Directors’ Message

These certainly are unprecedented times. As we have watched the crisis spread across the globe, it is clear that COVID-19 has brought challenges both professionally and personally that have never been experienced in our lifetime. While its global, non-discriminatory reach may still seem inconceivable, these are our new realities. For this reason, as hospitality professionals we must now set aside, or at least suspend, our disbelief that this has happened and turn our attention to what it is we can control, what it is our employees and customers need from us at this time and reimagine our future post-COVID-19 so that we may once again curate amazing hospitality experiences.

The Center for Hospitality Resilience has been created precisely for this purpose. A joint initiative of Temple University’s School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management and the Small Business Development Center, the Center for Hospitality Resilience is committed to providing support and guidance to small tourism and hospitality businesses that have been impacted severely by this pandemic. Through a series of webinars, small business initiative reviews and consulting projects, we hope to provide meaningful and relevant insight to help these businesses understand and respond to the changing landscape.

There will be a time in our future when hospitality experiences will be coveted, maybe even more so than before. There can be no denying that, as consumers, our attitudes and behavior towards social connections, of which the hospitality industry plays a central role, will be changed. After all, we are now living in an era of a global health crisis that cuts to the core of a hospitality experience—that being human connection. While these changes may be temporary or sustained, deep seated or superficial, now is the time for hospitality businesses to lean into this uncertainty, with the help of the Center for Hospitality Resilience.

On behalf of our colleagues, we look forward to partnering with you to ensure you have the best chance of enjoying the spoils of a post-COVID-19 recovery.

Director
Center for Hospitality Resilience