Can Hotels Ever Have Enough Cleaning Standards?

Another day, another cleaning standard for the world hotel industry. Hotel companies around the world, from Hilton to Four Seasons, partnered with cleaning companies and health institutions in creating heightened health and safety standards analysts say are necessary to give guests the confidence to return to travel. But the International Well Building Institute team behind the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facilities Operations and Management say a third-party source like its own is needed to hold the individual protocols and practices accountable.

“Hospitality’s take on wellness pre-Covid had so much more to do with a more consumer aspect: Working out in the room, or yoga and on-demand offerings on the TV,” IWBI President Rachel Gutter said. “This is a paradigm shift that we’re going to see for hospitality now and how (hotel owners) define wellness.”

The safety rating for the hotel will appear on a seal, most likely posted by the front door, or somewhere on the property.

The focus on hotels comes amid the wave of new hospitality health and safety brand standards announced in response to the pandemic. Having a regulatory body over all the individual protocols could give travelers even more confidence in booking a stay. Hotel companies like Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Loews Hotels & Co., and Montage International — all of which have their own safety standards — serve as WELL advisory members.

The safety rating is an offshoot of the WELL Building Standard, a health rating for commercial buildings led by IWBI parent company Delos. Launched in 2015, the building standard is now applied to more than 560 million square feet of real estate, primarily commercial offices, in 62 countries. LEED standards are about energy efficiency while the WELL Building Standard focuses more on maximizing the health and wellness of the occupants within a building.