How The Hotel Industry Is Responding To COVID-19

By Admin | Industry News | Comments are Closed | 7 May, 2020 | 0

With many months of uncertainty due to coronavirus, the hospitality industry is taking action on how to respond when life returns to normal.

Recently, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) released new hotel cleaning standards through the “Safe Stay Initiative”. This initiative includes an industry-wide, enhanced standard of health and safety protocols designed to prepare America’s hotels to safely welcome back guests and employees as the economy reopens. Visit their site, as they include a great checklist.

At Front Desk Supply, we understand the impact this has left on hotels. We want to be a resource for hotels, and we are shifting gears in order to benefit the hospitality industry in the most effective way possible.

Stay updated on the latest COVID-19 changes for the hotel industry:

Cleaning

Cleanliness and safety is every hotel’s main priority. Hotels have already had vigorous cleaning standards, but these new protocols will enhance the confidence guests instill in their chosen hotels.

New protocols for cleaning the following areas inside a hotel include:

Public Spaces and Communal Areas
Hotel Guest Elevators
Shared Equipment
Back of the House
Room Recovery
Guest Rooms
Food and Beverage
Laundry

Employee Responsibilities

Hotel employees will now have new responsibilities to protect guests and themselves. Each employee must stay proactive in responding swiftly to any presumed cases, as well as taking extra measures to sanitize and keep proper distance.

New duties will entail the following:

Hand Washing
COVID-19 Training
Personal Protective Equipment

Guest Experience Changes

As guests begin to book trips and stay in hotels again, there are essential changes that must be in place in order to ensure health and safety.

The following protocols are set in place for guests:

Hand Washing and Readily-Available Hand Sanitizer
Front and Back Of The House Signage
Case Notifications
Physical Distancing

New CDC Guidelines

CDC guidelines have evolved for every industry during this time. Businesses and workplaces are advised to plan, prepare, and respond. Learn more about CDC’s ongoing mitigation guidance and support here.

Additional Resources

Many hotels and hospitality organizations have shared ways in which they are taking action to navigate through coronavirus. We will continue to update this list as events change.

Support and strength from all communities and industries are needed more than ever. Even with travel restrictions in place, hotels are doing what they can to help the fight against COVID-19. While we don’t know when COVID-19 will end completely, your hotel should take the necessary steps to be prepared.

Our team at Front Desk Supply has been diligently looking for many of the supplies needed by the hotel industry during this changing time. We have identified key products and multiple vendors for many of the fastest moving and limited products.

We are making all of these products available on our new product website. For these products, shipping will depend on the supply of inventory. For any questions, please contact us at [email protected]

In order to keep our team healthy and safe, we have taken precautions, and all team members that are not needed in producing or warehousing activities are working from home. Further, we have built additional redundancy in our supply network. Although we have not experienced any significant delays in our supply chain, we will continue to monitor changes and will utilize alternate vendors if needed to ensure we can hold to our normal lead times. We are in close contact with our shipping partners and will advise our customers of any widespread issues affecting delivery.

We know that this is a time of change and uncertainty, so we encourage you to reach out to us at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns about us, our team, or our products.

How The Hotel Industry Is Responding To COVID-19