New CDC Guidelines Won’t Entirely Close the Curtains on Hotel Hygiene Theater
Photo Credit: Pandemic hygiene theater will slowly fade away rather than snap back to the way things were, according to hotel analysts. Flickr / Phil Roeder
Skift Take
Just because the risk is low for surface spread of coronavirus doesn’t mean hotels are going to back away from door seals and hourly lobby cleanings. There’s still a psychological and confidence factor at play in bringing back more travelers.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated coronavirus risk guidelines earlier this month, saying the risk of viral spread from touching surfaces “in most situations” is low.
It would appear that heralds a call to change the litany of heightened hotel cleaning protocols introduced during the pandemic and which many industry analysts see more as hygiene theater than an effective practice. Workers were cleaning public spaces every hour, companies like Hilton teamed up with cleaning brands like Lysol, and guests were encouraged to check in from their smartphone and use a digital key instead of a physical one.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and many of these cleaning practices won’t be dismantled in one either, experts say.
“What we’re seeing is while people are starting to travel, occupancies are still low because there’s a huge swath of people who still don’t feel comfortable traveling,” said Dan Ryan, co-founder of hospitality health and safety p
