As Many As 1,174 Hotels Closed, Employees Sent Home, Complained About Incentives Not Coming

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The COVID-19 pandemic or the corona virus immediately shook the world. Since November 2019 until now, almost all corners of the world have been exposed to this virus. The shock of course made "shocks" and resulted in uncertainty in the economic sector in several countries.

The hope of economic improvement after the phase one trade agreement between the United States (US) and China which temporarily halts the trade war between the two countries seems to be sinking, due to new uncertainties arising from COVID-19.

One of the business sectors most affected by this virus is the hotel business. Limited human movement due to lockdowns, regional quarantine, or social and physical distancing, have an impact on the lack of guests who come.

Physical distancing illustration. (Ilham Amin / VOI)

Like it or not, the manager must temporarily close the hotel until an indefinite time. The hotel business during COVID-19 is also developing and falling.

As a result, employees were sent home. Some even ended up termination of employment (PHK). From the data obtained by VOI from the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI), as of April 1, 2020, 1,174 hotels have closed. With details, there are employees who are on leave status, some are on leave without pay, and some have laid off their employees.

One of the hotel employees in the Mampang area - which is temporarily closed - Rima (31 years), admits that he is resigned to face such an uncertain situation.

"The situation is like this again, it can't be helped," said Rima to VOI, Monday, April 6.

He said the hotel where he worked had been closed since March 25, 2020, and it was not clear when it would reopen. Actually, Rima admits that she has no problem living her daily life at home and being a housewife, but her status since March 25 has been an unpaid leave or unpaid leave.

"Being sent home like this has had a huge impact on my finances. Because I and almost all hotel employees where I work, their status is on unpaid leave. Well, I don't know how long. If it is closed until next month, that means I will not be paid for that month, "he complained.

He also hopes that the incentives that are being predicted by the government can be enjoyed by workers in the hotel sector as soon as possible. A glimmer of hope began to emerge when a few days ago, the Human Resources (HR) division at Rima's place of work had registered the employees entitled to receive incentives.

Having investigated, the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) is indeed currently collecting data on this matter. However, Rima still didn't know when the incentive would reach him.

"When will it be disbursed and the nominal amount, I also don't know. If it is liquid, Alhamdulillah," he said.

Occupancy Severely Decreased

Head of PHRI DKI Jakarta, Krishnadi said, the occupancy rate of hotels in the country since early March has indeed decreased significantly compared to January or February.

"January-February is still varied, in the range of 40-60 percent. So in early March it dropped to 20 percent. At the end of March it was even worse, it was below 10 percent," he explained to VOI, Saturday, April 4.

In fact, according to him, if under normal conditions, the hotel was busy in April. The occupancy in March when the conditions were normal, said Krishnadi, should be at its highest.

"Well, this is actually below 10 percent. In fact, I am sure, now it is below 5 percent. Never mind calculating the percentage, there are those staying 1 to 10 doors that are good," said Krishnadi.

As a result, the manager temporarily closed the hotel. This was also done because he followed the government's appeal. Now what is affected is the employees who have to be laid off, and even have to be laid off.

According to Krishnadi, related to this matter, he left policies to each hotel manager. Because according to him, the manager knows better how the company's financial condition is.

Although he has recorded how many hotels are closed, he admits that he does not have any data on the number of employees who were dismissed or laid off.

"For the data on how many hotel losses and how many layoffs, of course it is still being calculated by each manager," he said.

Compensation

Regarding the dismissed employees, hotel managers are still waiting for the incentives that the government is currently working on. Krishnadi said that until now, no such stimulus had reached the manager's hands, because it was still in the data collection stage for employees who were entitled to incentives.

"As we all know, the government issued it, it must be calculated again, there are still Implementation Guidelines (Juklak) and Technical Guidelines (Juknis). As long as there are not yet, the echelons below cannot just drop it," he explained.

As is well known, the government is expanding the business sector that gets Article 21 income tax (PPh) relief. The policy was previously only for workers in the manufacturing sector because it was hit by the corona virus (COVID-19).

Press Conference on Economic Stimulus Phase II, for Handling the Impact of COVID-19, in Jakarta, Friday 13 March. (Mery Handayani / VOI)

However, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto explained that the policy was extended to workers in the tourism sector and its supports, such as transportation and other sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. PPh 21 will be borne by the government for workers with a maximum income of IDR 200 million per year.

After all, hotel managers should have risk management, where the hotel must take into account how to anticipate problems that may occur, one of which is the COVID-19 pandemic.

Risk management includes how to manage hotel occupancy levels, hotel marketing, human resources or employees, and hotel financial management and other matters related to this.

So, if unexpected things happen such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the hotel will be able to overcome or minimize the impact received. So that between managers and employees can find the best solution that does not harm both parties.

What Has Been Done In Several Hotels

Krishnadi said, currently there are only a small number of hotels that are able to withstand the uncertain situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are hotels that have strategies such as providing special promos.

"There are also those who join the government program by renting out rooms for medical personnel," said Krishnadi.

However, hotels that provide special offers for isolation (self-quarantine) have so far not shown any improvement in terms of occupancy. Likewise with hotels that participate in government programs.

The reason, he said, was that the presence of medical personnel who handled COVID-19 patients at the hotel made other consumers worried about contracting it.

PHRI Chairman, Hariyadi Sukamdani. (Mery Handayani / VOI)

The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government is recorded to have collaborated with the Regional Company Jakarta Tourisindo to provide its four hotels for more than 600 medical personnel who handle COVID-19 patients in the Capital City. The Ministry of Tourism is collaborating with the Accor Hotels Group which has four assets, namely Novotel Cikini, Mercure Cikini, Ibis Styles Sunter, and Ibis Cikini.

The hotels in the capital city that offer special promos during the COVID-19 period include Swissbel-Hotel and Hotel Aryaduta Jakarta. Swissbell-Hotel Jakarta and Bali on their official website has three special promos for consumers who want to rent rooms at low rates during the Covid-19 handling period, namely the Quarantine Package, Stay Longer Package, and Stay Relax Package.

However, in the end, Hotel Aryaduta - according to PHRI data - was also recorded as closed as of April 1, 2020. "As long as the positive number of COVID-19 is still rising, there is no need for a lockdown - people tend to just want to stay at home," concluded Krishnadi.