Traveling during COVID-19
Lodging cleanliness has always been an important factor when selecting accommodation, but no more than now, when traveling during COVID-19.
Lodging cleanliness has always been an important factor when selecting accommodation, but no more than now, when traveling during COVID-19. As a travel manager it is important that you assure your peers that it is indeed safe to travel and familiarize yourself with the new hygiene procedures hotels have implemented, something that has been made easier with the Clean & Safe Protocol.
In addition, we have also put together a few different lists, that you, as the travel manager can share with your traveling peers who may be a bit nervous still about traveling. We touch on things like: must haves when traveling, what to do about checking in and out, things to look out for in your room and food or beverage services.
Getting ready for a hotel stay?
Are you preparing for a hotel stay, but are unsure of how to prepare or what to bring to help ensure your own safety and that of your family? The first thing to do is ask your hotel provider what hygiene procedures they’ve put in place post COVID-19, many providers have implemented strict cleaning protocols either based on their local health authorities’ guidelines or WHO guidelines.
But if you’re still unsure we’ve asked Dr Vickery, Scientific Director of Surgical Infection Research at Macquarie University, Sydney, to put together a small list of things you can easily take with you to help put your mind at ease.
Five must haves when traveling during COVID-19:
- Face masks, chances are you will have to wear a face mask in lobbies and other indoor public areas, always have one handy just in case
- Hand sanitizer is a must when traveling as you can never be sure of when you will have access to clean water and soap
- Disinfectant wipes are a great, easy to pack item you can take when traveling. Giving you the ability to give hard services a quick wipe, whether in your room, or when you’re out and about. Just remember that disinfectants are inactivated by dirt, so the surfaces have to be clean. In your hotel room, the must do areas to perform your own clearing are light switches, door handles, bedside tables, TV remote, air-conditioning controls, handle of kettle and refrigerator, plus chairs and tables. In the bathroom clean the sink and shower areas, including taps, first and then wipe the flush button of the toilet.
- Fabric disinfectant spray, lounge chairs and other fabric materials can be overlooked for proper cleaning. Bringing your own fabric disinfectant spray allows you to give your room a quick once over
- Take your own linen, all hotel providers provide clean linen, but if you want to be extra precautious you could always bring your own pillow-cases and blankets
How to behave at check-in and checkout?
When traveling during COVID-19, checking in and checking out could be the most interaction you have with hotel staff during your stay. So, what should you do and how should you act? Well this could be very simple if your hotel is equipped with a digital check-in/out service.
A number of hotels over the past few years began to implement digital check-in services, with the COVID-19 crisis only speeding up this technological development. Briefly, this service allows guests to fill out their information online and then digitally check-in using their smartphones, where they will get a digital key providing access to their hotel room and other hotel amenities.
Contactless checkout means you avoid the bothersome payment process and avoid queues to pay, saving you time. This contactless service provides a range of benefits for guests as it allows you to minimize contact with staff and avoid the use of physical keys, helping prevent contact contamination. When looking for hotels, ask if they provide this service or some variation of it.
In addition, you should:
- Bring your own pen to fill out any forms and fill them out away from others
- Ensure you maintain social distancing space: be aware of those around you, avoid entering others personal space, if you’re hard of hearing do not lean in, politely ask others to speak louder so as to maintain your distance
- Wear glasses: Reading glasses or sunglasses help prevent pathogens from entering your body through your eyes. The tighter fitting the better!
- Disinfectant wipes: Use your handy disinfectant wipes to clean the room key
- Elevator buttons: Elevator buttons are a high-risk touch point for microbes, after pressing your button, immediately clean your hands before touching any other objects or yourself
- Have hand sanitizer at the ready: keeping your hands free of germs is one of the best ways to avoid getting sick
What to do about food and beverage?
Unless you are staying in a serviced apartment, the odds are you will be relying on others to do your cooking for you. This presents the problem of what to look out for to minimize your chances of coming into contact with pathogens. We’ve asked Dr Karen Vickery to put together a check list to help you be aware when traveling during COVID-19.
- Room Service: If you will be relying on room service, find out how the food will be delivered. Some hotels will now leave food at the guest’s door, in disposable, eco-friendly containers, allowing for a contactless experience
- Avoid buffets: Precautions may be put in place for buffets, but at the end of the day it results in many more people potentially coming into contact with your food
- People: Minimize the number of people who handle your food, to the chef and the server
- Visual Check: Scan the establishment, see if you can see any dust lying around. If you do then this is a clear sign that they’re not taking sanitation seriously. It is important to note though, that the absence of dust doesn’t mean the establishment is clean
- Hand sanitizer should be readily available
- Watch the Staff: The staff should be performing hand hygiene each time they leave a table and move to another. If they’re not, they’re risking contact contamination
- Tables and chairs should be disinfected between patrons
- Washing Up: If not using disposable cutlery check that a dishwasher is being used to clean cutlery and plates. Hand washing simply won’t cut it
- Perform hand hygiene: Bring your own hand sanitizer so that you can regularly perform hand hygiene. Every time you touch the table, chair, menu, door handles etc., you should sanitize your hands
- The Bathroom: Avoid touching taps with your hands, use a paper towel to turn off tabs and open doors. For information on how to do this, check out the free WHO guide
- Hotel Bar: Don’t eat free open snacks off bar. If you purchase snacks make sure you perform hand hygiene before and during eating
We hope that our lists will be of use to you and help you to comfort your travelling peers, who may still have concerns about traveling during COVID-19, that there are things that they can do to help control their environment and improve their health and safety beyond the already stringent cleaning measures implement by hotels.
Sources
1. Hu H, Johani K, Gosbell IB, et al. Intensive care unit environmental surfaces are contaminated by multiresistant bacteria in biofilms: combined results of conventional culture, pyrosequencing, scanning electron microscopy and confocal laser microscopy. J Hosp Infect 2015; 91: 35-44.
2. Chowdhury D, Rahman A, Hu H, Jensen SO, Deva AK, Vickery K. Effect of disinfectant formulation and organic soil on the efficacy of oxidizing disinfectants against biofilms. J Hosp Infect 2018.
3. Johani K, Abualsaud D, Costa DM, et al. Characterization of microbial community composition, antimicrobial resistance and biofilm on intensive care surfaces. J Infect Public Health 2018; 11(3): 418-24.
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