Hospitality businesses trying to stay positive during a time of uncertainty

LACONIA — COVID-19 is not stopping the Fourth of July holiday, but it is changing people’s vacation plans.

Ron Wheeler and Teresa Muolo expected to be in Florida this week, “but with the increase in (COVID) cases down there, we decided to come up here,” said Wheeler, who grew up in New Hampshire, but now lives outside Syracuse, New York.

Rather than going to Walt Disney World and other theme parks, Wheeler, Muolo, and seven other family members have been staying in a rented house in Meredith while they enjoy the scenery and fresh air of central New Hampshire.

Some of the activities they and their group would have liked to do — the zipline and alpine slide at Gunstock — are closed because of the pandemic, but they have been able to take a ride around Lake Winnipesaukee on the Sophie C., a U.S. Mail boat that delivers around the lake, and they were hoping to ride the excursion train between Meredith and Weirs Beach. On Wednesday, Wheeler and Muolo decided to bike down from their rented house on Lake Waukewan to Weirs Beach.

After almost three months of conforming to stay-at-home restrictions, self-isolation, and enduring the shuttering of many leisure activities such as theaters, restaurants, and gyms, people are eager to get away and have a break from the cooped-up routine they have dealt with since mid-March.

As the summer vacation season begins in earnest, businesses across the Lakes Region that cater to tourists are banking that there will be a lot more vacationers like Wheeler and Muolo, whose Plan B or C will bring them here to escape and recharge.

“People need an outlet,” said Justin Cutillo, co-president of Path Resorts, which owns Steele Hill Resort in Sanbornton, the Summit Resort in Weirs Beach, and the Center Harbor Inn. “They are enjoying a much-needed reprieve,” he said, referring to Path’s guests.

Many people are altering their travel plans because of the pandemic, according to Amy Landers, executive director of the Lakes Region Tourism Association, the region’s official tourism board. The group represents more than 430 businesses in central New Hampshire.

“They are changing their plans to a drive vacation,” choosing destinations that are easily reachable by car, Landers said.

“It appears that people are staying much more local,” Mike Somers, president of the New Hampshire Restaurant and Lodging Association, said late last week.

One of the signs that people are choosing to vacation closer to home than usual is that many are making their vacation plans on the spur of the moment.

“They’re waiting to the last minute to book” said Michelle DuPont, who owns the Opechee Inn and Spa in Laconia. Reservations for this holiday weekend are “not bad at all,” she said.

Effective this past Monday, lodging establishments across the state were once again allowed to operate at full capacity, which will help those businesses which lost out on so much springtime business.

But while innkeepers are permitted to fill the house, a 14-day quarantine requirement continues in force.

“This has been a huge deterrent,” said Somers of the Restaurant and Lodging Association, the statewide trade association for the tourism and hospitality industry.

Until this past Thursday guests coming in from out of state had to attest that they remained at a home for at least 14 days before arriving in New Hampshire, only going out for essential items, and then maintaining social distancing and wearing face masks when within less than 6 feet of another person during this 14-day quarantine. But on Thursday, Gov. Chris Sununu loosened the restriction so New England visitors can now skip the quarantine. Those traveling from New York state and beyond must still comply, however.

Prospective guests are told of the restrictions when they call to inquire about accommodations, and must state they have complied with the quarantine at check-in.

DuPont said there have been some who were considering coming to the Opechee Inn who backed off when they were told of the quarantine requirement.

“Some say, ‘I can’t sign off on that,’” she said.

Overnight guests will encounter new procedures the minute they show up at the front door of an establishment.

Path Resorts has implemented curbside check-in for arriving guests to minimize the person-to-person interactions with front-desk staff personnel. That is just one of the “slew of procedures we have put in place to keep our guests and staff safe,” Cutillo said. The use of some amenities is being limited. For example, a key system has been established to control the number of people at Steele Hill’s indoor pool at any one time. In an additional effort to reassure guests, Path recently put up a two-minute video on its website explaining the COVID safeguards.

DuPont said guests are required to wear masks whenever they are in the common areas, housekeeping staff members are required to wear gloves and must also wear masks whenever they are in the presence of guests. High-touch areas are sanitized at least once every two hours, and guests who are not traveling together are not to ride in the elevator together.

With 122 check-ins at Path properties this week, Cutillo said, “We’re pretty busy, but not what we would normally be.”

The expectations of a less-busy Fourth of July weekend comes on top of the losses hospitality businesses have suffered during the COVID shutdown, and because virtually every function – and most large-scale events – that had been scheduled were canceled or postponed.

DuPont said the cancellation of weddings and the annual SoulFest Christian music festival at Gunstock cost the Opechee Inn business. All told the hotel had to return just under $100,000 in deposits that it had received for stays this year. For Path Resorts, it was much more — $500,000 — according to Cutillo.

Restaurants, too, have been pinched by the COVID crisis.

Limited to curbside pickup and delivery for nearly two months, restaurants were finally able to offer sit-down service six weeks ago when the state allowed outdoor dining with restrictions. Inside dining resumed in mid-June. And while restaurants in seven of the state’s 10 counties, including Belknap County, have no limits on their capacity, technically speaking, the need to adhere to social distancing restrictions means restaurants can accommodate only a fraction of their usual number of guests.

Hart’s Turkey Farm Restaurant in Meredith, for instance, can normally seat as many as 500 diners at once. But because tables now have to be at least 6 feet apart, that effectively means that Hart’s capacity has been cut in half, General Manager Andrea Weeks said.

Somers said that restaurants can now, on average, accommodate 65 percent of their normal capacity.

But as people begin to venture out more there are indications that many are still on their guard.

“I think people are being pretty cautious,” Karmen Gifford, president of the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce said. She pointed to one indication of that: Even though inside dining is now permitted at restaurants, some people are still choosing to eat outside.

“When the weather is nice outdoors, people are still interested in eating outside,” Somers said, adding the information he had received from NLRLA members is anecdotal.

Adding to the challenges posed by lost weeks of business and changing public attitudes of being in crowds, hospitality businesses are finding it hard to hire help.

Dianne Knauss, comptroller at Hart’s, said that as of late June the restaurant had 70 people working, compared to 135 during the height of the summer season last year.

Many blame the additional $600-a-week in federal unemployment money paid to those who were laid off because of COVID.

“It’s strange that you can’t hire when you have 14 percent unemployment,” Somers said.

DuPont said when she started calling back laid-off staff last month, some asked her if she could just put them on a part-time schedule so they would be able to continue receiving unemployment. DuPont said she was unable to comply with those requests.

“I needed them to work full-time,” she explained.

DuPont said last week that she was still hiring for six openings — two in the inn’s spa, two front-desk clerks, and two in housekeeping.

Concern that the federal supplement was a disincentive to getting the unemployed to return to work was raised during a teleconference meeting with U.S. Sen Maggie Hassan held this week with hospitality businesses and tourism officials.

“I don’t know if it’s fear of being in public, or just (being) too lazy,” Landers told Hassan.

Hassan noted that the federal add-on is scheduled to stop at the end of the month.

Further complicating hiring challenges was President Donald Trump’s decision 2½ weeks ago to suspend, at least until the end of the year, new work visas which barred hundreds of thousands of international residents  from seeking employment in the United States.

That action hit Opechee Inn and Spa and Hart’s, among other area hospitality businesses.

The president’s executive order halted the ability of businesses to bring in foreign workers under the H-2B and J-1 visa programs.

“To halt the J-1 program was a tough blow,” Charlie St. Clair, executive director of the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association during the session was Hassan. “To be gutted like this was a great shock.”

“It was hard for us,” said Hart’s general manager Weeks. “These workers comprise a lot of our support staff,” She explained that J-1 visa holders are usually older students, and because of their age they can work longer and later hours than many high school-age students.

“This has made it even harder for them to get the help they need,” Somers said.

Landers and Cutillo said that, despite the challenges and uncertainties, businesses are heading into the summer season with a spirit of optimism.

“There’s growth,” Somers said, “but it’s nowhere what it has been historically.”