If I had to describe these holidays in one word, it would be 'special'. All the plans I had for this summer vanished with the pandemic, so, like most people, I had a very different summer from the one I'd planned.
This year, the local economy, and especially the tourism sector, needed it. The rule was clear: hotels less than 100 kilometres away. I wanted to stay close to avoid spreading the virus while still enjoying my holidays comfortably and safely.
The safety measures hotels took played a key role in making me feel at home:
5 essentials in any post-COVID-19 hotel
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Temperature and disinfection arches
This was one of the first measures I noticed when entering several hotels and certainly one of the most striking. As a guest, it's always reassuring to know that you and your temporary neighbours must pass through an arch that checks whether your body temperature is normal and sprays antibacterial liquid.
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A different check-in
Check-in is one of the most critical moments on arrival at a hotel. While some hotels have introduced technology for remote check-in or online check-in, those that keep the human touch have protective screens. They also have one 'lane' for arrivals and another for departures, something that felt a bit cold at first but is now common everywhere. In my case, every hotel had screens at reception, and keys or cards for the electronic locks were handed over on a tray, so there was never any person-to-person contact.
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Electronic locks so you don't touch anything
"Don't touch the door with your hands, push it with your foot" has become a mantra we keep repeating in our heads since the pandemic began. And being a little obsessed with safety measures myself, I hoped to have as little contact as possible with handles and buttons. Card-operated electronic locks for hotels have become the stars when it comes to avoiding unwanted contact: you hold the card close without touching, the lock releases, you give the door a little push with your foot and you're in. The best surprise was when one of the hotels we stayed at let us use our own phone as a key. It's a system of proximity or Bluetooth locks that unlock the door via an app. It was really convenient not to have to worry about losing the key or card. One tap on the phone and I was in.
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Less shampoo, more gel
Gone are those little soap and shampoo amenities and the classic shower cap. My biggest concern was that my room was spotless and protected from any external agent, so I was really grateful to have a small bottle of hand sanitiser gel available, along with sanitising wipes, instead of the usual shampoo that rarely suits my hair type. And the gel wasn't just in single-use bottles in the room; I also found it at the hotel entrance and in the corridors.
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Goodbye to buffets
It seems hard to believe this is real, and it's probably one of the saddest parts of the hotel experience, but what can you say in a pandemic? If there's one thing I love about waking up on holiday, it's breakfast buffets, but piling up your plate and making a thousand trips from the counter to the table is over. Buffets have become 'à la carte' , and in a way that's welcome: not only is it safer than jostling in the toast queue, it also helps us be more aware of what we order and waste less food.
What we can confirm is that guest expectations are high, because we're not willing to give up the full experience of staying in a hotel, and we also expect to feel safe. It's true that this new normal is anything but normal, but the ideal is to strike a balance between safety and comfort.
