If you decide to break away from locking up the coronavirus to arrive this summer, expect some changes at your hotel, such as no more valet parking, a plexiglass glass between you and the clerk and capacity limits at the swimming pool.
And forget about using the gym. It will be closed.
Buffet breakfast? Lost.
With Governor Gavin Newsom expected to give the go-ahead for holiday trips starting Friday, the hotel industry has adopted a series of protocols that change the look of hotels in the country and the way they operate. The aim is to make guests feel safe, or relatively safe, from coronavirus.
In addition to asking hotel workers to clean and remove most surfaces more often, hotel operators put stickers on the floor to remind people to keep their distance from each other. A hand sanitizer dispenser will be placed throughout the building. At least one hotel moved the lobby to a less crowded location; others have installed swimming pool furniture that is far apart to prevent guests who don’t know each other from relaxing together.
In most hotels, staff will wear masks. Some hotels will offer masks and hand sanitizers for guests when they check-in.
One hotel cleaning company is encouraging greater use of vacuum robots to free staff into cleaner rooms. Many other hotels are turning to devices that spray disinfectant fog to kill germs that may be hiding in nooks and crannies.
“Most people can live with such changes,” said Janet Zaldua, chief executive of the Marina del Rey Convention & Visitors Bureau and members of the Los Angeles County task force who sought to find ways to safely reopen business. “I think there are so many hidden requests.”
Whiz is an automatic vacuum for use in hotels and office buildings.
(Softbank Robotics Group Corp.)
More and more people are getting ready for the holidays. A survey by Deloitte in mid-May, 1,000 Americans found that 31% planned to stay in a hotel during vacation travel in the next three months, up from 24% in mid-April.
When the hotel reopens, they face heated competition. Airbnb and similar companies have reported a recent increase in rental homes, touting relatively ‘not crowded’ properties and the ability of guests to cook their own food and control who enters the room. And in early March, recreational vehicle companies saw several successful pitching trips in RVs and campers as a way to travel in a bubble.
Hotels and Lodging California Lodging. has developed Check point 34 points to fight the spread of COVID-19. Hotels that adhere to the checklist, including washing bed linen in the hottest water possible and eliminating valet parking services, will get a decal window that says that the property meets the group’s “Clean + Safe” standard.
Pandemic pushed demand for hotels – and all trips – to record lows. Hotels in the US have lost around $ 31 billion in room revenue and have dismissed or paid 70% of their workers since the pandemic struck, according to data published by American Hotels and Lodging Lodgings.
Hotel operators hope to attract more guests by promoting new ways they try to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection.
In 70 rooms of the Hotel & Spa BLVD in Studio City, a plexiglass partition separates guests from workers at the front desk and at the bar. The gym, spa and swimming pool have been closed. A shop in the hotel lobby that previously sold sandwiches, bagels, coffee, and freshly made breakfast and lunch foods had been converted to sell individually wrapped premade snacks.
In the room, a housekeeper cleans a hard surface before turning on a handheld device that resembles a small leaf blower that emits a mist made of a solution of hydrogen peroxide and ethanol. After the room is cleaned and foggy, the sticker on the hotel room door indicates no one has entered because the room has been disinfected.
“This will be the new norm,” said Sagar Kumar, owner of three BVLD Hotels chains. “That is something every hotel should do.”
It is not clear whether disinfectant haze really helps fight the corona virus.
Fogging was used on aircraft during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, said Dr. Timothy Brewer, a professor of medicine in the infectious disease division at the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine. But he said fogging hotel rooms were not needed for coronavirus as housekeepers swept high-touch surfaces such as toilets and door handles.
“I don’t think there is a reason you have to disinfect the walls and ceiling,” he said, adding that the virus does not usually live on the surface for more than a few hours.
To disinfect a room, Marriott International, one of the world’s largest hotel companies, is testing the use of electrostatic fogging devices, which fill the droplet of solution that is being sprayed to make it stick to the surface. This is the process used by Delta Air Lines to disinfect the cabin between flights. The hotel giant is also evaluating whether to eliminate or modify valet parking.
Marriott also recommends that hotel-branded space furniture be separated in public areas and install a plexiglass barrier, hand sanitizer dispenser, and signage to encourage physical distance.
“Now, more than ever, travelers need to believe in the places where they live,” said Scott McCoy, vice president of Marriott market operations and guest experience in America.
The pandemic, according to hotel industry experts, is likely to make small hotels more popular among travelers compared to large hotels where guests may feel they are more at risk of being infected by being exposed to large crowds of people attending conferences or weddings.
“Almost overnight we moved from hotel products that were functionally obsolete to highly desirable,” Alan X. Reay, president of the Atlas Hospitality Group, said of small hotels.
But even boutique hotels make changes.
At the 22-room Joaquin Hotel in Laguna Beach, the check-in desk is moved from the narrow lobby to the larger living area so that guests do not gather together. Around the pool, deck chairs have been placed separately to increase physical distance and the furniture is cleaned with disinfectant after use, said hotel owner Paul Makarechian.
The hotel has also closed its restaurant and instead encourages guests to order food from nearby restaurants to eat in their rooms or on the terrace and outdoor area. The hotel provides plates, cups and disposable equipment.
“We are no longer holding traditional sitting banquets,” Makarechian said. “What we are trying to do is provide sophistication with a little interaction.”
Once demand begins to increase, hotels will probably employ more workers to clean more frequently and more thoroughly, said Kelvis Quaynor, vice president of Ganir & Co., a company that provides cleaning services for some of the country’s largest hotel chains.
But he believes overall labor costs can be controlled by introducing more automation, including devices such as Whiz, automatic vacuum to clean aisles and large convention spaces. Quaynor said “Roomba an industrial size,” built by Softbank Robotics Group Corp., would free up staff to focus on the disinfectant room.
Whiz has been used at a hotel in Park City, Utah, Quaynor said, and he hopes similar automation will be used nationally within a year or two.
“COVID-19 will make this much faster than we thought,” he said.
