Stress-free healthy travel

Don’t Worry, Be Healthy on Land

The hotel experience during the pandemic will be significantly different. Check-in may be done curbside and guests shouldn’t be surprised to have their temperature taken before entering. Lobbies and public spaces will also have less furniture. The Fairmont Scottsdale redesigned its restaurant for social distancing.

Housekeeping will use hospital-grade cleaners which Marriott is applying with electrostatic sprayers to ensure surfaces are disinfected thoroughly. Hilton lets guests choose their cleaning preference: normal housekeeping; light service, or no service. Other hotels have eliminated housekeeping except between guests and leave rooms empty for 24-72 hours after guests check out. Housekeepers will also be more visible sanitizing high touch areas like handrails and elevator buttons in public spaces.

Some guest rooms are being outfitted with air purifiers with HEPA filters and UV light sanitizers while chains including Hyatt and Four Seasons already have hypoallergenic rooms with medical-grade air purifiers. Most hotels are eliminating minibars and pens and notepads, they’re also on hiatus. On the bright side, expect amenity kits like Four Seasons’ Lead With Care kits which have masks and sanitizers.

To limit gym use, some properties will make fitness videos and equipment available in guest rooms. Guests may also need to reserve ahead to use tennis courts, swimming pools, and spas. Hotels are going all out to keep their guests safe and healthy and expect some of these protocols to continue. “Clean,” after all, is the new black.

Safe and Healthy at Sea

When cruise ships start sailing again, health rules and precautions will look a lot like they do on land with masks and social distancing but since ships are contained spaces, expect cruise lines to go above and beyond to keep guests safe and healthy. Here are a few examples:

Norwegian will have mandatory touch-less temperature screenings at embarkation, when returning to the ship, and before entering onboard events and dining venues. There may be mandatory room service on some nights to reduce the number of people in dining venues and people may be incentivized to forgo the main dining room for specialty restaurants. During shows, expect empty seats between couples and shorter showtimes. Staterooms will be thoroughly cleaned — possibly up to twice a day — and throughout the corridors, handrails, elevator buttons.

On American Queen Steamboat Company, hightouch surfaces will be sanitized hourly. Windstar will install hospital-grade HEPA filters and ultraviolet germicidal irradiation to its six ships. Technology like Princess’s Ocean Medallion allows passengers to order food and drinks using the app and have them delivered to areas without other passengers.

Partners in Health and Travel Hotels and cruise lines are teaming up with the medical authorities to ensure that your experience is clean and safe.

Hilton consulted with experts at the Mayo Clinic’s Infection Protection and Control team and has partnered with RB, the makers of Lysol, to develop its“CleanStay” program. Housekeeping staff will be instructed to clean guest rooms by adding an extra level of focus on 10 “high-touch, deep clean” areas like door handles and television remotes. When rooms have been thoroughly cleaned, the room is secured with Hilton CleanStay seal.

Hyatt also has a panel comprised of experts in infectious diseases, preventive/ occupational medicine, food science and microbiology, and space design that has guided its response to the coronavirus. The company has also committed to the Global Biorisk Advisory Council’s GBAC STAR accreditation program at all of their hotels. GBAC STAR establishes requirements to assist facilities with work practices, protocols, procedures, and systems to control risks associated with infectious agents such as virus responsible for COVID-19. As part of the program, Hyatt will also have an on-staff hygiene manager at every hotel by September.

Norwegian and Royal Caribbean have teamed up and tapped Michael Leavitt, former Secretary of Health & Human Services and Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former Commissioner of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, to co-chair their Health Sail Panel which has nine other experts in public health, biosecurity, epidemiology, hospitality, and maritime operations. Leavitt says the panel’s objective “is to determine what needs to be done in order to adapt to this new situation so that we can cruise safely.”