SIPPING
Clean Machine In the first of a series of features looking at how the hospitality industry can respond to a new standard of health security, we take a look at the products bridging the gap between design and hygiene.
O
f the many new normals set to emerge from the
need to ensure it meets the many certifiable criteria being
Coronavirus pandemic, the raising of cleanliness
set, and then shout about it from the rooftops.
and hygiene standards to meet the levels expected
In this sense, recovery for the hospitality market will be
by returning guests will be most pressing to address.
tied to physical action and design intervention as closely as
After months of lockdown, unprecedented development
it is messaging efforts. As such, it’s the big players – with
after unprecedented development, and wall-to-wall news
economy of scale and a sizeable marketing budget – that are
coverage, the task for hotels will be to ease the anxieties of
more likely to appeal to guests when choosing a place to stay;
guests and reassure them that their public and private spaces
Airbnbs and small, family-run guesthouses could well suffer.
are clean and safe.
Beyond certificates however, guests will be looking for
But as long as there have been hotels, there have been
visible signs of cleanliness, though it may be unwise to lean
questions regarding their cleanliness: Who was the last
too heavily on the sanitised healthcare aesthetic – for the
person to sleep in this bed? How much time and effort was
sake of both guest comfort and the integrity of the designed
really spent cleaning all 300 guestrooms? How many people
experience. For almost every property, this will mean a
have used the remote control since it was last disinfected?
reassessing of its components, as well as the design scheme
Often, all it takes is a simple blacklight for most guests to
they are placed within, not only to meet the new normal head
never see a hotel room in the same way again, and these
on, but to ensure a degree of safeguarding for the future.
concerns will only be amplified by a global pandemic.
In the first of a series of features exploring the products
In its wake, one of the earliest steps taken by the industry
and suppliers bridging the gap between hygiene and design,
was for the major brands to announce partnerships and
we take a look at one of the most visible aspects of design
programmes outlining their hygiene strategies. Marriott
in the hard and soft surfaces that coat a project.
International showcased its use of electrostatic spray technology with hospital-grade disinfection capabilities recommended by the World Health Organisation; Hilton Worldwide has collaborated with RB – the maker of Lysol and Dettol products – and the Mayo Clinic to further develop the group’s housekeeping processes; Radisson Hotel Group teamed up with inspection and certification company SGS; IHG partnered with experts to unveil new science-led protocols; Accor and Bureau Veritas launched a safety label to support the return to business; and Four Seasons revealed that John Hopkins Medicine International will be guiding and validating its Lead With Care programme. With more people aware of bacterial presence, health security and proper cleaning methods than ever, hotels must react accordingly; the bar has been raised in this sense, and how far a project can prove its credentials could end up driving revenue through a second, third or tenth wave. Whilst each partnership and programme will produce a variety of results, the common goal is to set medically-advised standards that can be verifiably met and communicated to guests. And even if a hotel boasted high standards pre-pandemic, it will now
