A trickle of guests as hotels prepare with contactless check-in, 'sneeze guards'

New Delhi: After being given the go-ahead to resume operations, hotels in the city are now grappling with renewed ways of handling clients even as they attempt to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus amid a dipping income and customer footfall.

While physical interactions between employees and clients have been restrained, masks and hand sanitisers have become essential commodities inside hotels. Meena Bhatia, General Manager at Le Meridien Hotel, said, "Right from the start, the entire luggage is sprayed with disinfectants after which guests go through a thermal scanner before being made to sanitise their hands at the entrance". Unlike before, they are not escorted to their rooms by a butler and are only dropped to the lift, after which they are provided with further directions, she added. However, hotels have said that there are no restrictions as of yet on the number of luggage travellers can bring in.

At the reception, guests are only handed over the keys to the room, which has been booked online, says Deepanshu, an employee at Shangri La's Hotel. "Room check-in is now fully contact-less and payment is made through electronic means,"

he says.

Meanwhile, 'sneeze guards' have been placed at the front desk in order to curb any chances of spreading infection, says Rohit, who works at JW Marriott Hotel. "We have instituted programmes like 'commitment to clean' and 'contactless stay package' where all touch-points and objects are thoroughly sanitised while room service is carried out by the staff from outside," he says.

"Bed linens for every room are now washed separately instead of being bunched together," Bhatia says.

Gulshan, Duty Manager at Jaypee Vasant Continental Hotel, which has only two of its floors functional, says rooms are sealed for 48 hours before a new booking to ensure complete sanitisation. "Menus have gone digital while plates and other utensils inside the room are disposable," he says.

On restaurants operating inside hotel premises, Ravi Rana from Maidens Hotel says that only their coffee shop has been allowed to open while the other two have been shut for several months.

Moreover, now that the Delhi government has allowed restaurants and eateries in hotels to serve liquor but only at the table or in the hotel rooms; owners are now hopeful that in the absence of other forms of revenue which are blocked due to the restricted opening, alcohol sales will bring in much relief.

Some hotels while proud to have been of service by acting as supplementary COVID-19 facilities have said that not a single patient had used their facilities while they were attached to their hospital.