‘Hygiene is the new service’

Hygiene – the new buzzword for a post-pandemic world and for business looking to re-open, the only parameter that matters! For Aditi Balbir, Founder & CEO, V Resorts, hygiene has always been important for hotels.

Aditi Balbir, Founder & CE, V Resorts

As it turns out, hygiene has traditionally been, well, just a basic hygiene for hospitality. For if you think about it, do you bother about hygiene when stepping into a hotel chain? It’s definitely not top of the mind as it forms a very basic expectation that we have from hotels. In fact, we would rate hotels on a lot more than just hygiene, service being the top-most of them.

How is this changing in a post-pandemic world? For one, social distancing is the only way to mitigate COVID-19. Then how do we suppose guests will feel comfortable being in the vicinity of several other people in close quarters? Let us look at the 2008 terrorist attack incident that forced hotels to have security screenings. While guests may have cribbed initially, it became a norm everywhere. COVID-19 is no different, though this incident will require us to rethink hospitality from a hygiene point of view.

Let me take an example to drive home the point. To check into a hotel, one would walk in and go to the counter where an agent would help with the details, take the credit card, get a sign and hand over the key. A bell boy would bring the luggage up to the room. Pretty simple! Now, let us look at how this would work in a COVID-19 world. The bell boy would be in a PPE suit because he comes in contact with so many people in the day. He would take your temperature to ensure you are healthy. He would offer you sanitisers before you enter, and then proceed to sanitise the bags. The front desk agent would maintain two-metre distance, probably be in a mask and proceed with a keyless check-in so that there is zero touch during the process.

(Views expressed are the author’s own. The publication may or may not subscribe to the same.)