Is it safe to stay in a hotel? Here’s what you need to know before check-in
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on weary travelers who just want to get back to a normal way of life on the road. And with summer closing in, those with travel plans are wondering if going on a trip and staying at a hotel is worth the risk.
Unfortunately, while there’s no definite yes or no answer to this question – unless you’re experiencing symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is adamant on its stance about traveling during the pandemic: “Staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from getting sick.”
But if it’s essential that you travel and need to stay in a hotel, there are things you need to be aware of before check-in.
The red flags
Hotels are busy, especially during the summertime when travel is usually at a high. Chances are, you might come in contact with other people who potentially are carrying the virus.
Practicing safe-social distancing and wearing a face-mask are extremely important, Dr. Donald Schaffner, a microbial risk assessment expert and professor at Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, told Health.com.
Schaffner also notes that housekeeping in a hotel can also present a problem. Whenever someone else comes into your space, they could bring along germs with them. This also holds true if you stay in a room after another person has checked out of that same room.
“Once you know which room you will be assigned, you can ask, ‘When did the last guest check out of this room?’” Schaffner says, according to Health.com. “You could also ask for a room that has been vacant of guest for the longest time.”
And since people can pass the virus prior to showing symptoms, it’s best to assume that everyone you come in contact with could be infectious, Dr. Thomas Russo, chief of the division of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo, told Business Insider.
He also notes to be safe around common areas like hotel check-in desks.
“When you are waiting in a line to check-in, you might interact with people taking your bags,” Russo says, according to Business Insider. “I would wear a mask because during the check-in process, going in the elevator up to your room, or even the stairwell, it’s possible that you might run into someone. The mask would afford a layer of protection.”
Safeguards in place at hotels
If you have to book a hotel right now, you should find out what specific precautions the hotel is doing to keep their guests healthy and safe, so it’s best to look around and compare, Dr. Neha Vyas, a family medicine physician at Cleveland Clinic, toldHealth.com. It’s important to choose a place that discloses this type of information.
“Stay at a reputable place that discloses their cleaning tactics,” Vyas says, per Health.com. “These larger chains are conveying to the public what [they’re] doing.”
For example, Marriott International issued a news release back in April detailing the “enhanced technology to counter virus spread.”
Marriott said it was “rolling out enhanced technologies over the next months, including electrostatic sprayers with hospital-grade disinfectant to sanitize surfaces throughout the hotel.”
Understand hotels will be different
With the coronavirus rapidly changing the world as we know it, staying in a hotel during the pandemic won’t be the same as you remember. The American Hotel & Lodging Association released a new set of guidelines which outlines how hotels can reopen.
Technology like online check-in and paying over your smart phone is in, McClatchy News previously reported.
Buffets out.
“Grab and go” food service in.
In-room minibars out.
Hotels will now be a “stripped-down affair,” Christopher Anderson, a professor of business at Cornell University’s Hotel School in Ithaca, New York, told CNN. Guests will go keyless and have to forgo personalized interactions.
“We’re going to strip those away and basically walk into the hotel, go up the elevator by myself, enter my room without having to touch anything with some comfort that the service provider has completely disinfected that space prior to my arrival,” Anderson says, CNN reported.
Be wary of hotel common areas
Hotel common areas like the lobby, a dining room and the pool are high-risk areas because they draw more people.
“If there are other people around, that’s going to increase your risk,” Russo told Business Insider. “And when we swim, sometimes we aspirate a little water so we’re going to cough. [The bigger concern is] the people and proximity in that scenario than [being] worried about the water getting contaminated, because it is a respiratory virus more than a fecal-oral virus in terms of spread.”
He also notes that “pools, theoretically, are chlorinated, and this is a wimpy virus. So that should be able to deactivate the virus.”
As for eating, it’s always best to just stick with room service and contact-less delivery instead of checking out your hotel bar or dining room, Russo advised, according to Business Insider.
“Once you get into the restaurant situation, then your risk is going to increase. I’m not really worried about menus or tablecloths. Those can be laundered and disinfected. But when the food shows up, you’re going to have to take your mask off.”
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Is it safe to stay in a hotel? Here’s what you need to know before check-in."