The Event And Hospitality Industries Unite To Serve The Country’s Most Critical Covid-19 Health Crisis Needs
San Diego, CA (April 8, 2020) In response to the COVID-19 public health crisis, Syzygy Cities and Soundings Connect today announced the launch of the Hospitality + Events Fight Back Initiative (HEFB-20) made possible by a grant from an anonymous donor. The HEFB-20 initiative is a plan to aid victims of COVID-19, help save lives, and create jobs and business opportunities in the meetings and events industry through the cultivation of Public-Private partnerships and brand diplomacy.
To help inundated hospitals, HEFB-20 will activate the immobilized meeting and event industry workforce, which continues to grapple with the unprecedented economic downturn that has sidelined 4.7 million travel industry workers. The meetings and events industry is known for its ability to build temporary structures and convert existing structures within days effectively transforming spaces in ways that seem unfathomable to most people. The events industry is ready to pivot their products and services to aid COVID-19 victims, the health community, and first responders impacted by this global pandemic.
The American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) recently launched the Hospitality for Hope initiative which helps provide access to hotels properties in close proximity to healthcare facilities to support the health community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, the HEFB-20 initiative is designed to coordinate the effort to bring the services of vetted companies to offer logistics support and resources to the health community.
Soundings Connect has built a centralized call center and online resource site for the HEFB-20 initiative for those in need of immediate assistance managing COVID-19 response initiatives as well as the suppliers that can offer support. The HEFB-20 team of hospitality professionals are on-call to field requests for support and route callers directly to suppliers.
In addition, the HEFB-20 initiative offers full hotel conversion support from Syzygy Cities for transforming events or hotel space into hospital or medical facilities. Conversion management and support may include sourcing hotels, activating the events production industry to outfit hotel-hospitals to spec and code, pivoting production and manufacturing to provide much-needed PPE, coordinating supply chain access to medical facilities and outfitting converted spaces with necessary tech and support to manage patients.
Rachel Vass, CEO of Syzygy Cities, said, “The mission of my organization is to create community impact through the alignment and execution of Public-Private partnerships. The solution to the COVID-19 global health crisis requires the alignment of government, business, and community. The obstacles we overcome now will pave the way for the future of business on the other side of this crisis. The only way we can do this is together.”
Early COVID-19 hotspots like New York City, San Francisco and New Jersey have already converted convention space, sports facilities and hotels into alternative housing options for coronavirus patients and for those who are in need of space to self-quarantine.
In upcoming weeks, more cities around the country will experience an increase in COVID-19 cases. The Army Corps of Engineers has issued guidelines titled, “Hotel to Healthcare Concept” to aid in site conversion. Professionals in the meeting and event industry are in a unique position to help facilitate these efforts.
Hospitals, state and local officials and hotels are encouraged to contact HEFB-20 via online form or direct calls. Meeting and event professionals and event suppliers can offer their services on our website.
Soundings Connect Founder and Chief Connector, Tracy Judge, is leveraging a vast network of freelance professionals to support the HEFB-20 initiative. “The Soundings Connect business model is designed to be flexible and adaptable. We have the ability to pivot our efforts and support those in need during this crisis by remembering that sometimes innovation can arise when we least expect it.”
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Media Inquires:
Karen Miller
karen.miller@soundingsconnect.com
(215) 606-8888
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About Soundings Connect
Soundings Connect is changing the way strategy meets implementation in the meetings and events business through an innovative network o f more than 350 freelance professionals. As a tech-enabled organization, Soundings Connect creates powerful connections based on a people-first ethos that leads to synergistic work partnerships. The Soundings Connect infrastructure enables adaptability and innovation in the meetings and events industry. For more information, visit www.soundingsconnect.com
About Syzygy Cities
SYZYGY Cities specializes in aligning and developing multiple growth projects and stakeholders in a target community to design and thread mutually beneficial partnerships between public and private sectors. Syzygy Cities’ unique methodology, process, and platform helps consolidate government initiatives, business objectives, and local needs into an integrated initiative, matching the right resources with the most impactful efforts to create cost and operational efficiencies that maximize synergistic outcomes. Learn more at www.syzygycities.com