How will hotels be different with COVID? For starters, goodbye minibar, hello masks
The coronavirus pandemic is making minibars and in-room coffee a thing of the past for hotels as they announce changes to cleaning procedures and new social distancing rules.
As states move to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic, hotels are opening back up, too.
A patchwork of local, state and federal rules will govern how hotels can reopen, according to a new set of guidelines from the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
The association says hotels should push technology like check-in and payment on smart phones so there’s no contact for guests to get to their rooms in an effort to reduce lines at front desks. Hotels should get guests to self-park instead of using valet and limit shuttle services.
“Now the challenge for hotels is how you deliver a welcoming service encounter as well as ensure the safety and health of your employees and guests,” Linda Canina, with Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business Hotel School, told USA Today.
No-contact room service should replace traditional service and hotels should get rid of buffets, the association says. Some hotels should move to “grab and go” food service instead of normal food service.
“I think it’s safe to say that breakfast buffets and communal tables and the kinds of things that had been traditions at many hotels are going away, for who knows how long,” Rudy Tauscher, general manager of the Four Seasons in New York City, told NBC News.
In-room minibars and coffee stations will be going away too, according to NBC News.
Millennium Hotels said it will be offering gloves and masks to guests and, in some areas, have infrared thermometers at the front desk to check guests and employees upon request.
Marriott Bonvoy, which owns 30 hotel brands including Courtyard, Sheraton and Westin, is installing partitions and hand sanitizer dispensers at check-in desks. The company says it’s now using “hospital-grade disinfectant” in guest rooms and is testing using ultraviolet light to sanitize room keys.
Marriott said it’s created a new “cleanliness council.”
“The council will work to develop a new generation of global hospitality cleanliness standards, norms and behaviors,” the company wrote in a press release.
