VIRNA Jan-March 2020

JANUARY – MARCH 2020

VACATION INDUSTRY REVIEW

very fortunate that our properties are located in close proxim-

ity to hospitals and urgent care clinics.”

The Safe Away Solution

Some resorts have gone the extra step to partner with inde-

pendent service providers or even bring medical facilities

on-site to ensure that ill guests aren’t left to navigate foreign

health care systems on their own or sacrifice any more pre-

cious vacation time than necessary waiting in line at walk-in

clinics or hospitals.

Savoy Palace on the Portuguese island of Madeira

offers vacation club members 24-hour medical care through

a service called Safe Away. Founding partners Hugo Ávila

and Paulo Azevedo, both registered nurses, launched the

service after treating vacationers in a hospital setting.

“There were many occasions when we dealt with tour-

ists who were all by themselves, feeling lost and abandoned,

wasting hours on something that could be resolved very

quickly,” says Azevedo. They saw an opportunity to provide

personalized health care to vacationers in the comfort of their

resort villas.

Guests can contact Safe Away directly to schedule an

assessment by a nurse or doctor or both through the resort’s

reception desk. Those with pre-existing conditions can also

schedule 24-hour nursing care, physiotherapy sessions,

blood pressure or glucose monitoring, and more. Safe Away

staff can even recommend area activities adapted to people

with limited mobility and other chronic health conditions.

When a resort guest gets sick, Safe Away health profes-

sionals recommend diagnostics, formulate a treatment plan,

and refer them to a specialist, if necessary.

“Whenever appropriate, our doctors and nurses will pre-

scribe treatments that can be given in the hotel room, whilst

keeping the patient under supervision at all times,” Azevedo

says. “If the guest needs additional medical diagnostic ser-

vices or needs to be hospitalized, our team will always be