Australia’s largest private hotel owner, Dr Jerry Schwartz, has issued a call urging all operators of his hotels to mandate full vaccination for all customer-facing staff to ensure all parties are fully protected from COVID-19.
While some of his hotels are currently operating as quarantine facilities and require all staff to be double jabbed under a government health order, Dr Schwartz has written to his other operating companies asking for all employees to be fully vaccinated by the end of November 2021. Dr Schwartz has introduced a requirement for all employees at Paradise Resort Gold Coast to be fully vaccinated, making it the first non-quarantine hotel in Australia to do so.
Dr Schwartz said with so many unvaccinated children staying at the resort, it was essential for staff to be fully protected.
“As both a medical doctor and a hotel owner, I believe that any face-to-face business, especially if it involves children, needs to have fully vaccinated staff,” Dr Schwartz said.
“The hotel industry has been devastated by COVID and policies of governments, so it is essential we equip ourselves with the tools to drive a recovery once the country reaches 80% vaccination and travel returns to relative normality.
“However, we know that children under 12 cannot be vaccinated, and so to ensure the welfare of both our guests and our staff, we need to insist on mandatory vaccination, with the priority being for any staff who interact with guests, and then all staff working across the hotel.”
Dr Schwartz said the hotel industry as a whole should follow the lead of Qantas and Virgin Australia in requiring mandatory vaccination for all customer-facing staff by virtue of it being a people-facing business with a duty of care to eliminate risk for guests and provide a safe working environment.
“It’s a case of vaccinate staff or the hotel industry could perish,” Dr Schwartz said.