During his first weeks of being assigned, he headed home daily as he did not have [isolation] accommodation. “My wife is also a medical worker and both of us had to practice self-quarantine, so we had to leave our child with our neighbor.”

After two weeks working in the intensive care unit (ICU) for COVID-19 cases, Sudarman finally received other accommodation. “It’s comfortable and I don’t feel worried anymore,” he said.

Sudarman is among the medical workers who are being provided with accommodation in hotels through a collaboration between non-profit Habitat for Humanity and French multinational hospitality company Accor Group.

Since April 13, they have helped more than 600 medical workers from COVID-19 referral hospitals in Jakarta and Surabaya, East Java. The hotels used to accommodate medical workers include Ibis Budget Jakarta Daan Mogot in West Jakarta and Ibis Budget Jakarta Cikini in Central Jakarta.

The collaboration accepts donations from the public via crowdfunding platforms KitaBisa and BenihBaik as well as e-wallet app Dana.

Accor Group has also teamed up with the COVID-19 special task force to provide hotels for quarantine, particularly of repatriated Indonesians, including Pullman Jakarta Central Park in West Jakarta and Ibis Style Jakarta Airport in Banten.

“Seventy of our hotels in Indonesia are still operating while around 30 hotels are closed,” said Adi Satria, vice president sales, marketing, distribution and loyalty for Accor Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, said during a press conference on June 10.

Should the hotels be allowed to reopen to the public in the future, Adi said the company would analyze its protocols to decide whether hotels would serve the public or be used to accommodate medical workers and for quarantine purposes. It will also coordinate with the COVID-19 special task force and the Health Ministry regarding additional procedures, such as whether or not guests will be required to provide evidence of negative COVID-19 test results.

In preparation for the “new normal” period, Accor Group has implemented cleanliness and operational standards that have been reviewed by certification company Bureau Veritas. The standards are to be applied in every hotel and will later be reviewed by operational experts from Accor Group or its third party to receive the ALLSAFE label. The label involves health protocols for guests and staff members, including room disinfection, physical distancing and regular health checks for the staff.

In a similar move, hotel chain OYO Hotels & Homes has launched its Sanitized Stay protocols that ensures its properties implement health and safety protocols from check-in to check-out. Currently, around 200 OYO properties have implemented the program, with information available on OYO's website.

The Sanitized Stay protocols include disinfecting all areas and rooms; providing hand sanitizer and face masks for guests; training staff about safety and health procedures during the pandemic; maintaining physical distancing; and coordinating with the nearest hospital.

Eko Bramantyo, OYO Hotels and Homes Indonesia head of emerging business, said the company had adapted to the pandemic by implementing a long-term strategy, including the Sanitized Stay. “We need to have resilience as we don’t know how long this situation will last,” Eko said on June 11, adding that the strategy would be implemented until December or January 2021.

He stated that the pandemic had caused a shift in people’s behavior within the hospitality industry. “Most people prefer to stay for a long period of time. For instance, on average guests used to stay for around one to three days, but now the duration has shifted to seven to 14 days,” Eko said.

Additionally, a larger portion of guests now prefer to pay online than pay on arrival.

Read also: Singapore has launched new hygiene certification program for hospitality industry

Since May, hotels in Asia Pacific run by hospitality company Hyatt have launched new safety and hygiene procedures for their guests.

Hyatt Regency Bali in Sanur, Bali, has implemented procedures that include sanitization of surfaces every hour, body temperature checks at all entrances, contactless room service, physical distancing protocols in restaurants, frequent air quality tests and a food safety management system based on international standards. The hotel received its HACCP certification in March and will pursue international organization for standardization (ISO) certification soon.

All Hyatt hotels are to be accredited by the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC), especially its GBAC STAR program, which focuses on the prevention of infectious diseases. The hospitality company plans to have the majority of its hotels worldwide accredited by the end of the year.

Located in the Central Java city of Surakarta, Alila Solo is among the hotels in the country that have reopened to the public. Since June 12, the hotel began operating by implementing its HY-giene program, which consists of enhanced sanitization and operational protocols for its front desk area, guests’ rooms and dining outlets.

In the guests’ rooms, the program requires frequently touched surfaces to be sanitized, air filters to be cleaned more often and alcohol wipes to be provided. (wng)