“We are very proud to have been a small part of the efforts to help ensure the safety of many individuals and to help slow the spread of this nasty virus. We will continue to do everything within our power to help our industry overcome this virus and thrive in the near future. “– Keith Cotton
When it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic was going to slam the hospitality industry, DerbySoft’s management laid out two simple guiding principles: keep employees safe and continue to support our customers throughout the crisis. Based in Dallas and with employees across 11 countries, the company was already set up to work remotely so it was one of the first in the industry to switch to a complete work from home environment. All support and account management continued uninterrupted, using the secure systems already in place.
Like most other companies within the travel industry, we welcomed discussions with our customers, vendors and partners regarding various ways in which we could help each other through this crisis. Unfortunately, because we make our living based on net hotel reservations, we were feeling just as much of a negative impact as our customers and it limited our ability to assist financially.
However, we were able to help in some unique ways as opportunities arose during the early stages of the coronavirus situation. Most travel industry personnel know that a lot of the Chinese population had already been wearing face masks on a regular basis well before COVID-19, primarily because of air quality issues. As a result, there was plenty of supply for face masks in the Chinese marketplace.
As the crisis quickly evolved in the Wuhan province, the supply of face masks in that region was quickly depleted. But because of our established presence in China, DerbySoft was able to secure thousands of face masks and arrange for them to be sent to various locations in dire need in Wuhan such as schools and hospitals.
In addition, working with a coalition of other travel industry leaders, DerbySoft contributed to the fight against the virus by donating funds to sterilize hotels that housed first responders. This meant that frontline workers could come back to a clean environment and that hotels could be safely cleaned and used for triage facilities as needed. And as hotels slowly reopened, guests could feel confident that the hotel rooms and facilities had been properly sanitized.
The above was an Op-Ed piece written by Keith Cotton, Managing Director at DerbySoft, and was recently published in Hospitality Upgrade Summer 2020 issue.
