When will we arrive to the end of this pandemic?

Early this morning I was asked to write a newsletter for Domerus. I’ve never written a company newsletter, for Domerus or any company. Sure, no pressure and no stress, really! So, hello and welcome. We’ve decided to open our Newsletters for feedback and discussion, beginning with this, being my first, newsletter. Please, be kind and gentle in your responses. I’m a fast learner, so your constructive feedback is welcome, always, and I’ll do my best to listen to you and implement changes for future newsletters. And if you feel the need to be critical, then I welcome your criticism as well; no hard feelings (really, I mean it).

Raise your hand if you are ready for this pandemic to be over. (my hand is raised) I see your raised hand, too. No doubt, this pandemic presents us with serious concerns, and the debate from all perspectives is very heated and ongoing. What we can all agree on, though, is our fatigue. In this protracted pandemic, we’re all ready to get back to our normal way of life, doing our work, doing things with family, indoors and outdoors, and enjoying normal life, once again.

So how is our commercial real estate industry doing, near the end of this pandemic? How much of a hit did it sustain? Will it recover? When? How? How is your business doing? How are those in your network of contacts doing? If you’re a CRE agent, are you noticing an increase or decrease in sales? If you’re a CRE mortgage lender or broker, how are you doing?

Last week I had the opportunity to vacation in Lake Placid.

I stayed at a well-known hotel overlooking Mirror Lake. That was my first time visiting there. It was breathtakingly beautiful. I didn’t want to leave. I asked the staff three times if it were possible to extend my stay for one extra day. Unfortunately, many others had the same idea, and the hotel was booked solid. Although I was disappointed, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay and vowed to return for another week-long visit. But, during my stay, business seemed back to normal, mostly. A few businesses were still requiring masks, and very few people were wearing them. I saw no social distancing, and no one was bothered by it. On the main street, there was active construction on the street itself, and a large office building being completely renovated, inside and out. The great majority of shops and restaurants were open, with many taking full advantage of it all. These are all extremely positive signs; all lights are green; all arrows pointing toward a normal, healthy economy and society.

Although I didn’t experience any of this, the author in a recent article argues that Hotels will never be the same, stating that in a post-pandemic world, hotel life will forever be changed; the dreaded “new normal”. Does anyone really like the “new normal”? Do you? Is the “new normal” really normal? The author quotes a few hospitality industry leaders who feel the need to continue the contactless trend, claiming that travelers prefer this. I don’t. Do you?

During my recent experience traveling last week, I did not find this to be the reality. I stayed at two hotels. The first, a chain hotel for an overnight stay, and the second, a privately-owned but well-known hotel for four nights, the one in Lake Placid. In both hotels, I found the contactless check-in and check-out to be merely an option, which very few took advantage of, while most opted for the personal human interaction. I enjoyed the personal interaction with the front-desk staff. I hope that never goes away from hotels. For me, it’s like being personally welcomed home to my home away from home. Have you traveled recently? What are your thoughts on the current and future human-less contact with hotel staff?

Also, I miss the hot breakfasts, especially when they’re included with my hotel stay, and will take a hard pass on the grab-and-go sack breakfast, which consists almost entirely of prepackaged food items. There’s a reason I avoid vending machines. I miss my hot breakfasts in the morning at my hotel, don’t you? For those who have traveled in the past year, if your room included a kitchenette, you found that nearly all the cooking and eating utensils have been removed. Ok. Fine! But with COVID nearly over, let’s bring those back.

All these little things make up the entirety of the hotel experience. When these are removed and replaced with phone apps, contactless-everything, the human interaction removed, staying at a hotel becomes a horrible empty experience. Would you want that type of experience? I wouldn’t.

Another clear sign we’re fast-approaching the conclusion of this pandemic is the official end of the national eviction moratorium, that is scheduled to end after July 31, 2021, according to the CDC. This is good news for CRE owners, and not such good news for tenants. Many individual states are making provisions to help tenants who are facing the reality of eviction. With many retailers and businesses on a hiring spree, we hope those who were negatively affected will quickly recover financially and the need for mass evictions never occurs.

Please share your thoughts and comments below. We’d love to hear from you. Thank you for tolerating my first official newsletter. I hope you found it interesting, maybe informative, but certainly worthwhile.