Hotels as a Substitute Residence during Emergencies

Background

Following the events of October 7, 2023, and the outbreak of the Iron Swords War, hotels across Israel were asked to house evacuees, namely residents living in communities designated for evacuation within a range of 0–4 kilometers from the Gaza Strip border; residents living 4–7 kilometers from the Gaza Strip border; and residents living up to 3 kilometers from the northern border (Lerer, 2023). According to Government Decisions 950 and 975, the Ministry of Tourism oversees their accommodation in hotels. The guidelines regarding the services that hotels must provide to evacuated residents are outlined in agreements signed between the hotels and the state, via the Ministry of Tourism.

Numerous challenges arose during the mass evacuation to the hotels. The Ministry of Tourism was required to undertake complex and intensive interventions in the hotels’ activities to accommodate the evacuees. In light of the lack of defined guidelines and procedures in this area (State Comptroller, 2023), the ministry’s lack of experience in this endeavor, and the desire to streamline and improve the hotels’ operations in accommodating evacuees during emergencies, the Ministry of Tourism approached the Quality Assurance team at the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute in November 2023 to study  the accommodation of the evacuees in hotels since the outbreak of the war. The research findings will assist the ministry in formulating guidelines and procedures for evacuation processes during future emergencies, such as wars and natural disasters.

Objectives

The research objectives are:

1. To examine the reception procedure at the hotels, and the care of the evacuees by the hotels since the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023, and to assess the response provided relative to the standards set in the agreement between the state and the hotels.
2. To examine activities in areas not defined in the agreement with the state, and to map out difficulties and challenges.
3. To provide the Ministry of Tourism with a base of information that will facilitate the development of procedures for appropriate action in similar evacuations of civilian populations in the future.

Methodology

In order to assess the accommodation process in the hotels, 5 interviews and 3 focus groups were conducted with Ministry of Tourism staff, hoteliers, and community coordinators, and an on-site tour was carried out. A survey was subsequently conducted among 117 hoteliers to systematically evaluate the way in which hotels have treated the evacuees and responded to their needs.

Main Findings

1. Characteristics of the hotels: the evacuees were hosted in hotels of various sizes, some of them routinely provide full board services and some of them do not. 73% of them had public spaces to make available to evacuees.
2. Characteristics of the evacuee population: The hotels hosted evacuees from the north and south of the country. 37% of the hotels hosted homogeneous communities and 63% hosted heterogeneous communities consisting of evacuees from different localities. Sometimes conflicts arose between communities due to diverse needs and opinions.
3. Evacuating citizens to hotels closest to their area of residence made it easier for them to continue a routine of life, as much as possible.
4. The placement of communities together or in close proximity is of crucial importance to the resilience of the evacuees and their ability to cope with the situation. It greatly helps the hotel operate and provide service, and is important for preserving the cohesion of the community and its survival over time
5. The registration of the evacuees in the hotels until the entry of the Ministry of Tourism was not systematic and complete. The evacuees were registered in the hotels in several ways – directly at the reception desk, by a list from the evacuated local authority, by a representative of the evacuated community and by a travel agency. In some hotels, no registration was made at all in the first days of occupancy. Later it became clear that the hotels did not have detailed information to identify the evacuees but rather quantitative information of the number of guests, therefore discrepancies arose between the registered information and the actual number of guests and a problem of double registration. The handling of double registration and evacuees who left the hotel without formally checking out, consumed a lot of the hotelier’s time.
6. Dealing with the ‘Yachad’ database: Since the registration of the evacuees was handled without a unified online database, considerable discrepancies were created between the information reported by the hotels and the information accumulated in the Ministry of Tourism’s systems. To solve this, the ‘Yachad’ system was established. It is intended to create a database that includes data on the characteristics of the hotels (amount of rooms, accessible rooms, etc.) and the characteristics of the evacuees hosted in them. Most of the respondents reported that the system is efficient even though there are still problems working through it, for example the fact that the system is not updated in real time.
7. Future use of the ‘Yachad’ database: the database must include all types of evacuee destinations: hotels, other accommodation units, apartments and other independent solutions. Registration according to ID numbers will prevent a problem of double registration. In an emergency, the ‘Yachad’ database must be the only system that the hotels work with, even if its operation involves the shutdown of the hotel system. Therefore, it must include all the information necessary to operate the hotel and the information necessary to house citizens in available rooms in real time.
8. Most hotels met the terms of the state’s agreement with the hotels and the standards for providing food, laundry and cleaning services, and they also prepared the public areas for public use of the evacuees. Since no detailed guidelines were provided for the allocation of rooms according to personal and family situation, in most cases the allocation was made according to considerations of the hotels. This situation led to overcrowding and loss of privacy, and even to family crises and family breakups.
9. 44% of the hotels reported a lack of personnel for the kitchen, service and cleaning work.
10. The hoteliers had difficulty dealing with the emotional state of the evacuees: because of the situation, evacuees suffering from severe trauma arrived at the hotels, and they needed an immediate response. The teams in the hotels were exposed to the stories of the evacuees, but not all teams received support to help them cope with the situation.
11. The hoteliers were subjected to unconventional behaviors of the evacuees, and sometimes even to vandalism of the hotel’s property and physical or sexual violence. These unusual events caused an additional emotional burden for the hotel staff.
12. In some hotels, evacuees were provided with additional services: educational, health and social services and various leisure programs. According to the hoteliers, the needs of the evacuees in these areas were decently met.
13. To meet the needs of the evacuees, the hotels and the evacuees themselves raised funds to finance hotel activities and leisure activities to reduce idleness.
14. The hoteliers were satisfied with the communication with the contacts of the Ministry of Tourism, but their opinions differ regarding the satisfaction of communicating with the Accounting Division of the Ministry of Tourism.
15. Various external bodies, government ministries, local authorities and members of civil society organizations came to help deal with evacuees. For this purpose, the hoteliers were also required to allocate therapy rooms. The assistance of the hosting local authorities was particularly noticeable, but. the division of responsibilities between the evicted and hosting local authorities was not defined.
16. The need for recreational activities for evacuees was highlighted by the participants in the study. Dealing with evacuees is even more difficult when they are not busy with work or volunteer activities, and it is important to take care of leisure activities to reduce idleness and boredom, especially in hotels that are not located in large cities. As for hosting evacuees in the future, the hoteliers expressed readiness to host again if required and reported that the most important action for this is to place the evacuees in rooms in cooperation with the evacuated community.
17. The hoteliers would like to be included in the team of decision makers. According to them, the professionals at the Ministry of Tourism are not familiar with the field, so decisions are made that ultimately hurt the hoteliers and evacuees. The discourse is important to clarify the positions of both sides and increase trust and cooperation between them.
18. Research recommendations: It is recommended to leave most of the terms of the agreement as defined and add detailed instructions regarding the allocation of rooms. The recommendations and principles of action focus on the fact that staying in the hotel should be as close to living at home as possible in a way that allows control and independence, such as preventing overcrowding in the rooms, allowing washing and cooking, and coordinating expectations with the evacuees. Moreover, the Ministry of Tourism must prepare for such a situation in the future by establishing dedicated teams, building a master plan, upgrading the computer system, drafting agreements, establishing collaborations, establishing a coordination mechanism with other government ministries and establishing round tables with hoteliers to learn from the current event.

Citing suggestion: Hasin, T., Stern-Katry, R., & Porzycki, V. (2024). Hotels as a Substitute Residence during Emergencies. RR-015-24. Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. (Hebrew)