COVID-19 Guide for Tourist Apartments

With the announcement made these days by the President of the Government, in which he stated that this summer there would not only be domestic tourism, but that Spain would be ready to receive tourists from July, owners of tourist apartments are preparing to adapt their facilities and protocols to health requirements to welcome their guests with the greatest possible safety.To facilitate this task, the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Apartments—in collaboration with sector experts and the Institute for Spanish Tourist Quality—has prepared a document that compiles measures for the reduction of COVID-19 contagion, thus offering safe accommodation and promoting tourism this summer.The guidelines and recommendations in this protocol are not particularly complicated to follow and provide an excellent COVID-19 guide for tourist apartments that are already being used by hundreds of owners who want to open their doors as soon as possible.The objective is for anyone to enjoy their stay in a tourist apartment without risk of contracting coronavirus.

Commitment to cleaning and safety

The main thing in this scenario is for tourist apartment managers to show a responsible attitude and their desire to manage risk diligently and effectively.This implies, in most cases, a comprehensive modification of the assistance and cleaning protocols for the properties under their charge and, obligatorily, the need to create a health and safety committee to ensure compliance with all rules and recommended actions by health authorities.

Tightening of hygiene measures

Of course, hygiene and cleanliness will be the most important weapons to reduce risks against coronavirus in tourist apartments.Thus, all establishments must guarantee social distancing by modifying, if necessary, the spaces, the furniture arrangement, or even the access system to the apartments.In addition, they must facilitate easy and continuous access to cleaning systems, either through the use of hydroalcoholic gels or by providing safe access to soap and water.The cleaning of the facilities will be more intense, with products that ensure surface disinfection and will be carried out more frequently. The document prepared by the health authorities also states that “floor and cleaning staff will not enter rooms to provide service while the client is inside, except for justified cause”.

Extreme care in common areas

If the tourist apartment is part of a complex or there are common areas that guests can use, it is vital to establish a maximum capacity, as well as strict regulation and control of people who coincide in the same space, so that a contact network can be traced in case of contagion.This will be achieved, authorities indicate, by increasing meal shifts in canteens and cafeterias, removing chairs that exceed the marked capacity, and preventing the shared use of kitchen utensils or crockery.

Informative measures to raise awareness

One of the most relevant recommendations of all the work carried out by the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Apartments focuses on public awareness.Experts insist that it is useless for tourist apartment owners to raise their health, cleaning, and social contact requirements if the client then takes actions that undo all that effort.Precisely for this reason, it is recommended that within the contingency plan prepared by the health and safety committee of the tourist complex, continuous and updated information be provided to both workers and clients.This can be done in the establishment itself and through the use of signage with preventive measures and guidelines to follow; use of indicators marking social distancing and information on health or police assistance contacts. All this signage must also be in both Spanish and at least one foreign language.

Some daily tips

In order to provide good service and, at the same time, maintain the highest security requirements, health authorities offer some tips to implement.For example, card payment should be encouraged to avoid the exchange of money. On the other hand, room or apartment access cards or keys must be deposited in a container with disinfectant after each use and, as far as possible, do not provide guests with pens that will then be reused.Of course, if there is reception staff, it will be a good option to install isolated screens so that clients cannot infect workers.With all these tips and by following step by step the norms, rules, and recommendations established by this professional team, it will be possible to put at the disposal of clients facilities and tourist apartments absolutely prepared for their enjoyment with a totally minimal risk of contagion.