Dear Members,
The Queensland Government has announced a three day lockdown, from 5pm tonight (29 March) until 5pm Thursday (1 April) for the Greater Brisbane area.
Essentially, this is a return to our restrictions we had in January 2021 for the three day lockdown, with the addition of some restrictions for the rest of the state.
3 Day Lockdown - This applies to residents and businesses in the local government areas of Brisbane, Ipswich, Moreton Bay, Logan and Redlands.
People in these areas can only leave home for one of these four reasons:
- To buy essentials like groceries or medications
- Work only if you are an essential worker (this would include hotel take-away retail operations)
- Exercise locally
- Healthcare or to provide help, care or support .
Residents of these areas must also wear masks everywhere except at home.
Inside this area Hotels can open for Take-away food and beverage
- Hotels can provide takeaway food and beverage services.
- There is to be no on-premise trading activity.
- Customers can order, pay and collect their take-away purchases from within the venue. Note – as people are required to wear masks outside, a ‘No Mask, No Service’ policy should be enforced.
- The collection of Contact Tracing Details are not required for take-away purchases but is best practice if practical.
Accommodation guests
Accommodation rooms are treated as residences for the duration of a customer’s stay. Guests should only leave their rooms for one of the four reason above.
Guests can check out and return directly home upon completion of their stay if within the period.
Regarding what to do with guests booking in this evening or during lockdown period:
Pre 5pm tonight – Members are advised that they can accept bookings, however, best practice in other states has been that if a guest is obviously arriving from a lockdown area they should be advised to get a COVID test both tomorrow and the next day to ensure they are not infectious. The guest should self-isolate until they have the “all clear”.
Post 5pm tonight until Thursday 5pm – Members can choose to refuse bookings that are obviously from people in the lockdown local government areas. If a guest presents at the property that is obviously from a lock down area, your organisation must make a call on your procedures. As happened in January, this can be difficult to ascertain around this time as Queenslanders make their Easter travel plans. As always, your concern is for staff members and that they not be infected or become involved in protracted arguments with guests. Our suggestion is to make your decision on this procedure as soon as possible, advise any guests that have booked already and ensure you staff are well briefed.
Whole State of Queensland
Some restrictions have been put in place for all of Queensland during this 3 day period:
They include:
- 30 people maximum at a private gathering
- Greater Brisbane residents must wear masks outside the home, or if you are in a confined space where social distancing is not possible
- Seated drinking and eating only throughout the state in all venues.
This change is a little different, as we know some infectious people did travel regionally to Gladstone, so I would encourage you all to speak to your staff and encourage them, their friends and families to get tested as soon as possible if they have any concerns at all.
Thank you all for your diligence so far and I am certain the QHA members will continue to keep our communities, patrons and staff safe as we have for past year!
Please keep continuing your COVID Safe practices (contact tracing, hand hygiene and cleaning protocols) and should you have any questions, contact the QHA at any time.
Regards,
Bernie
Bernie Hogan
Chief Executive
Queensland Hotels Association
