Hotel chains such as Premier Inn, Travelodge and Holiday Inn have updated guests on the strict rules and enhanced cleaning measures to keep everyone safe.
Here’s the lowdown on the rules for guests hoping to check-in to a hotel soon in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
What rules will guests have to follow?
According to new UK Government advice, these are the rules hotels have been told to follow.
- Guests will be urged to wear face masks in communal corridors.
- Trays carrying room service orders should be left outside bedroom doors, rather than brought into the room.
- Hotel owners have been urged to create a checklist of commonly-touched areas in bedrooms which housekeeping staff must clean after each guest checks out.
- Lift use from reception should be minimised.
- Swimming pools and saunas should only be opened in line with government advice.
- Reception areas should be made safer with increased cleaning, minimising the length of time guests spend there and potentially installing screens between guests and staff.
What are Premier Inn doing to keep guests safe?
Premier Inn has stepped up its cleaning regieme, with the following measures in place:
- Removing all extra pillows.
- Replacing shower curtains after every stay.
- Minimising contact and increasing protection at reception during check-in with Perspex screens.
- Maintaining social distancing measures.
- Hand sanitiser available in public areas.
- More frequent cleaning of high-touch areas, such as check-in kiosks, lift controls, door handles and handrails.
- Cleaning air conditioning and heating controls, TV remotes, door handles and desks in bedrooms.
- Laundering all linen at above 60 degrees, with disinfectant detergent.
- Providing all staff with PPE equipment including gloves, aprons and hand sanitiser – masks remain optional.
What are Travelodge doing to keep guests safe?
Travelodge are doing the following:
- Contact-free check out.
- Hand sanitiser stations in key locations.
- Thermally disinfecting all linen and towels.
- Contactless payments.
- Cleaning using antiviral disinfectant effective against Coronavirus.
- Increased cleaning frequency of high-touch points in public areas and bedrooms.
- Additional post-clean room checks with digital tracking in place to ensure consistently high standards.
- Comprehensive training of every hotel team member on cleaning, hygiene and social distancing.
- Social distancing measures in place throughout hotels.
- Reception distancing floor signage and protective screens at check-in.
- PPE for all hotel team members.
- Housekeeping teams will not enter bedrooms while rooms are occupied.
What are Holiday Inn doing to keep guests safe?
The owners of Holiday Inn, IHG, have shared their strict cleaning policy:
- Reduced contact at check-in, touchless transactions, front desk screens, sanitiser stations, sanitised key-cards, paperless check-out.
- Additional deep cleaning of high touch surfaces, social distancing, ‘last cleaned’ charts, best practices for pools, fitness centres and lounges.
- Visible verification of sanitised items (e.g. glassware, remote control), reduction of in-room furnishings/high-touch items, new laundry protocols, use of electrostatic technology.
- New standards and service approach to buffets, banquets, room-service and catering.
- Availability of individual guest amenity cleaning kits.
- Hand sanitiser and disinfecting wipes available in guest rooms and at high-touch points throughout hotels.
