RETHINK TRAVEL - HOTELS

Effective communication of hotel safety and hygiene to travel sellers is the need of the hour.

FOR many travellers, health concerns are going to be the top priority when it comes to embarking on their first journeys in a COVID-19 world, whether it is for business or leisure.

For example, a recent survey by HRS found that 86% of corporations said they will only consider hotels with revised cleaning protocols in their 2021 RFPs.

In response, hotels and hospitality chains across the globe have announced hotel cleaning standards. They are focused on enhanced hygiene and cleanliness practices, workplace protocols, and social interactions to address the new health and safety challenges and expectations from travellers. Multiple chains, like Marriott and IHG, have created a dedicated Cleanliness Council to redefine their cleaning and safety standards called “Commitment to Clean” and “IHG Clean Promise”. Accor, on the other hand, has developed a program called “ALLSAFE” vetted by Bureau Veritas.

Hilton has rolled out a cleanliness and disinfection protocol called CleanStay and also a specific protocol for its event space called EventReady which ensures event experiences are clean, flexible, safe and socially responsible. Having said that, a key element in developing these programs is effective communication to travellers, to ease concerns and ultimately encourage bookings.

Being at the centre of the travel industry, and supporting both supply and demand through technology, Amadeus has been facilitating and supporting travel providers to update this information and make the process seamless at our various points of sale, including Amadeus Selling Platform Connect and Amadeus Cytric Travel & Expense. Apart from communicating the various hotel cleanliness and safety programs, we are supporting hotels to update their descriptions with hygiene protocols; hosting dedicated webinars with hotels to understand their initiatives and with travel sellers to show how to access this information. Relevant and important information delivered to the travel agent and then to the traveller, will ultimately build confidence and trust to explore the world again. Technology will enable this, not only for the hotelier, but the travel agent, the traveller and the industry overall.

We understand that recovery will not happen overnight but working closely together with our seller and provider customers, we will all play a key role to rethink travel as the industry seeks to recover from COVID-19.

For more information, download our ‘Insights for the New World of Travel’ report or check out our recent webinar on hotel cleanliness programs.