HRRAC though the pandemic years

It has been an arduous climb for the Hotel, Resort, and Restaurants Association of Cebu, Inc or HRRACI, and its members ever since the Covid-19 pandemic coupled with a disastrous Typhoon Odette brought havoc to Cebu’s hospitality industry.

All the adverse conditions that the HRRACI board encountered is a reflection of what they experienced in their own workplaces, enough to motivate them into conceptualizing the first Cebu Tourism and Hospitality Awards (CTHA). The awards are given to leaders and hotel associates, resorts, and restaurants, suppliers, and even in the academe who continue to thrive amid the ongoing pandemic. The honors are not just to recognize selfless endeavors and innate Filipino diligence but to give the confidence and the momentum coming into the immediate future of restoration.

“They are heroes who have shown remarkable commitment to the tourism and hospitality industry and offered genuine support to ease the huge stress caused by the crisis,” stated Alfred

Reyes, HRRAC president and bai Hotel vice president for operations and general manager.

According to Reyes, the morale of the hospitality frontlines and workers have remained strong in difficult times and those who demonstrated excellence in their respective areas and contributed significantly to the property and their community. deserve accolades. For the association’s part, on the other hand, overcoming difficulties involved patience and persistence in negotiating with government agencies.

“Being the president for HRRAC for three years, the first thing that we have done, during the pandemic, was that we negotiated with OWWA to increase our contracted rates and still be a bit lower than Manila. The OWWA rates were actually very low for Cebu and we could not even cover costs like staff living in-house and PPEs ; but, with the intercession of Governor Gwen Garcia, were able to negotiate and we we were able to accept OFWs because the hotel has to be used or it will deteriorate,” revealed Reyes.

“We started with only 3 hotels, then it increased as the hesitancy waned. We also suggested to the Department of Tourism that hotels that have multiple service elevators can be quarantine hotels and that gave way to multi-use properties,” he added.

When the pandemic subsided, HRRACI then had to coordinate with DOT on addressing several new issues that was a consequence of the pandemic such as a deficiency of the workforce because a sizable number have not returned having switched to other jobs, and some insisting on a work-from-home arrangement.

What’s in store for 2023

To fortify the gains that was achieved during the pandemic, the Cebu HRRAC will revive their I Love Cebu online sale campaign to replicate its success in the previous year.

The I Love Cebu online travel sale offered exceptional bargains and low rices up to 70% off on rooms at hotels and resorts with a year validity.

“On the fourth quarter will be the second holding of the Cebu Tourism and Hospitality Awards. We will have 3 more categories to the CTHA -sales person of the year, HR Personnel award, and Best Marketing Campaign,” revealed Reyes.

Other projects lined up are The Cebu Tourism Congress, a one-stop marketplace that will also have hotels from Manila selling vouchers and will have have participation of local government from Visayas and Mindanao, and the rescheduled Cebu Goes Culinary.