Having a Beer During Corona: You Can Actually Do It at This Bar (Huh?)
Are you also craving a cold draft beer or a freshly poured glass of rosé? And I don’t mean in your own garden or on your balcony or on your doorstep, but old-fashioned cozily at the bar. Well then: there is a place where that is actually possible, despite the coronavirus measures.
Fletcher Hotels has reopened its hotels, including the restaurants and bars, since this weekend. But not everyone can simply order a beer: only guests staying overnight may use the hospitality facilities.
Enjoying beers at a distance of one and a half meters
Although restaurants and bars in the Netherlands must remain closed, hotels are allowed to stay open. It is also permitted to open the restaurants and bars in hotels to hotel guests, provided that the one-and-a-half-meter distance is observed. “On March 15, we decided to close all the hotels because of the coronavirus crisis. But since this weekend, Fletcher hotels have reopened, including the hospitality facilities,” says Rob Hermans, CEO of the hotel chain, to RTL Nieuws. The bar, reception desk and restaurant have been adapted so that guests always remain 1.5 meters apart.
The morning after
The food or drink is placed on a side table by the staff so that the guest can take it themselves. But what about the breakfast buffet the next day? Is the breakfast buffet as we know it still possible? Rob Hermans: “Breakfast was the most difficult thing to arrange. Tables where guests can serve themselves bread rolls or cold cuts are no longer possible at this time. We are only serving à la carte now.”
Drinking = sleeping
So you cannot come to Fletcher just to have a drink. “If you want to have a drink at the bar, you also have to stay overnight. Other people are not welcome. We are keeping a close eye on that.”
Not amused
Many hospitality entrepreneurs who do not have rooms at their disposal are less amused by this reopening, as shown by the many reactions. “So because they are staying overnight, it is allowed? Please let me reopen our café too; I can’t wait to get back to work. No income, but the costs keep coming. I will do everything I can to keep it safe.”
“Seriously, how absurd is this? This is not fair to all the other hospitality businesses that can also simply comply with the rules. There is clearly no level playing field.”
“Unfair to other hospitality businesses without overnight accommodation. If it can be done in a hotel restaurant/bar, then surely it should be possible for the rest as well—with the necessary measures, of course.”
Fortunately, someone also spotted an escape clause for regular bars: “It doesn’t say how long you have to sleep. Solution for the small bar: bring a sleeping bag, have a drink at the bar, sleep for an hour.”
Fair or not, at least it saves everyone a discussion about who has to be the designated driver…
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