In a great initiative to put people's needs first and rebuild customer relations, several hotel chains are diverting their funds more towards cleaning purposes as opposed to providing room amenities and breakfast buffets.?
According to an ANI report, many franchise units have made the decision to terminate services like daily housekeeping visits, breakfast buffets, complimentary toiletries. They want to?use this money towards providing hygiene essentials like sanitisers, protective masks and antiviral cleaning devices.?
The Wall Street Journal quoted Chekitan Dev, a professor in the hospitality school at Cornell University as saying,?"Lysol is the new luxury."?
Dev, who is also a hospitality industry consultant, added that in order to implement 'operating-room level' hygiene practices, large hotel franchises are facing a challenge since they operate as a network of small-business owners and would require a new set of brand standards.
A professor in the hospitality school at the University of South Carolina said, "Every crisis can be an opportunity," and added that scaling back on daily room visits and instead favouring deeper cleaning before guests arrive could be monetarily beneficial for hotel owners in the long run since they will be reducing costs on housekeeping.
According to Choice Hotels International Inc., cutting down on breakfast buffets is a great way to help local food services to flourish.
On the other hand, Best Western Hotels and Resorts is paying attention to deep cleaning rooms after guests check-out, using electrostatic sprayers that are specifically designed to kill the coronavirus.?
According to Ron Pohl, COO of the Phoenix-based hotel chain, guests are concerned about the spread of the virus and prefer not having a housekeeper visit their room on a daily basis.?
However, Pohl added that housekeeping services will be provided if a guest requests for it. The hotel-chain has also removed items like decorative pillows, directories, bathroom amenity trays and certain types of remote controls to get rid of surfaces which could possibly spread the virus.?
Another hotel-chain, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Inc. has introduced brand new cleaning standards that will be implemented from September. They will have suppliers ship masks, disinfectant wipes, other cleaning items and equipment directly to its 6,000 hotels in the US. Lisa Checchio, the company's chief marketing officer said, "We want our guests to have a sense of confidence that there will be a level of consistency as the [shelter in place orders] lift and as travel begins again."