Flickr photo credit: Quiplash!

Let’s just say when it comes to swine flu (or the more politically correct term, H1N1), the nation, so far, has dodged a rather large, frightening bullet. True, the strain that seems to have hit this country was mild in comparison to neighboring Mexico, there were still deaths, still travel advisories, and still the looming threat that this pandemic could evolve to catastrophic proportions.

As hoteliers, many of us weren’t ready for it. That’s not to say we weren’t covered for the lack of occupancy – we’d not be very good at our jobs if we didn’t mitigate the loss in traveler dollars. But were we prepared – are we prepared – for handling a pandemic within our own establishments?

While we did have our risk controls in place for such outbreaks as Legionnaire’s disease (you did do that much, didn’t you?), our readiness for a pandemic that could strip our occupancy levels to zero was pretty lame. As with any loss, the risk lies in our lack of planning for it. Thanks to Legionnaire’s disease, many hotels have controls in place to handle such pandemics from an occupancy standpoint. But the further from the events we are, the more lax we become in our oversight. Most of us who remember the first Legionnaire’s outbreak (1976) don’t realize the most recent confirmed outbreak was 2002 in the UK.

In mitigating a possible pandemic threat, you should consider the following coverages, which may be needed to respond to various aspects of pandemic-related claims:

• Event cancellation 
•  Trade disruption 
•  Business travel 
•  First-party property
•  Directors & officers
•  Commercial general liability Workers compensation

Each coverage option listed will respond to a portion of your business losses during a pandemic. To reduce claims, you should have a pandemic process in place that addresses very specific circumstances under which your business will close, how the closure will occur, and what steps each member of your staff and management team will be expected to perform. Also, have in place forms for reporting any pandemic-related illness or loss. The better prepared you are to head off a pandemic threat to business as usual, the less impact it will create on your customers and your bottom line.