While hotels have reopened, people are being cautious

From hosting birthday parties and celebrating promotions to grabbing a quick bite on the way to office; from catching up with friends over a cup of coffee to merely killing boredom, restaurants had been the go-to place for many, especially for the youth. With changes in our lifestyle and work culture, restaurants and hotels were no longer a luxury but a necessity.

However, the novel coronavirus changed it all. The virus forced closure of hotels and restaurants, mandated people to stay home and avoid all non-essential travel, thereby hitting the industry hard.

Though, it has been close to a month since hotels and restaurants reopened on June 8, the customers are a little hesitant to dine out or stay in a hotel.

“Till a Covid-19 vaccine is developed, I will avoid eating outside but if absolutely necessary I will only go to restaurants whose staff I know personally and there are no cases in that area,“ says Harshvardhan, a data scientist.

“In case I am travelling to a different city, I will do a thorough background check of hotels with respect to any positive case, will carry my own hand sanitiser and not depend on the ones at the hotel,” he says.

Like Harshvardhan, Bikash Pratap Singh is very particular about the location, the brand and overall cleanliness of the staff.

Many expect hotels to maintain higher hygiene standards and carry out sanitisation regularly.

“A restaurant’s cleanliness is directly proportional to the way their washroom commodes and face mirrors are maintained. At times, even at some high-end restaurants, the overall hygiene standards are poor. But now, these factors can't be ignored,” says Manulika Dubey, who works for a PR firm.

Manulika hopes the restaurants will have CCTV cameras at kitchens and make arrangements for the customers to view the cooking area, so that they can ensure the food is prepared hygienically.

Her brother Arpit Dubey, a student, feels henceforth hotels should have hand sanitisers at the entrance and other common areas, proper hand washing facilities preferably with sensor taps, and contactless check ins and check outs. All the items in the hotel rooms such as bedsheets, towels, stationery items should be fresh and sanitised.

“There should be thermal checks at the time of entering a hotel along with sanitisation of the luggage. The hotels should start supplying masks to the guests who don’t have their own masks. Pick up or drop vehicles should also be regularly sanitised,“ he says.

Mousumi Basu, a former school principal, feels that distance between the tables, social distancing between the staff and the customers, contactless menu card, contactless payment options and sanitised crockery and cutlery are important factors that need to be taken into account.

“Contactless approach ought to be the norm,” says Chalormee, a student.

Hotels should conduct regular temperature checks of staff, proper sanitisation of kitchen and rooms, and mandate gloves, masks and face shields for its staff as and when required, she adds.