One rarely mentioned quirk that I have, that my friends know about me (and tease me), is my OCD like behavior in hotels.  The first thing I do after taking photos for the blog is open the bar of soap and wash my hands then get a tissue (or ten) to pick up the television remote and put it inside a Ziploc bag. I then go to the door to check out my fire escape options (I’ve been awaken at 1 a.m. twice to fire alarms which is scary). I will always wear shoes (or slippers) in the room and never, never, ever will I walk in bare feet.  My friends have accepted my quirks as I try to hide my disgust for their lack of concern as they take baths, walk in bare feet, touch every surface with abandon and even use the in room coffee maker and amenities. I’m not sure when the germaphobe tendencies started but it’s the classic Odd Couple situation (when I travel with friends) where I’m the weird one until now.  So how will hotels change after covid-19 and will that affect me much?

Hotel Cleaning Procedures

Now with Covid-19 the topic of cleaning in hotels has come to the forefront in recent weeks as each hotel adopts and shares their cleaning protocols to provide a “perceived” level of safety for travelers (nothing is 100% – there are no guarantees in life or travel) to get back on the road, in the air and to their hotels. You’ll see updates daily by hotel brands as if one cleaning protocol over another will swing the needle to make you stay there.  Sadly there are no standards in the industry (yet) to get certified in cleaning methods, products, equipment, etc.  So for me, who rarely touched things in the hotel and did my own version of a clean room, will this really change things for me?  Probably not.  I welcome more cleaning and sanitizing.  My concern is whether this is a temporary change or long term?

My Hotel Routine (Pre-Covid 19)

Pre-covid, I put on the “do not disturb” sign on my door (as if that was a barrier to germs) and decline daily room cleaning so that the linens were not changed nor the carpets vacuumed. No outside germs (in my mind) were allowed in my room during the stay so limiting the number of staff in room I thought would help.  I swapped towels with the housekeeper if I saw the cart nearby or called later in the day for delivery.  Despite declining housekeeping daily, I always leave a tip on the last day. My one exception to in room visit by staff, was of course, room service.  This quick visit would deliver all the good food, wine and dessert.

So now with everyone talking about “will you go to a hotel again” and touch things – if anything it will be even more attended to with cleaning schedules of common areas and handles/buttons. A bit like you always thought they did but didn’t (if you saw the NYC subway close down for nightly cleaning recently, I’m sure you, like me, thought “didn’t they clean the subway every night anyway?”).  You will likely see staff cleaning common areas on a regular schedule.

Hotel Check In Changes During/After Covid-19

As for those common areas – we’ve all been there – crowded hotel lobbies, long check-in lines and dreaded the waits.  Now you’ll be able to bypass all of that for some hotel brands/locations. But before you get to the front desk and/or lobby, you might miss the bellman offering to carry your bags or the welcome staff to sit with you personally for check in.   I don’t anticipate temperature checks in the long term at hotels because of the liability, increased staffing required to administer and enforce each time and the bottleneck of people in line in the lobby.  Enforcement of masks will be a tough one too.

Despite all of my weirdness in the hotel room, I never considered the room keycard an issue but now will wipe that down with each use in the elevator and room door.  I’m probably an outlier in that I’m not a fan of hotel keyless entry options using your phone and yet another phone app to download. Keyless unlock with phone will likely become the norm so be prepared to connect to hotel Wi-Fi, have some data/battery left on your phone to access and bring a phone at all times when you leave the room.

• Check in online, get keyless code and bypass the front desk to your room (unless old European hotel key weights)
• Carry your own bags to your room or use the provided cart for assistance
• Less crowded hotel lobbies as furniture will be removed, social distancing in force with groups

New Technology in Hotels

In room touchscreens were just starting to come into their own but will you want to touch them now?  Will you use the TV remote to order/control what you need? Will smart rooms become voice enabled?  Do you run a voice privacy risk in hotel for guests?  You are ok to chat up Alexa, Siri and other voice assistants at home, which have had their own issues with hacking and data collection but what about in a hotel – are you weary of privacy and ability to listen to you?

I’ve seen a few hotels with text options to retrieve your car from the valet – you text the claim number and are told when the car will be available in the driveway.  This would allow you to stay in room longer.

Smart elevators are already in use in some hotels such as The Moxy Times Square NYC and The Hard Rock London Hotel.  You scan your hotel key card and are directed to a numbered elevator. Once inside there are no buttons to press, the elevator is going to x number of floors to make the system efficient.

Hotel Room Changes due to Covid-19

If I was really flying my “don’t touch that” germaphobe flag in room, I wouldn’t be surprised to see all in room amenities such as the minibar, coffee maker, iron/ironing board and other shared items that guests can use during their stays removed.  Removal of extra bedding, pillows and comforter cover too.   Limits to daily in room cleaning.  Addition of sanitizing gel and wipes.  Sealed items and the death knell of hotel toiletries to favor of in shower items. If you need anything, you’ll have to call to have these items delivered (don’t forget to tip!) or buy in the lobby/front desk shop.

• Goodbye Hotel Minibar (I won’t miss the $5 M&Ms and $7 bottle of water) but I will miss the best hotel minibar at 1898 The Post in Ghent followed by The Westin Sydney minibar
• Call Housekeeping for extra blankets, pillows, iron/ironing board and other amenities
• Removal of individual hotel toiletries of shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, hand cream, etc.  I will miss collecting hotel toiletries especially luxury ones.
• The hair dryer – can we dip that into a Purell bath? Not sure how you really clean it.
• Unknown what happens to the coffee/tea options in room and in lobby

You may see changes to daily housekeeping changing of linens, towels and cleaning schedules.  There are so many moving parts in the room that I’m sure you’ve never thought about so likely you won’t miss much in the short term (long term who knows?).

Hotel Restaurant & Bar Changes

Room Service – I discussed my thoughts on How Room Service Will Change and it’s probably the “death of room service” as we knew it (at least for now).

Other hotel changes to expect will be the restaurant buffets (goodbye self-service), Kimpton famous wine happy hours (please, don’t take the wine away!), lobby seating, bar seating, pool bar seating, etc.

Will the hotel be responsible for enforcing social distancing? What if they remove bar seats – what’s to prevent someone from standing next to you or sliding their seat over to chat you up?  Hotels are there to provide a service not to police guests normally however does the social contract, health risks and local state/city regulations change that?

Hotel Gym Changes

Hotel gyms have always been an afterthought of small spaces to provide enough equipment for guests to use.  I rarely see the gyms in use by more than one or two people at a time.  That said, I suspect that reservations will become the norm to provide social distance and time to clean equipment between uses.  Equipment may need to be removed or limit the number of guests per time slot (30-45 minutes). Will hotels increase delivery of in room stationary bike, yoga mat or equipment usage? Hotels already provide yoga mats in room (Kimpton hotels),  deliver workout equipment to your hotel room and in recent years introduced fitness suites.

Hilton workout rooms look pretty awesome now, they call them “Five Feet to Fitness” workout rooms, will this model become more popular? Maybe?  I know I want to try this room type out if I can afford it. Will we see more hotel rooms with Pelotons or  hotels with the Mirror workouts?  Will hotels charge extra for these room types – you bet!  They will likely be in the Suite category to provide the extra space needed for the equipment. Or you can social distance yoga in the park instead.

Final Thoughts – How will the hotel experience change

To be honest, the world of travel has always had risk to it – from norovirus on a cruise ship, food poisoning at restaurants or food stalls to being chased by hippos (ok that’s just me). There are earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, fires and now murder hornets (those guys had a good doom/gloom PR agent) so the world continues to throw stuff at us while we live and when we travel.   You need to decide for yourself and your family what risks you want to take with travel and what you don’t.  No one can decide that for you.  If you do the research, make the backup plans, use a travel agent (where best needed) and expect the unexpected then you’ve done all you can do to travel.  I’ll be back at my favorite hotels when I can travel again, hopefully you will too.

So just a few thoughts on how the hotel experience will change (or not change) for me.  Thoughts on what you think will change at hotels and to your hotel experience?