Laundry Review

Are hotels ready to welcome guests?

While a significant number of countries are still in (partial) lockdown, local authorities in other parts of the world have already shared their roadmap to relax the strict COVID-19 measures according to a step-by-step process. This also means that hotels are looking to reopen their facilities in the coming period. Evidently, this leads to numerous questions related to cleaning and disinfection of all the different hotel areas, given that all hotels must aim to create a safe and welcoming environment that reassures both guests and staff. Diversey’s Application Expert – Fabric Care Nikos Pastras offers hints and tips for the laundry process.

Deep clean before reopening and prepare for enhanced cleaning and disinfection after reopening

Your hotel may have been fully or partially closed or it may have served temporarily as a residence for COVID-19 patients. As you only have one chance for a first good impression when reopening, it’s better to start with a once-off deep cleaning exercise. This is especially needed for hotel linen, as linen is considered one of the biggest guest touch points. The recommendation is to wash all linen from guest rooms and from linen storage rooms using the recommended (disinfection) wash programmes. In addition, we recommend washing items like curtains, bed skirts and covers of decorative pillows to create an overall pleasant and fresh-smelling environment that will

make your guests feel safe and relaxed. For mattresses and sofa cleaning and sanitation, you can follow special in-room cleaning practices. When handling linen, staff should wear the appropriate PPE in line with local health authority guidelines and follow the Enhanced Laundry Best Practices for linen handling explained below. Needless to say, providing adequate training to your laundry and housekeeping staff is key to successful implementation. Of course, the laundry itself should not be forgotten in the whole deep cleaning exercise: it is important that the entire laundry is cleaned thoroughly followed by disinfection of critical touch points such as linen carts.

Before you reopen, we recommend revisiting some of your current hotel practices for guest rooms. For example, the use of protectors for pillows, duvets and mattresses is highly recommended as this will provide an extra layer of safety for your guests, beyond the normal covers. In addition, you can consider temporarily refraining from using certain luxury items such as blankets and/or limit, for example, the number of decorative pillows. Guest laundry is another area to review as guest clothes typically require very mild processes that may not provide the necessary efficacy against the virus. With a letter from your GM in every guest room, it should be possible to explain why, in the best interest of guest safety, your hotel has temporarily decided to make some items and services only available on request.

Follow local authority guidelines for the wash process

Regarding the actual wash process, countries should always follow (laundry) guidelines from local health authorities for thermal or chemo-thermal disinfection. In case local guidelines