Before the pandemic, most hotels aimed more at spotless exteriors than the actual removal of germs and viruses from their premises. But in the current scenario, hotels face an enormous responsibility to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Given the higher demand for sanitation, Vaneeta Arora, Director-Housekeeping, The Park New Delhi, believes that not only is cleaning essential for the health of guests and staff, but the removal of viruses and germs is equally crucial. According to her, any lag in sanitisation can be a significant hazard as the carrier may become a substantial factor in propagating the disease.
Can the correct hygiene and cleanliness approach have tangible business ramifications for hotels?
In today’s world, hygiene and cleanliness frequently go hand in hand. The hotels face a gigantic obligation to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. It is critical to implement cleaning procedures and ensure they reach their conclusion with procedures like deep cleaning, disinfection, hand sanitisation, and handwashing in the hotel.
Throughout the pandemic, many organisations have encountered the challenge of rebuilding trust with their guests and assuring customers that they are doing everything in their power to keep them safe and healthy.
A gigantic task has come up for all the hotel department heads: to upkeep cleanliness and hygiene, guaranteeing guest satisfaction in all areas of the hotel, starting from the main gate to the gym or laundry.
This facilitates the organisation’s getting positive comments on OTA channels, increasing business and ensuring repeat customers. Regardless of the number of keys in the hotel, it is essential to provide a superior standard of cleanliness and hygiene.
How can hotels ensure that their meticulously drafted hygiene and cleanliness policies are actually and thoroughly followed-through?
In modern times, hotels have invested in rigorous training and accreditation for their employees on cleaning, utilisation of cleaning equipment and sanitation. Continuous training and practice have helped staff to prepare for, respond to, and recuperate from bio-risks with planned cleaning, decontamination, and infection-prevention steps in place to keep them healthy and safe. This has given assurance to other staff and increased guests’ confidence.
Given the high contact and the demanding nature of the business, how can hoteliers ensure that their team members strictly adhere to hygiene measures?
The management has invested a significant sum of resources at THE Park in procuring personal protective equipment, cleaning procedure training, cleaning and disinfecting products, and other pandemic-related costs. We feel that the concept of ‘Invisible Housekeeping’ is a thing of the past.
We have made the cleaning visible to our guests. Employees clean and disinfect during the daytime in guests’ presence, and this provides a sense of security because they can see cleaning taking place.
How can hoteliers assess whether the cleaning procedures they’ve adopted at the onset of the pandemic still serve their needs and their stakeholders’ needs?
Communicating new or amended protocols and precautions to customers and employees. We feel that nearly all the guests take note of the cleanliness of the hotel they visit and would prefer to see proof of the cleaning standard in the hotel.
Employees also worry about the level of sanitation and cleanliness carried out at their workplace. At The Park, we have invested in a digital feedback system called Howzzit, which sends a questionnaire and takes feedback from each guest about their experience and the standards maintained in the property. A hotel’s reputation management software platform makes it easy to hear from guests and follow it with actionable measures. The data helps us authenticate all the initiatives put into practice and measure the effects on customer satisfaction.
Given the vast spaces in hotels, how can hoteliers develop a holistic cleaning plan based on the varied surface types and high-touch areas?
Routine cleaning should concentrate not only on cleaning but also on implementing cleaning on high-touch surface areas. Generally, the more people touch a surface, the greater the risk of it spreading.
Apart from prioritising the cleaning surfaces of high-touch surfaces at regular intervals, high-traffic areas in the hotel should be cleaned and disinfected more frequently. The use of masks, gloves, hand washing, and, in adverse situations, a PPE kit is always necessary.
How can hoteliers use intelligent systems that minimise the waste of cleaning products and maximise sustainability?
Even though significant cleaning suppliers mention chemical dilution in packaging and regular training has been imparted, it has often been observed that staff use up more cleaning products than necessary, hoping to get a better result. Hotels have started investing in electrostatic sprayers to disinfect surfaces faster and more efficiently.
Renowned companies already had wall-mounted chemical dispenses, which were economical and easy to use. Still, recently they have come up with new ergonomically designed Flex cans, which have proved to be more accurate and safely dispensed through their Spill-Tite head every time, saving the user cost by as much as 90%. They can install HEPA filters in vacuums and FCUs, which will remove dust particles, allergens, and pathogens.
