RLH Corp. announced enhanced cleanliness recommendations for its more than 1,000 independently owned and operated hotels. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has released guidelines and resources to franchisees and licensees urging them to adopt vigilant cleanliness and sanitation practices to ensure positive guest experiences.
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Hotel cleanliness recommendations are based on guidance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, leading hospitality trade associations such as the American Hotel & Lodging Association and AAHOA, and commercial cleaning and sanitation companies like Ecolab, Proctor & Gamble and Diversey.
Hotels following the company’s guidelines should be deploying several cleanliness measures including:
- Physical distancing, including the use of physical distancing markers, protocols for space between hotel staff and hotel guests, plexiglass shields at front desks and credit card terminals to limit physical contact, where possible.
- Only opening as many rooms as needed as occupancy begins to increase – when reserving rooms, locate bookings in one section of the building or in every other room, when possible.
- Increased public space sanitation, including making hand sanitizer available to guests and employees throughout public spaces and hourly disinfection of public and back-of-house areas, as well as the surfaces within them.
- Increased guestroom sanitation including removing all reusable collateral and reading material from rooms, removing extra pillows and blankets stored in closets and focusing housekeeping attention on disinfecting every surface within a guestroom such as desks, counters, phones, TV remotes, thermostats, cabinets, doors, restroom hardware, windows, lighting controls and closet hangers.
- Food-and-beverage service modifications such as serving condiments in single-use containers, suspending self-serve food options and prohibiting the reuse of cups at self-serve beverage stations.
- Technological advancements such as mobile check-in and digital keys, where available.
“The hospitality industry must change and adapt to a new normal,” says RLHC Chief Operations Officer Gary Sims. “RLHC is working hard to be an all-encompassing resource for our owners within these uncharted territories. We hope that our work helps hotel owners succeed coming out of this pandemic by making sure there are clean and sanitized hotels for both future travelers and the employees onsite.”