Shutting the guest-room door on COVID-19

Hotel operators can look to various sources for hygiene and cleaning tips. For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued interim guidance on the ‘Operational’ considerations for COVID-19 management in the accommodation sector; Hotels Associations’ of various countries have released ‘Clean certification’ campaigns; hotel brands have launched heightened standards of hygiene and cleanliness to name but a few of several recommendations.

Whether or not any of these types of programs apply to your hotel, or are available where your property is located, hotel owners and operators will need to adhere to higher levels of cleanliness in order to convince guests that the hotel is ‘clean and safe’.

Housekeeping – keeping staff safe

Housekeeping staff must understand the risks and be made aware how transmission of the virus can occur including the importance of hand washing.

Housekeeping staff could be at risk from picking up the virus left on hand contact surfaces and material in bedrooms, on linen and towels. Hence, such employees washing their hands hourly or frequently, using a 60% ethanol or 70% isopropanol alcohol-based hand sanitiser is recommended.

Staff should wear disposable gloves at all times during cleaning and wear a new pair for each room to avoid cross-contamination.

At minimum, staff must protect themselves by immediately hand washing / using sanitising hand gel, after cleaning each room.

Master keys should be sanitised daily this includes duplicate keys.

Disposable towels and spray cleaners including disposable wipes should be available to staff and guests (as necessary) for instant cleaning of commonly used surfaces.

Housekeeping carts / trolleys should either be assigned to team members or sanitised before use each day.

Daily cleaning protocols to disinfect cleaning equipment such as toilet brushes, vacuum cleaners, buckets, brooms and mop handles should be mandatory.

Ideally, a set of cleaning clothes must be available for each room to avoid cross-contamination.

Review handling of disposable glove procedures.

Room assignment – keeping guests and staff safe

• Assigning rooms whilst keeping at least two rooms in-between empty will be a form of enforced social distancing.
• Avoiding checking - in a guest into a room that had been previously occupied within the past 5 days is ideal. (It is estimated that the incubation period before a COVID-19 infected person begins to exhibit symptoms is around 5 days).
• To do the above, the hotel may have to use maximum room inventory rather than closing a section of the hotel and using a cluster of rooms or a particular floor. Eventually, the ‘pros and cons’ from an operational perspective will have to be considered by the hotel.

Room cleaning – the options

Cleaning should start in the clean areas and progress to the dirty areas.

Use a “wipe-twice” method to clean and disinfect. Wipe surfaces with a cleaning agent to clean off soil and wipe again with a disinfectant.

Cleaning an occupied (stay over), room:

Consider not providing full housekeeping services. Provide a ‘minimum’ clean – replace towels, amenities, make bed, tidy room a bit

Or

• Provide a ‘basic’ clean – wash bathroom, replace towels, amenities, and make bed, empty bin/s, vacuum carpet / floor.
• Remove ‘turn-down’ service.

Consider changing bed-linen every 3^rd day or so.

Linen and bedding should be bagged before leaving the bedroom to reduce any risk of transmission in the corridor.

You may also consider the guest’s option to forgo room cleaning each day, (upto X number of consecutive days) to enhance overall safety.

Cleaning a check-out guest room:

Hand contact surfaces should be thoroughly sanitized using a chemical that is effective against respiratory viruses as well as bacteria. You may already have a check list that includes cleaning the following:

• Door knobs / handles (outside & in), safety latch, security peepholes, light / lamp switches, Curtain pull handles.
• Bathroom taps, flush handles/buttons, seats, sliding door handles, shower valves, railings
• TV/AC remote controls, telephone, Hairdryers (body, plug & cord),clock.
• Drawer & wardrobe handles, in-room safe key pad & handle / mini-bar handle / kettle handle/ iron handle / ironing board handle.
• Clothes hangers.
• Top surfaces including bedside table/s, vanity counter, work tables, bed-heads, chairs.
• Waste bin touch area.
• Ideally glasses and crockery should be removed and washed in a dishwasher – not in the room washbasin.
• Deep clean carpeted floors using a steam cleaner or carpet shampoo.
• Hard floor surfaces should be cleaned with wet vacuum systems. If wet vacuum systems are not available, hard floor surfaces should be damp mopped using detergent and water or disinfectant if necessary.
• Some things to re-consider preventing guest-to guest transmission in the guestroom

Also, you may want to consider the following:

• Shift back to using single-use amenities / toiletries.
• Remove snacks and beverages from the room mini-bar.
• Remove tea / coffeemakers.(optional).The problem of dealing with remaining sachets will arise .
• Remove non-essentials from guest rooms – notepads, pens, torch lights, umbrellas, candles, etc.
• Remove in-room dining menu and hotel service directory (migrate to digital viewing on room TV if possible).
• Remove coffee table books, magazines, flyers – even the Gideon bible.
• Remove guest room decorative throw pillows, runners, bed scarves.
• Reduce bed pillows to 2 per bed.

Use of enhanced Technology to counter virus spread

Various technologies dependent on costs and affordability are available to improve the cleanliness of your hotel. They include

• Electrostatic sprayers with hospital-grade disinfectant may be used to sanitize surfaces throughout the property and in guestrooms.
• Ultraviolet lights in guestrooms that allow guests to check cleanliness.

While not practical in many hotels, companies now manufacture germ-killing and disinfecting robots.

Hospitality Sri Lanka.

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