Hospitality

After the most grueling year any hotel operator can remember, there’s good news on the horizon: People are yearning to travel.

A recent survey by Amadeus found that 71% of leisure travelers would travel immediately or within 1-3 months of COVID-19 restrictions being lifted. The same survey found that 2 out of 3 travelers agree that COVID-19 prevention measures are important to consider when choosing a hotel.  

The American Hotel and Lodging Association’s 2021 “State of the Hotel Industry” report says that 56% of consumers expect to travel for leisure this year — on par with pre-pandemic years — while business travel lags. Enhanced cleaning and hygiene practices are guests’ second-highest priority, after price.

As hospitality pros prepare for a busier, better travel season, we take a look at how guest expectations and hotel sanitation measures have evolved in the past year.

Hotels in the United States and elsewhere in the world must now work to attract those guests who are considering a return to travel, says Taimur Khan, who is Vice President and GM, Global Transportation, Travel and Hospitality Solutions Team for Salesforce.

“For this next cohort that has never traveled in the last seven, eight months, their health and safety is going to be paramount. They have to be made comfortable,” Khan advised in a recent roundtable discussion sponsored by the Cornell School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University.

Making guests comfortable: It’s what hoteliers do best, but it’s also an enormous challenge in the age of COVID-19. Hamilton Beach Commercial analyzes the roundtable experts’ recommendations for hotel cleanliness and communications, and offers a few of our own.