Khun Dowden, a professional Thai boxer who has over 20 years' industry experience and has been teaching Thai boxing classes for more than a decade. All of these activities I have mentioned are popular with our guests, proving they still want to be part of well-being and recreational experiences, most often shared with others.

Our resort has signed the UNESCO Sustainable Tourism Pledge, committing to support UNESCO's goal of reducing plastic waste and supporting local culture and communities to promote sustainable travel in Thailand. As we adjust to a post-COVID world, the need for the hospitality industry to stand out as an example of sustainable and caring practices is greater than ever. A joint partnership between UNESCO, Expedia Group and the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the pledge aims to promote responsible practices, community resilience and heritage conservation. While it is being piloted in Thailand, the intention is to change the nature and impact of global tourism.

This pledge is a natural step forward for Melia? Koh Samui. We already have a broad spectrum of initiatives in place to protect our environment and support our local culture and communities. We have already banned single use plastics on our resort grounds including plastic bottles, bags and food containers. We use biodegradable garbage bags, biodegradable wrap to cover food items, paper boxes for takeaway food, and wooden and bamboo cutlery and amenities. We co-ordinate with suppliers to, for example, deliver vegetables in baskets instead of plastic bags and closely monitor our food waste, distributing fruit and vegetable waste to our own composting area, and other food waste to a local pig farm. Also, our team conducts regular cleaning of public areas such as the beach, local temples and more.

Our resort is home to The Gallery, situated in our lobby, a not-for-profit social enterprise designed to help improve the lives of Thai communities. The Gallery sells accessories such as handbags, wallets, and silks, and home decor items such as ceramics and wooden model boats, made by Thai designers and artists. All profits support further artistic endeavours as well as help preserve and promote local culture and areas in need. Our staff have also funded and distributed packs brimming with essential items such as rice, noodles, cooking oil, milk, tinned food and more to people in need in our local community.

We have provided land for a community farm to help feed elephants rescued from exploitation activities. The community farm supports hundreds of banana trees, as well as such additional elephant fodder as napier and sweet grass. We provided the land after learning that ethical elephant sanctuary Samui Elephant Haven was struggling to feed its herd of 21 elephants in the wake of a dramatic downturn in tourist numbers to the island due to the global pandemic. To educate our guests about the plight of rescued elephants and encourage them to visit and support the sanctuary, we have unveiled an elephant mascot Coco to provide information about the Haven and educational activities about the elephants at our kids' club.

When it comes to the health and well-being of our guests and the environment, we can never rest on our laurels. We're continuing to pursue these all-too-important areas, with plans underway to work with a plant-based foods expert to expand our menus as well as other environmental consultants to grow our own organic and sustainable produce and more. Stay tuned!

In summary, I do believe that despite the devastation to befall the tourism industry due to the pandemic and all of the health and safety measures that have been implemented, things haven't changed that much. If only hastened by COVID-19, the digitalisation of the hotel industry was inevitable. Wellness and protecting the environment are major priorities for our industry regardless, although the pandemic has certainly hit home their significance. And in addition to morning yoga and other recreational activities, we know that guests still love a great buffet experience, signalling their wish for the return of certain hotel services that dominated the "old normal".

Back in 1849, French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" – the more things change, the more they stay the same. This phrase resonates with me because it encapsulates my interpretation of what's been happening in our industry during the era of COVID-19. Day in and day out, we must continue to strive to do the very best we can at what we have always done and that is delivering good old-fashioned hospitality underpinned by attentive guest service.