Some hotels are mandating vaccines. Will others follow?
As travelers prepare for their next vacation, among the essentials to take — along with items, such as a toothbrush, wallet and phone charger — could be proof of vaccination for COVID-19, depending on where they are booked to sleep.
As coronavirus cases surge again across the country, driven by the highly contagious delta variant, a small number of hotels in the United States have announced that they will require proof of vaccination from guests and staff.
Accommodations, such as PUBLIC Hotel, Equinox Hotel and Wythe Hotel, all in New York City, Urban Cowboy Lodge in Big Indian, New York, a hamlet in the Catskill Mountains, and Pilgrim House in Provincetown, Massachusetts, are among the first in the country to announce they will require evidence of vaccination — in the form of a physical card or a digital verification — from their guests.
The precedent for hotels requiring vaccination is already being set beyond the contiguous United States.
In August, Puerto Rico issued an islandwide vaccine mandate that requires guests and staff at all hotels, guesthouses and short-term rentals, including Airbnb, to provide proof of vaccination or a negative PCR or antigen test taken within 72 hours before their visit. If a person is staying longer than a week, they will need to present negative tests to hotel staff on a weekly basis.
Elite Island Resorts, a Florida-based company that runs a collection of all-inclusive Caribbean resorts stretching from Antigua to Panama, announced that all guests over age 12 would be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination upon arrival beginning Wednesday.
“It’s imperative for us to protect the hospitals of these smaller island nations, and while they have had a good track record so far with COVID-19, we must remain vigilant, and all do our part to become part of the solution,” wrote Robert Barrett, founder and CEO of Elite Island Resorts, in the company’s announcement.
Although European destinations are rolling out various vaccine mandates, hotels are mostly not requiring proof of immunization. In Portugal, however, hotel guests need to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test.
PUBLIC Hotel, a boutique accommodation on Manhattan’s Lower East Side owned by hotel magnate Ian Schrager, this month became one of the country’s first hotels to mandate proof of vaccination from its guests and staff. The requirement will begin Sunday, with only medical and religious exemptions.
“We need to beat COVID19 together,” Schrager said in a news release that announced his decision.
The American Hotel and Lodging Association, an industry trade group, issued safety guidelines based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which includes encouraging employees to get vaccinated.
“AHLA urges everyone who is eligible to be vaccinated as soon as possible, including industry employees,” said Chip Rogers, president and CEO of the association.
While industry leaders may be encouraging vaccination, some hospitality experts aren’t convinced that there will be a widespread movement of hotels requiring vaccination.
“At the current stage, I don’t think we will see broad vaccine requirements by hotels,” said Christopher Anderson, a professor at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.
“At present, not even all major hotel brands are requiring their employees to be vaccinated — let alone guests,” Anderson said in an email. He added that boutique hotels are likely to find controlling vaccine mandates easier than the larger chains.