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After over 2 months, hotels to reopen with 'gold' standards of hygiene
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SME Times News Bureau | 05 Jun, 2020
Hospitality was the first economic segment to be hit by the ongoing
coronavirus crisis, much before the outbreak was declared a pandemic.
After more than two months of near shutdown, hotels and resorts will
restart offering services with enhanced hygiene measures and protocols.
Hotel
Association of India's (HAI) Vice President K.B. Kachru said that
hotels across the country are putting in place "Gold" standard operating
procedures (SOP) to ensure better safety and hygiene in order to
contain the spread of the virus. He also said that several hotels have
tied up with global companies to implement the best and enhanced
measures.
Gearing Up
Among other social distancing norms,
thermal screening of all hotel staff and guests will be a norm as hotels
and resorts resume operations on June 8.
Tata Group-backed The
Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), which owns the brands Taj, Vivanta,
SeleQtions and Ginger, will come up with digital or single-use menus
among other measures.
Also, the standard operating procedure
(SOP) to be followed will make it mandatory for staff to wear safety
gear at all times and keep sanitisers available at all customer contact
points.
OYO hotels in its SOP has said that it will encourage
in-room dining while distance market signs will be painted on floors to
highlight the correct physical distance people must maintain for correct
social distancing.
Along with other steps, Rohit Kapoor, CEO of
OYO India & South Asia, said: "We are further ensuring regular
background audits at our hotels for hygiene and protective equipment;
all properties that clear these checks will have the 'Sanitised Stays'
tag on the booking page."
Along with the mandatory use of masks
for guests and hotel employees, personal protective equipment (PPE) for
the staff interacting with guests will also be a common feature. Fab
Hotels has said that it will also provide PPE for guests.
Fab
Hotels has also mandated "Namaste" as the standard greeting for its
staff, under its '100 per cent Safe Place to Stay' initiative.
According
to Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director of Bird Group that owns Roseate
Hotels and Resorts, "touchless hospitality is the new future". Roseate
Hotels & Resorts will also follow an alternate room occupancy policy
to maintain social distancing.
Hotels have also taken
pre-resumption tests of its employees. InterGlobe Hotels has carried out
health checkups on all its over 1,850 staff at the hotels as part of
its enhanced safety measures, the company said.
In what sums up
the hygiene measures taken up by hospitality service providers, Ramesh
Ramanathan, CMD of Sterling Holidays, said that in the company's resorts
the hygiene level has now moved up to the sort of a "clinical" hygiene.
Centre's Guidelines
The
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also come up with SOPs for
the sector, whereby all hotels have been directed to follow proper
protocol and hygiene and adopt contactless processes like QR code,
online forms, digital payments like e-wallet and others for both
check-ins and check-outs. Luggage should be disinfected before these are
sent to rooms.
The ministry has directed all staff and guests of
hotels to be allowed entry only if using face covers or masks. The face
masks have to be worn at all times inside the hotel.
Speaking to
IANS, HAI Vice President Kachru said that a step has been taken forward
by the government and the authorities and the industry will have to
work together in implementing norms and amending them as per the
requirements on the ground.
He said that the directive regarding
air-conditioning may have to be tweaked and the requirement of masks in
restaurants would also have to be reconsidered.
The government's
directive says: "The temperature setting of all air-conditioning devices
should be in the range of 24-30 degrees Celsius, relative humidity
should be in the range of 40-70 per cent, intake of fresh air should be
as much as possible, and cross-ventilation should be adequate."
"Industry
and the authorities have to understand what is practical, understand
the basic practicality of the whole thing," said Kachru, who is also the
Chairman Emeritus and Principal Adviser of South Asia, Radisson Hotel
Group.
Demand Prospects
On the demand outlook, the
industry veteran said that queries and room occupancy will increase
gradually as the fear factor recedes from the people's minds.
"We
are hopeful that the fear factor will come down gradually and people
will start moving out, but one can only tell after about 15 days of
opening up," he added.
Ramanathan of Sterling Holidays was of the view that the demand will revive around only January-March quarter next year.
"For
growth to revive to the pre-Covid stage, we will have to wait till
January, February and March 2021, not before that. Hopefully, next year
will be as good as any other year and the next financial year FY22 will
be a growth year," he said.
Shwetank Singh, Vice-President,
Development and Asset Management at InterGlobe Hotels, said that to
ensure business continuity, hotels need not alter their business models
full circle.
"The hospitality market has a robust demand base and
if the companies work with the right combination of responsibility,
agility, compliances, and safety protocols, they will surely be able to
manoeuvre uncertainties that may come and put themselves back on the
path to revival," he said.
Kachru said that hotels have started receiving queries from customers, which is good news for the market.
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