Antoine Hamel Owner of Mirador Los Apus in Cusco, facing and dealing with the lockdown (part2/ 3)

Intro [Music] what other costs you have been able to um to stop i mean you you own the the building or you have a rent to pay i own it run it we don't have rent that's a good thing we don't have uh bank debt so that's a good thing too so most of Revenue the the large majority of your course were payroll and this was suspended after what the first month after yes three weeks i think so we talked about the cost and unfortunately there was not too many things you could do have you been able to develop any new source of revenue yes well until now as we are still in lockdown we cannot do anything it's only wishful thinking but we have been thinking of alternatives that we can put in place that might be of his rental they use for the rooms long-term rentals by month six months a year maybe laundry service to the exterior to use the laundry food delivery some ideas we could put in place but only since last monday have the policies and the regulations been announced by the government to reopen the hotel so now now we're doing that working on that to obtain the legal permits and then what when we can reopen we can start to think about this but not now the priority are other legal permits so far so your source of revenue is uh you are working on it strategy you discuss with your team you plan it but you couldn't start yet you're still in the the hotel is still closed so far yes and as they are with their contracts on hold technically they're not my employees you're on hold so you're still in in Staff contact with them you how do you keep in touch with your your team yes we're in contact we have a chat they're still very involved even so as you said technically they are not your staff anymore they feel loyal and involved and they know that when you're open you are going to have them again as a staff yes i think that's that's clear to them you know communications is getting kind of a distance but i understand there they are managing their own problems trying to find money and everywhere to pay their rents their food everything their schools so they their mines are not on the hotel really yeah i imagine When the lockdown is over yourself when when the lockdown is over do you think you'll be the most useful in lima to try to activate all the sales parts in the organization or in cusco with the team you have to win costco with them yes i have to go to see planned restaurants sydney rooms have to implement all the uh the existence of of the legal the legal um procedures yeah from the government we have to put in place so i have to go there find products install measure paints everything okay so because what i understood before for for the last few years your your hotel was working i mean you were you were able to manage your hotel remotely from lima you are not based in cusco constantly no i i travel one week to cusco every month okay one full week What skill did you use the most as a leader as a manager what skill did you use the most for the last 10 weeks or at the time of the closing and and so far well the first one i would say is patience i kind of feel that nothing's happening we're sitting and waiting and reading and forming but nothing's moving i'm kind of i like to things done fast now so that's that's something affecting and then um the necessity to renegotiate all possible contracts that's something i would not do on a regular basis usually we use it i usually negotiate the contract and then you respect the contract How was the response from the suppliers and how was the response of uh in the majority when you start to renegotiate there was a good understanding from the suppliers or yes yeah yes very much with the staff with the suppliers with the companies they're all very understanding trying to help seeing the problem now do you have anybody in the hotel right now uh as a security or in cusco it's i mean you just have to close the door and that's it and it's okay no we had to organize first security when they were still under contract and now i have someone leaving at the hotel just to show some presents what do you miss the most for the last uh 10 weeks your human touch human touch with human contact with my staff i'm with the provider also yeah that was welcome in all the interviews this is really the number one thing being in touch with your client and the team that's very important