The coronavirus pandemic has hotels developing policies that will be applied worldwide to ensure that their future guests will be safe. There will be massive changes in the industry until a vaccine, an effective treatment, or instantaneous testing for coronavirus is available.
According to Christopher Anderson, the professor of business at Cornell University's Hotel School in Ithaca, New York, hotel stays are likely to be a stripped-down affair, particularly in higher-end hotels where personalized service and amenities have long been part of their services.
Social distancing inside hotels
Anderson predicts that there will be less communal access in hotels, which means that there will be no buffets, no minibars, and no high-touch elements of luxury such as spas, gyms, bellhop and valet services. Hotel guests will go through keyless and contactless check-in and checkout and few personalized interactions with the staff.
In America, there are hints of a return in demand for hotel rooms, according to the senior vice president of Lodging Insights for hospitality analysis firm STR, Jan Freitag. The hotel occupancy for the week ending May 2 was at 28.6%, giving STR its first evidence of a return of leisure demand after some states had eased pandemic restrictions.
The hotel occupancy was still down 58% compared to the same week last year. As demand increases, the hotel industry is trying to reassure its potential guests that they've put additional safety measures in place to protect against coronavirus transmission as the industry starts to slowly open across the country.
The top concern in the industry is hygiene, and the American Hotel and Lodging Association released a Stay Safe standards in the industry on May 4. A lot of major hotel groups have also outlined new policies.
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Hilton hotels are now developing policies with help from the Mayo Clinic's Infection Prevention and Control team. Hilton is looking at using electrostatic sprayers and ultraviolet light to sanitize objects and surfaces in their establishments.
Marriott has also announced that they will use electrostatic sprays to clean guest rooms and public areas and is testing ultraviolet light technology to also clean their surfaces and objects. Hotels will be removing furniture and they will facilitate a social distancing space of 6 feet, which is prescribed by the CDC and WHO.
Freitag says that these new measures will affect the overall budget of hotel owners but it is still unclear whether guests will see an increase in room rates. Freitag added that it is possible that cleaning fees are the new resort fees. But whatever the case is, staying in a hotel in 2020 will be cheaper than it was last year.
Screening guests
One line of defense in detecting people who are infected with COVID-19 is through temperature screening, but it is still unclear how widely it will be implemented in the hotel.
At The Venetian, thermal scanners will be used at every entry point. It will allow discreet and noninvasive temperature checks for the guests and staff. In Singapore, the SG Clean, a national campaign in the country, has been rolled out across all industries. It includes a set of standards for hotels which includes temperature checks of guests.
In New York, The Four Seasons has been following a set of temporary protocols since it started hosting health care workers in April. The policies were developed by International SOS, and it included a single point of entry for everyone, staff, and guests, where each person's temperature is checked and questions are asked by nurses stationed at the entry 24/7.
Hotels all around the world are doing everything that they can to ensure the safety of their guests. However, it is still unclear whether they can bounce back and get their occupancy rate to rise again.
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