The Lodging Industry Dives Into A Deep Clean
More hotel companies detailed plans for enhanced cleaning and disinfection. Moving forward, assurances about property safety and cleanliness will be a factor for many corporate travel programs.
New hotel initiatives include more frequent and deeper cleaning of guest rooms, lobbies and other public areas, more sanitizing stations, modified housekeeping and food services, employee training and greater emphasis on app-based check-in to minimize front desk interaction.
Hilton is collaborating with the Mayo Clinic hospital system and Lysol maker Reckitt Benckiser on new standards. Hyatt starting this month will begin a property accreditation process from the Global Biorisk Advisory Council. By September, every Hyatt property will have at least one employee trained as "hygiene manager" responsible for that hotel's adherence to new protocols. Best Western Hotels & Resorts said no one would enter sleeping rooms after guests check out for 24 to 72 hours.
Marriott previously announced its new cleaning program. "We're going to have to start leading with this idea of getting people to trust walking into a hotel again," said Marriott International global sales vice president Tammy Routh during a TCG Consulting webinar. "We have to figure out what our new brand standards are."
Various hotel chains are participating in the American Hotel & Lodging Association's Safe Stay Advisory Council, designed to establish best practices in hotel cleaning, social interaction and workplace protocols.
Meanwhile, Airbnb announced what it claimed was the "first overarching standardized protocol for cleaning and sanitization in the home sharing industry." As part of the program, properties cannot be entered for 24 hours after guests depart. Hosts that can't commit to all components of the new protocol can opt for a new feature that inserts a "booking buffer" between stays. Airbnb users will see the specifics in search results.
More airlines require face masks for passengers. The rule took effect May 4 for Delta and JetBlue flights. It starts May 11 for American, Southwest and Alaska/Horizon Air flights. United Airlines said it would add the requirement "soon." Many such rules extend to check-in desks, gate areas and airport clubs. Airlines will provide masks to those who show up at airports without them. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, called for a federal regulation requiring face coverings "for all individuals before they are allowed to pass through security."
Three congressional leaders urged development of a federal contact tracing system in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Contact tracing uses interviews of those infected and other means to determine who they may have exposed while they were contagious. It's seen by some government officials and public health experts as a necessary measure for stopping the spread of the virus and safely reopening the country's communities and economy. House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Health Subcommittee chair Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee chair Diana DeGette (D-CO) in an April 30 letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar expressed concern about the lack of a coordinated effort. They asked if any federal agency was "considering using or recommending any digital contact tracing tools or other technology, such as smartphone applications that use location data or Bluetooth signaling" to assist in Covid-19 contact tracing efforts.
Southwest Airlines now fully participates in Travelport's Apollo and Worldspan global distribution systems. Effective May 4, "all" of the carrier's "everyday low fares" are available through "industry-standard" booking, ticketing and itinerary-change functionality. Southwest also began settling tickets generated from such GDS bookings via ARC. These developments make it easier for corporate travel programs and supporting travel management companies to handle Southwest bookings. The airline expects to activate similar capabilities in the Amadeus GDS before year-end. Southwest maintains limited participation in the Sabre GDS.
Spend management firm Coupa bought mobile business travel app ETA. The ETA app gives Coupa a traveler-facing booking capability to pair with its expense management system. According to Evercore ISI analyst Peter Levine , "In a post-Covid world, when corporate travel picks back up, having a unique asset like ETA to further augment the user experience creates a bigger moat around the business and keeps customers from churning.” Coupa early this year announced the acquisition of rate assurance provider Yapta, which is in use at many corporate travel programs.
Sabre terminated its merger agreement with Farelogix. Sabre this year successfully defended the proposed $360 million acquisition from a U.S. Department of Justice antitrust suit but regulators in the United Kingdom blocked the deal. Sabre accused them of acting outside their "jurisdictional authority," but chose not to fight on. Sabre originally wanted Farelogix as a means to accelerate development of enhanced airline distribution channels. It said it remained committed to "creating a new market for personalized travel." Changing airline distribution, though, is not a top priority amid the pandemic crisis.
Compiled by the editors of TheCompanyDime.com.