Dallas City Wire

A Dallas interior design studio with a majority of its clients in the hospitality industry has taken a tremendous hit during the COVID-19 pandemic but has repositioned itself until to stay in business.

"We are hanging in there--with the hospitality and leisure industries taking a big brunt of the losses during this pandemic, we've had to be strategic in how we are positioning ourselves for a slow return to travel and hotel stays," Stacy Elliston, co-founder of Studio 11 Design, told Dallas City Wire. 

"We've utilized this time to concentrate on truly building the other divisions of our company – branding/social media and art/styling. Previously, the residential projects in our firm represented a very small percentage. However we continue to see this grow with quite a bit of residential renovation happening during this time." 

Studio 11 Design's projects within the hospitality industry included designing hotels, resorts, spas, retail, restaurants and gaming. With the industry being one of the hardest hit during the pandemic, the firm went from having its best year ever in 2019 to taking a direct hit in 2020, Elliston told Dallas City Wire in a previous interview. 

These days Studio 11 is coping with protocols and its shift to residential projects.

"We are still not 100% capacity at the office and are currently continuing our Monday/Wednesday, Tuesday/Thursday days in the office depending on the team," Elliston said.

In addition, the company has cut back on its rental costs by downsizing its office space.

"We’ve downsized our office and subleasing a portion to offset our reduction of staff and alternating schedules," Elliston said. "We have been very cautious in how we’ve approached the back-in-office protocols and followed all guidelines. This has helped to create a baseline of expectations and create comfort that we take the safety of our team very, very seriously."

Texas has been reopening slowly to ensure an uptick in COVID-19 cases does not occur. However, some businesses have permanently closed and the Texas Recovery Alliance reported last week that the shutdowns have wrecked the state's economy, reported Texas Business Daily. The hotel industry's revenues, for instance, dropped by 90% and approximately 40% of hotels in Texas are currently in default.

As for Studio 11, Elliston said her company will continue to follow guidance from government officials.

"We will continue to follow recommendations put forth by the governor and others," she said.  

She said she doesn't think Gov. Greg Abbott or local officials are holding back businesses but are being cautious about reopening.

"I don’t feel like we’re being held back," she said. "With schools recently reopening, restaurants and office capacity increased to 75% it’s fair to hold tight a bit and see that this doesn’t move us backward."