JUST SAYING

‘Hygiene theatre’ has become an excuse for poor service – so it’s time these Covid procedures were scrapped, says Emma Beaumont

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not opp os e d to Covid measures that make sense. If anything, I land on the more cautious side of the toxic debate – I’m still taking lateral flow tests at the merest hint of a sniffle and wearing my duck-like N95 mask on public transport.

However, it is now high time for hotels, holiday cottages and hospitality businesses at large to scrap their pandemic hygiene policies, which are at best misguided and at worst a cynical ploy to fleece guests.

When recently attempting to book a country cottage for a New Year’s break with friends, I kept coming across the same stated check-in time of 5pm. In the middle of winter, you are looking at a pitch-black arrival; suddenly, day one of the trip is night one. Worse still, check-out times have been wound back to as early as 9am. For our two-night stay, this would have meant packing up in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Isn’t the point of a holiday to enjoy a lie-in?

The reason given for less time in your accommodation – with no corresponding discount – is always “enhanced cleaning”. However, we now have evidence that Covid is rarely spread via surfaces, but rather through close contact with an infected person or lingering in a crowded space. It seems clear to me that businesses are embracing “hygiene theatre” in order to widen changeover times and maximise profits.

My travel experiences this year have been marred by sanitising silliness. Take a recent trip to Suffolk. My accommodation provider had the cheek to put greasy laminated cards in each bedroom demanding that on departure we strip the beds and pile up all the sheets and towels in the bath for “hygiene reasons”.

Later, I had Sunday lunch at a gastropub where the dining room was sliced with Perspex screens, rather diminishing its character.

These policies are at best misguided and at worst a cynical ploy to fleece guests

All this despite evidence that such screens could actually increase the risk of catching Covid in certain settings. Meanwhile, not one window had been opened – something that would have made a positive difference.

Businesses such as these need to break out of the Perspex box and stop sterilising the travel experience – it’s time to move on.