As some states start to ease some restrictions, many businesses are re-opening – or at least putting plans in place for when they re-open.
The reality is – it won’t be business as usual, like in the pre-COVID-19 era. Social distancing measures will continue to be in place for some time.
In this post, we’re sharing 11 tips to help you keep both your employees and guests safe, including:
- Create private tours
- Assist with social distancing best practices by keeping people 6 feet apart
- Enforce capacity limits both in your venue and on tours
- Practice more stringent cleaning procedures
- Communicate all of the new changes you are putting in place with guests
- Update your digital waivers
- Waive any cancellation and change fees
- Default to outdoors whenever possible
- Switch to contactless payment methods
- Update your employee sick leave policies
- Take all employees and guests temperatures at the entrance
Tips for selling and operating tours and experiences safely
Create private tours
Some guests will feel more comfortable booking private tours with their family and friends that they know and trust.
Assist with social distancing best practices by keeping people 6 feet apart
This is pretty self-explanatory and applies to both your employees and guests.
Pro Tip: If you do a lot of walk-up business, take a nod from what grocery stores are doing by adding an “X’ to show how far away people should stand in a queue. You may also consider installing a plexiglass barrier between employees and guests.
Enforce capacity limits both in your venue and on tours
In order to achieve proper social distancing, calculate the number of people who can be in your venue (i.e. sq footage) and still maintain 6 feet apart.
The same applies to all of your tours and experiences. For example, if you are used to having 25 people on each tour, you might want to drop that number down to 10 people.
Pro Tip: In addition, if you have to transport guests in buses, boats, or vans to get to and from an experience, consider keeping the occupancy limits in your vehicles at 25% – 50%. A good rule of thumb is to block out every other seat.
Practice more stringent cleaning procedures
If guests use any gear or equipment for your tours and experiences, such as safety harnesses, life jackets, rental shoes, or throwing axes, make sure to sanitize everything before and after each use. You can take this a step further and add a plastic covering or cellophane wrapper so that guests can unwrap it themselves.
In addition, here are some additional best practices to adopt.
- Wipe down all public surfaces multiple times per day.
- Set up automatic hand sanitizer dispensers at the entrance, in/near the restrooms and in strategic common areas in your venue
- Encourage all employees and guests to wear face masks.
- Install protective barriers
Communicate all of the new changes you are putting in place with guests
Many people will have fears and concerns. By communicating that you are following the CDC’s best practices and doing your part to minimize the risk of spreading the virus, this will go a long way to build trust and reassure guests
Update your digital waivers
For starters, if you are still using paper waivers, consider switching to digital waivers. There are tons of benefits of using digital waivers, including:
- It is more efficient since people can fill it out as soon as they book a tour or experience on their computer or phone.
- Minimize germs since you are not passing around pens and paper.
- Capture data on all guests, which you can use to grow your customer database and re-engage them in any future marketing campaigns.
In addition, add a few lines about COVID-19 to your waiver that educates guests about what you are doing to keep them safe, but still acknowledges the risks and removes liability from your business.
Waive any cancellation and change fees
Another way to reassure guests that it is safe to book a tour and experience is to offer flexible terms. This can include waiving any cancellation or change fees and offering store credit for anyone who needs to cancel a booking
Default to outdoors whenever possible
If you offer both indoor and outdoor tours and experiences, consider prioritizing experiences that are either outdoors or ones where you have more control around enforcing proper social distancing guidelines.
For example, if you run zipline tours in Colorado, simple measures like reducing the number of people on platforms at any given time as well as doing any safety training outdoors instead of in a poorly ventilated room are relatively simple ways to help maintain proper social distancing.
Switch to contactless payment methods
Collect all payments either online beforehand or use contactless payment methods such as Apple Pay or Google Pay.
This is a simple measure that not only minimizes the risk of spreading germs (since people aren’t exchanging cash or credit cards) but also will make your business more efficient and can even improve mobile conversion rates.
Pro Tip: Check out our guide all about Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Update your employee sick leave policies
For starters, make sure that no employees go to work if they are feeling under the weather. You can encourage this further by not penalizing employees from taking days off and offering paid sick leave.
Take all employees and guests temperatures at the entrance
Consider investing in a contactless temperature gun and taking the temperatures for all employees and guests before they enter your venue. And, create a contingency plan for offering a future date of travel if any guest is sick.
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In sum, these are a few things you can do to help keep your employees and guests safe.
