Two hotels have offered their empty rooms to health workers amid urging by a Maltese hotelier for the authorities to support other establishments willing to do the same.
On Wednesday, the Pebbles and MedAsia group opened 17 rooms in a secluded wing of their Pebbles hotel in Sliema, as well as another five rooms in a rental apartment, to health workers in need.
The manager, Hezron Muscat, explained that since they were closed at the moment due to the current situation, they were more than happy to help those in the health sector who were taking precautions against infecting their families.
They were reaching out to those who could not afford alternative accommodation, mainly nurses, helpers and carers, he said.
“Since my colleague put up the post on Facebook, the phone hasn’t stopped and the rooms have almost all been taken up,” Muscat said.
The Pebbles hotels in Sliema and Buġibba are also offering rooms and meals to their own employees, since many of them are only working reduced hours and cannot afford the rent, he continued.
“So far, we have eight or nine who have moved to the hotel since their landlords wouldn’t reduce the rent, but we’re expecting to have many more in the next couple of weeks,” Muscat said.
I feel it’s only right that these nurses and medics can use these places so that they don’t go home and infect their families
Meanwhile, the landlords of a boutique hotel in Sliema, who preferred not to be identified, have come to an agreement with the owners of the establishment to waive the rent for the next couple of months, on the condition that 10 empty rooms are offered to health workers.
“I feel it’s only right that these nurses and medics can use these places so that they don’t go home and infect their families, in case they do have the virus,” said one of the landlords.
They are trying to reach a similar agreement with tenants who run another establishment of 100 rooms.
Along with his partners, seasoned hotelier Winston Zahra, who heads GG Hospitality in the United Kingdom, has offered around 170 rooms to health workers in Britain.
He believes that there are both economic and social benefits to be gained by such a move.
“If the authorities support hotels on payroll, they would be keeping people employed, which is the most crucial thing at this time, but they will also enable them to be of service to the wider community.”
While Zahra pointed out that initiatives such as these made sense, he also cautioned against obliging establishments to do this.
“I think the important thing to remember here is that the level of action a hotel can take really depends on its resources.
“A lot of it will boil down to what kind of support these hotels will be given to pay the wages of employees, because the biggest cost in hotels is the payroll,” he said.