Post COVID -19 : Will going to hotels be like visiting a hospital?
For as long as one can remember, holidays were a blast. You get to visit foreign places, explore places of interests or simply chill-out, and if you can afford it - stay in hotels. In recent times, hospital visits were turning out to be like a short hotel stay. Check-in, get treated, and checkout.
In pursuit of creating more welcoming patient experiences, hospitals began borrowing designs from hospitality and, within the last decade or so, hospitals - particularly the new ones, have come to resemble five-star hotels. Like how hotels aim for increased occupancy rates, because this indicates that bedroom space is being used efficiently; hospitals too began to recognise that there is a lot to gain by treating a large volume of patients.
Research also confirmed that the majority of patients, especially those in the high-salaried and well-insured set, often skipped going to the hospital closest to them, because they are drawn to the quality of the hospital’s environment and hotel-like amenities, such as the availability of customer care staff (like guest relations officers in hotels), room-service meals, massage therapists, stunning views, etc.
This is not hard to fathom. Lay people do not have data such as, which hospitals have the best “risk-adjusted death rates” or the worst “complication and re-admission” ratios, and, therefore tend to make their choices on the basis of amenities because they are easier to understand. Thus, hospitals all over the world have begun using hotel-like luxuries to attract the ‘ill and well-to-do’ patients.
After COVID-19, rather ironically, the flow is in the opposite direction, with hospitality forced to quickly adopt sanitisation and safety protocols from healthcare systems that have been deployed for ages to protect patients and staff from infections.
People have always expected high levels of cleanliness from hotels. Now, the bar has been raised a lot higher with front-line staff carrying temperature meters, hand sanitisers located throughout the hotel, signs indicating social distancing measures, hand washing stations for staff, ultraviolet light and disinfecting sprays for cleaning the public spaces, and posters reminding everyone on how to wear, handle and throw away masks. How the tide has changed?
I guess by now you may have realized where this conversation is headed. Prior to COVID-19, you were a Hotel Company that had safety protocols, today; you are a Safety Company that has hotels. Yes, going to a hotel from now onwards would be like visiting someone at the hospital.
For sure though, the food at the hotel will be better, the beds more comfortable and they’ll still serve the corn dogs with crab relish by the poolside, in a bento box.
Lastly, unlike the nightmare wait to pay your bills before being discharged from hospital, checking out from the hotel will be a breeze.
Ilzaf Keefahs – writes on hospitality related matters that he is passionate about, and likes to share his views with hoteliers and customers alike
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