During the course of a trip, travelers encounter numerous germ hotspots, from rental car and taxi door handles to airplane tray tables to hotel TV remotes. Especially in the upcoming fall and winter months, cold and flu cases spike, and can quickly ruin a business trip or vacation. It's every hotel's responsibility to provide guests and staff with a clean environment to limit the occurrence and impact of infections.
At Diversey, we provide infection prevention and control solutions that help you preserve guest satisfaction in order to retain your loyal customers and attract new business. Proper infection prevention also maintains the health of your staff members who are critical to your success.
By following a set of infection prevention best practices and the Diversey IHG Way of Clean program, your staff can keep surroundings sparkling and reduce the opportunity for outbreaks that ruin business and leisure travel, and your overall productivity.
To keep cold and flu viruses from spreading, hotels should consider the following infection prevention and control strategies:
Prepare before an outbreak occurs.
Gather a team to meet and identify potential gaps in how your property would respond to specific challenges, such as an Influenza outbreak. Then, make recommendations such as additional storage for infection prevention supplies or required vaccinations among staff. Develop communication materials to display in case of an event to demonstrate desired behaviors among guests and staff.
Encourage proper hand hygiene.
Make sure staff understand the importance of frequent handwashing. If soap and water are unavailable, a hand sanitizer can be used instead. Keep soap and paper towels well stocked in bathrooms near the lobby, restaurant and pool area to encourage hand hygiene among guests as well.
Select the right products.
Your facility should have the right range of cleaners, disinfectants and cleaning tools (cloths, spray bottles, etc.) on hand and readily available. Since disinfectants require a specific contact time to kill pathogens, choose products with shorter contact times to ensure greater compliance and allow for quick use during the day. Disinfectants should be tough on pathogens, but gentle on surfaces, users and occupants. Many facilities are turning to disinfectants powered by AHP? technology, which are fast acting and contain an active ingredient that breaks down into oxygen and water to reduce environmental impact.
Use standard cleaning practices and schedules.
Follow the practices outlined in the Diversey cleaning manuals on methods to use, the surfaces or equipment to be cleaned/disinfected and the order in which these areas should be cleaned. Because surfaces are touched by many different people, staff should be aware of germ hotspots such as TV remotes, light switches, phones, bathroom faucets and doorknobs. Germs can also lurk on less obvious surfaces such as ice buckets, in-room menus and hair dryers. Develop cleaning schedules for areas such as the front desk, public restrooms, fitness centers, etc. for times of normal risk and outbreak risk.
Give guests the relaxing and sick-free stay that they expect. By following the above best practices, your property is well on its way to providing a cleaner environment, and receiving positive praise and increased bookings in return.