Hyatt becomes next major hotel brand to reveal new sanitation standards

Chicago-based Hyatt became the third major U.S. hotel chain to share specifics of its plan to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus at its hotels around the world and to show its guests and employees that it's treating their safety as its primary concern. This is paramount as the world cautiously eyes a reopening and people start to trickle back on planes and into hotels.

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According to Hyatt president and CEO Mark Hoplamazian, "The world as we knew it has been fundamentally changed by COVID-19 and when we are all ready to travel again, we want to make sure that every Hyatt colleague and guest feels confident that each aspect of our commitment is designed with their safety in mind, and that we're putting their wellbeing first."

Similar to the plans we've seen already from Marriott and Hilton, Hyatt's Global Care & Cleanliness Commitment hinges on establishing enhanced cleaning and sanitization protocols and then certifying that the guidelines have been implemented correctly and communicating that to guests.

Beginning in May, Hyatt will become the first hotel chain to strive to achieve Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) STAR accreditation at more than 900 hotels worldwide. GBAC is a part of the world's cleaning industry association known as ISSA and is staffed by experts who specialize in the mitigation of pathogen spread. Part of this accreditation includes extensive training at the property level and frequent auditing both internally and from third parties.

Related: How hotels can assure cleanliness after coronavirus

It's easy to commit to higher cleaning standards and certifications from outside groups, but how successful a chain is at combatting the spread of the pandemic (and future germs) comes down to implementation at the hotel level. To increase accountability at each property, Hyatt will, by September 2020, have at least one person at each property who has been trained as a Hygiene Manager. This person will be tasked with making sure that their hotel is complying with enhanced cleaning guidelines.

Specifics of each guideline haven't been finalized yet, but Hyatt is considering the following:

• Certifications and training for hygienic and cleaning processes
• More-frequent cleaning and sanitizing of high-touch surfaces, guest rooms and public areas with hospital-grade disinfectants
• Hand sanitizer made available to guests and employees throughout the hotel and at entrances
• Enhanced food-safety protocols for restaurants, room service and catered group events
• Installation of air purifiers
• Providing masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for hotel staff
• Adhering to social-distancing guidelines in public areas

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Since the early days of the crisis, Hyatt has assembled a group of experts across many areas of the travel industry including health and hygiene, colleague safety, food and beverage safety, travel journey, space design, technology and wellbeing to advise and assist the chain on making the right changes and implementing them effectively as the pandemic continues to evolve and we learn more about the virus itself.

Bottom line

One of the largest obstacles to returning to "business as usual" -- whatever that may look like -- for hotels is convincing guests that properties are indeed following and implementing all the new protocols that have been established in recent days and weeks.

Hyatt has now joined Marriott and Hilton in sharing the specific ways through which it will work to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 at its properties around the world, and perhaps even more importantly, it has established layers of internal and external certification to show its guests that its hotels are safe for them to return to.