By Danielle Kutchel
At Atura Hotel Dandenong, it’s always been all about the people.
And that has never been clearer than during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions of 2020, according to sales manager Lucy Symons.
“The way our business has survived the last 12-18 months is purely by the grit of our people,” she explained.
When the pandemic hit, forcing a severe reduction in business for the hospitality and tourism industry, Atura acted quickly to ensure it could keep its staff on.
Team members were upskilled to different departments, allowing them to learn new skills as well as keep their jobs.
Atura hired a brand-new housekeeping team comprised of locals and employed directly by the hotel.
“It was working out how we could keep our team employed and on-site, even if that is in a reduced or different capacity, how can we do that so they can keep putting food on the table for their families,” Ms Symons said.
Nevertheless, the first few weeks of the pandemic were scary, she said.
The hotel remained open to essential travellers, but there were few of those.
Fortunately, Atura secured the bookings of ADF personnel who were helping at Covid testing sites, which Ms Symons called a “great opportunity”.
Staff were called back to their former roles with just 40 minutes’ notice before the ADF teams walked through the doors. The kitchen was fired up again and rooms that had been closed for weeks were quickly made ready for new occupants.
“I’m so proud of how agile our team was. Our people were ready to jump back on board and do what it took to get ready,” she said.
Reflecting on that experience, Atura entered the 2021 Casey Business Awards in the Employment category and has been named as a finalist.
Ms Symons said the hotel’s team was excited to have been named as a finalist.
“A hotel is a building with a couple of bedrooms – but the hotel experience is our people. We can’t do it without them,” Ms Symons said.
The winners of the Casey Business Awards will be announced at a gala event in late June.
