RADISSON HOTEL GROUP
Inge first became aware of the novel virus from working on mitigation measures in the group ’ s properties in China as early as January 2020 , but it ’ s fair to say most of us still believed this was a localised outbreak that would be contained . By the end of February , Inge was attending an annual conference in Las Vegas celebrating a successful year and launching new initiatives such as the group ’ s plan to phase out single use plastics . That same week a call came from one of the Radisson Blu hotels in Germany informing her of a cluster of infections amongst guests and staff . And that is when everything changed and the company ’ s global crisis management process kicked in . “ I would say the rest of 2020 was fully dedicated to managing the crisis – getting our company safely through this health and safety crisis became my full focus ,” recalls Inge . “ As lockdowns were decreed in an increasing number of countries , Radisson Hotels were gradually being closed . At one point , we had up to one third of our portfolio closed . No one saw this coming at this scale and for this duration ; no one thought a year ago that we would still be in the global pandemic right now . Luckily , we had rolled out a global crisis management process consistently in the group since I took over safety and security . The process existed before , but needed to be made available in quality collateral , rolled out worldwide and regularly practiced . Thanks to our practiced global crisis management and some excellent initial decisions involving expert partners , we made it . Our hotels came through this safely , because we reacted fast , consistently and together with the right partners .”
The job is never done Radisson Hotel Group turns acting for good into a habit and a consistent strategy . Over the last ten years , for example , it has reduced its energy and water footprint by 30 %. Now the
38 September 2021