Cleaning, Economic Recovery Key to Luring Customers Back to Hotels

As hotel properties slowly reopen after months of lockdowns and travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, they are adopting new cleaning protocols and operating models to satisfy a “germ-conscious public.”

“It’s far from business as usual,” JLL wrote in a recent report.

The pandemic hit the hotel industry hard, with more than 5,000 U.S. hotels closing in March and April, and nearly half of them still closed by the start of June, according to STR, a hotel data provider.

To attract customers, hotels need to focus on a new normal for the “ideal” hotel stay, which involves less human interaction and visibly clean surroundings, said Geraldine Guichardo, global head of research in JLL’s Hotels and Hospitality Group in the report.

Global hotel groups have announced new safety measures such as electrostatic sprayers to sanitize surfaces, partnerships with disinfectant brands, and partnerships with health care experts who are designing new guidelines and protocols.

For instance, JLL reports, Marriott International launched a global cleanliness counsel in April, along with investment in sanitation technology. Hilton has partnered with RB, which makes Lysol and Dettol products, and is consulting with the Mayo Clinic on cleaning practices.

In Europe, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts has extended an initative focused on enhanced safety procedures.

In May, the American Hotel & Lodging Association announced industry-wide cleaning guidelines, such as the frequent cleaning of high-touch surfaces and sneeze-and cough-guards on buffets.

“Cleanliness ratings are likely to become the new key standard for hotels and will replace outdated brand standards,” Andrea Grigg, managing director of asset management for Hotels & Hospitality Group at JLL, said in prepared remarks.

The US travel industry has suffered from the coronavirus crisis, with the US Travel Association reporting that COVID-19 led to $176 billion in cumulative losses from early March to May 16. And STR reported that U.S. hotel occupancy levels declined to less than 25% in April, down 64% when compared with 2019 in the “worst single month ever.”

Daniel Fenton, director of global tourism and destination development services in JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group, said the hotel industry’s recovery depends on how quickly people are willing to fly.

With the uncertainty in the market and the need to enforce social distancing, Wendy Chan, senior vice president of the Hotels & Hospitality Group, who leads advisory in Latin America, said wrote that “some hotels may find themselves unable to justify the cost of re-opening.”

Because of that, Chan wrote, some hotel investors and operators may temporarily or permanently convert hotels to co-working spaces, multifamily or senior housing, or student housing.

The industry’s recovery is particularly important in countries such as Mexico that rely on tourism, Chan wrote, noting that the recovery there is largely dependent on economic recovery in the U.S. and Canada, because of the number of visitors to Mexico.

“Everything depends on how quickly global markets recover, when a vaccine is approved and distributed, and when people have the disposable income and confidence to travel,” she wrote.