Ontario Restaurant, Hotel, and Motel Association

187 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 made ‘business as usual’ an impossibility. “Those attributes really came to hurt us during the pandemic because the climate was to stay away from meeting people and shaking hands so we were very vulnerable. Hospitality businesses were the first to experience the negative impact of COVID and we have been the last to recover,” Elenis stresses. As the constraints and devastating impacts rippled through the hospitality sector, ORHMA worked diligently to carry out its usual agenda, pivoting as much as it could to address specific pandemic-induced concerns. As the leading advocacy, educational and regulatory body for the hospitality sector the association kept in very close contact with the provincial government to help its members weather the COVID storm, “We have always been under the regulatory framework of all three levels of government,” Elenis says. “It’s probably the most regulated industry out there and we have always had challenges and advocating issues to deal with before COVID-19 hit us.” “During the pandemic, the number one task was to manage the inquiries from our members concerning relief programs, understanding the food and health protocols and were initiated by the government and how to deal with cancellations which was the first big issue,” Elenis reflects. The association was able to handle the bulk of the inquiries by phone, and email and by setting up a website for its members to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ for the members to go and find out about various updates to health rules. The ORHMA also helped to educate its members through webinars during the pandemic on relevant topics ranging from employer and employee relations and regulatory conditions by connecting members to lawyers that the association had lined up to aid its members.