Antoine Hamel Owner Hotel of Mirador Los Apus in Cusco Peru shares his experience of the COVID

Introduction [Music] so good morning good afternoon not one can I say good morning because you are located in Peru could you could you introduce yourself for 20 what do you do and where do you live currently well my name is Nolan I'm a swiss Peruvian I studied at the eh el as yourself then did a master in Lausanne in the university I moved to Crewe in 94 working several hotels I did the construction of the hotel or a verdict as an assistant manager which is now called Swiss hotel and then I moved to Cusco to open my own hotel you can only access machu picchu by travelpod member jambo but on the on the side of the andes that go to the jungle okay thank When did you realize that COVID19 was serious you so you you have a small you own a small hotel in cusco which is where there is Machu Picchu is so could you tell me out when when when did you realize that commit 19 was really something serious that's something we never seen before and that might affect your business obviously I think it was when the cases of contagious in Italy started to race and he decided to lock down cross the borders then I thought well those are our guests to come from Europe to come to the United States view from Asia but this is the main core of our business with Airlines rounded and border closed I thought this is going wrong it's not only but back there far away in China as some other epidemics happened I so this one is different it's really when it's what it was too far When did it affect your business Asia in China you didn't think it was going to affect because you already if I went but when it's touch Europe and its effect Europe then you really realize that might affect Peru yes okay and when did it really affect your business because you have been touched after Europe I believe yes the affected business when the airline's started to be grounded and Europe started to close borders until then been cancellation started to come on a slow paced every time faster and then Peru's mandatory lockdown on March 16 that was the end of it because all our business statistic 95% of our reservation come from tourism only 5% corporate and most most of them come from Europe the United States and Latin America there was no point to remain open with only locals okay so The Lockdown in Peru actually you're the same they are the lock down that in in France the March 16 I believe you're okay so it was at the same time so early you had already some cases in Peru at that time oh yes me the first case approvals March 6 do you operate your date when there are suppose to open again where we have four phases the first one has started last week but not to the public only for companies and specific companies restaurant deliveries for example what was the first decision The First Decision actually what did you do when as soon as you knew that you were in Lima or in Cusco in your hotel that took me in Lima because I live in Lima and the hotel lists from limit goes to it's 1000 kilometers so it's one hour flight took me in Lima were live and first decision was to take the decision okay what the hotel having no guests we decided to close and also not exposed my staff to the health problems as the masks and gloves and all those things were not in quantities that could be requested Cusco is a very very isolated stone so have Reducing Costs you been able to do any any action you are able to take to to reduce your costs yes closing the hotel was one of the points that down water electricity gas and then the Peruvian government allowed us to put on hold contract staff contract without salaries so that was my biggest expense at that time so we took that option very difficult option to decision to make you tell all your staff that some of some of them were 20 years from me some other few months tell them sorry we cannot do anything else those are the options we as a team have to make a decision that's mean concretely they still have their Government Support job but they are not paid correct that's what you are there's no simple from the government to pay do they have support you as a business owner for your business and for your staff or not there the government helped with 30% of the salaries but that's not enough that's not enough with that option making some calculation I could foresee that I would go to bankruptcy in October [Music]