As business trickles back, hotels touting cleanliness
Marriott, Hilton and other big hotel companies are used to competing on price or perks. Now they are competing on cleanliness.
From masked clerks at the front desk to shuttered buffets, hotels are making visible changes in the wake of the pandemic. Signage will tout new cleaning regimens: Red Roof Inns promise “RediClean,” while Hilton boasts of “CleanStay with Lysol.”
Hotels are still mostly empty; in the U.S., occupancy stood at 37% the week ending May 30, down 43% from the same period a year ago, according to STR, a data and consulting firm. But leisure travel is starting to pick up, and hotels see cleaning standards as a way to soothe jittery guests.
“I think, more than ever, customers are going to be looking for that seal of approval,” said Phil Cordell, Hilton’s head of global new brand development, who is leading the group developing the company’s new cleaning standards.
Some hotel brands are more stringent than others, says Larry Yu, a professor of hospitality management at George Washington University.
Yu said enhanced cleaning is happening everywhere.
“It is now expected by consumers,” he said.
Despite hotels’ precautions, however, visiting them is still risky, said Albert Ko, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at the Yale School of Public Health. Hotels can bring together travelers from states or countries where transmission rates are higher, for example, and many carriers may not be showing symptoms.
“That’s the kind of thing we’re worried about in terms of public health,” he said.
Hilton and other companies have called in experts to develop new standards.
Marriott and IHG — the parent company of Holiday Inn — are working with EcoLab, which makes industrial cleaning products. Changes vary by hotel. Guests may find lobby furniture moved farther apart or hand sanitizer stations next to elevator keys.
Shared coffee stations are gone. DoubleTree still offers warm chocolate chip cookies, but only upon request.
Inside the rooms, surfaces like TV remotes and light switches will get an extra cleaning. Best Western is getting rid of decorative pillows, pens and other unnecessary items. Red Roof is telling staff to bag up dirty sheets inside its rooms, to limit spread of disease. Once a room is cleaned and disinfected, Hilton will put a sticker on the door so guests know no one has been inside.
Ko said in addition to disinfecting surfaces, hotels might want to consider moving dining outside, where the risk of transmission is lower, or limiting capacity in tight spaces like elevators.
Marriott’s plan includes limiting capacity in restaurants and gyms and ensuring people are distanced in elevator lines.
Cordell said Hilton plans to keep pools and fitness centers open and clean them regularly.
“Fitness and wellness is so fundamental to the guests getting back in their routine,” he said.