Hotels Archives - Web Hotelway

Hotels offer free health care, doctors on demand and other Covid-19 safety amenities

Ellie Parlani — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 13:44:01 +0000

Hotels offer free health care, doctors on demand and other Covid-19 safety amenities.

What feels like a lifetime ago in the days before Covid-19, hotels lured travelers with amenities such as complimentary breakfasts, cocktail hours and yoga classes at the spa.

The world has changed quite a bit since then. Though people are beginning to tiptoe out from their Airbnbs and homes — away from stockpiled toilet paper, sourdough starter and new puppies — and even hop on planes, the travel industry recognizes the need to pivot.

Most properties are pledging best practices according to CDC and EPA guidelines such as frequent cleaning, air-filtration systems, contactless check-in and decreased capacity. Others are taking the opportunity to innovate, brainstorming new ways to make guests feel secure and relaxed, which range from luxe to odd.

In this brave new world, the concierge is more concerned with booking virus tests than fine dining reservations. In place of complimentary sleep masks are mandatory face masks. Floral pillow sprays have been replaced with artisanal sanitizer sprays.

Meet a slew of reinvented (once unimaginable) hotel amenities for the new (sort of) normal:

The doctor is in

At Casa de Campo Resort & Villas in the Dominican Republic, visitors are assured a spot at an onsite hospital.
Casa de Campo

Recognizing a need for guests to feel secure, even in the worst case scenario, many hotels around the world are making medical care their latest amenity.

At Oscar de la Renta-designed Casa de Campo Resort & Villas in the Dominican Republic, visitors (who must show evidence of a negative test) are assured a spot at an onsite hospital — with an entire floor reserved only for hotel guests.

Guests staying over five days at Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai can book free PCR testing in the comfort of their own suite Victor Romero

Guests staying over five days at Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai can book free PCR testing in the comfort of their own suite thanks to a partnership with “leading hospitals.” The staff takes care of the red tape, while guests relax and … enjoy?

While a partnership with a luxury car company or fitness center might previously have been a draw, now Montage Hotels is offering guests access to a tailored health care experience through One Medical. Visitors can not only schedule virtual doctor’s visits and consultations while on property but also for an entire month after departure.

But it’s Club Meds around the world that are giving new meaning to the term “all-expense paid vacation.” Through April 2021, the all-inclusive resorts will cover all emergency medical costs related to Covid-19 during guests’ stays, including lab tests, transportation, housing for companions and even child care.

Touch and go

Of course, in an ideal world, the object is to avoid getting sick. One way properties are helping to keep their guests healthy is by limiting contact — not just with staff and other guests but with shared objects.

At Garden of the Gods Resort and Club in Colorado Springs, real-life caddies and golf carts have been replaced.
Club Car

At Garden of the Gods Resort and Club in Colorado Springs, real-life caddies and golf carts have been replaced by new Tempo Walk tech — a hands-free, autonomous caddie complete with GPS yardage and the capacity to hold a cooler of untouched drinks.

At the brand new Villa Copenhagen, which opened in a century-old Danish post office on July 1 under the Preferred Hotels & Resorts umbrella, not only is there keyless entry and remote check-in available (a now common offering), but the TVs in each room automatically populate QR codes for new guests, who can then activate their smartphones as remote controls.

And, in cases when visitors must touch an object, the folks at The Deer Path Inn in Lake Forest, Illinois, want them to know they’re the first to handle it. To mitigate concern, the hotel is embroidering/printing guests’ names on in-room canvas laundry bags and disposable room service menus.

Keeping it clean

Still, short of living in an actual bubble, it is necessary to touch certain shared surfaces, so hotels are also upping the ante when it comes to cleaning and sanitizing — a relief to anyone who has ever watched a black-light exposé on hotel bedspreads.

On top of requisite scrubbing with hardcore disinfectants, many properties have installed sleek, branded sanitizer dispensers at entrances to public spaces.

But some are also finding high-tech solutions to keeping things sterile.

At The Roundtree Amagansett, a new 15-room boutique farm-inspired property in the Hamptons, they’ve instituted the use of Upang UV sterilizers (medical devices designed to kill 99.9% of germs and bacteria).

The Beverly Hilton in LA (best known for hosting The Golden Globes) has brought in hospital-approved UV Xenex LightStrike Robots to “zap” germs around the hotel.
The Beverly Hilton

And the historic Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, best known for hosting The Golden Globes, has brought in hospital-approved UV Xenex LightStrike Robots to “zap” germs around the hotel and in guest rooms for eight to 10 minutes after the housekeeper has cleaned and vacated.

Temperature checks at the door are not uncommon these days, but The Cape, a Thompson Hotel in Los Cabos, Mexico, is raising the bar with a full-body sanitation station at the entrance.

As visitors walk through, it sprays a nonstaining mist from head to toe — like a hipster human car wash. The hotel also offers sanitizer stations, QR codes for menus around the property and a little package of masks and sanitizers in-room.

Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur has instituted next-generation sanitization protocols.
Kodiak Greenwood

Still, Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur is getting cutting-edge without the gadgets: Staying true to their natural, wellness ethos, they’re the first US property to institute a technology called “Premium Purity.”

The cleaning process is sustainable and nontoxic, eschewing more common ammonia or bleach-based chemicals.

A proprietary substance is applied to indoor surfaces exposed to light, which renders that surface and the surrounding air self-disinfecting and antimicrobial through photocatalysis for up to 12 months. The second step is a daily EPA-approved disinfectant that’s electrically charged.

You’re welcome!

The pandemic isn’t stopping hotels from welcoming guests with curated gifts. But instead of a requisite fruit plate or beach bag, spots such as The Bristol Hotel in Virginia are offering exclusive face masks in the vein of the decor made by local denim factory, L.C. King (America’s longest-running denim factory).

At Nobu Ryokan Malibu, guests receive a welcome gift including branded masks, gloves and hand santizer.
Courtesy Nobu

Other hotels are sticking with classic gift baskets or bundles. But instead of eye masks, earplugs and hand creams, they are including locally made cleaning products and sanitizers. At Nobu Ryokan Malibu, guests are greeted with branded thermometer stands and kits of masks, gloves and hand sanitizer.

And, at The Confidante Miami Beach, travelers are presented with locally made coconut-scented hand sanitizer with custom labels by local artists (at stations around the property) and also custom-made face masks also designed by local artists.

I think we’re alone now

Certainly, another tactic for mitigating contagion is avoiding crowds.

The Resort at Paws Up in Montana has the benefit of tons of space with 37,000 acres of undeveloped land and over 100 hiking trails. Now, they’ve made travel to the ranch private, as well, offering socially distanced airport transfers. Instead of being chauffeured to and from in a van with other guests, now a “Welcome Wrangler” helps with luggage and directions, but arranges a Lexus to be brought to the baggage claim curb, so that guests can drive themselves.

Since the usual bar happy hour is not ideal, Ocean House in Rhode Island has dreamed up a “BarMobile” experience, where an expert mixologist pushes a “Ferrari-red” bar cart from room-to-room, mixing craft drinks — with complimentary canapés — for guests to enjoy solo.

The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village in Florida will stock guests’ refrigerators and pantries with ready-made meals and more.
Westin Cape Coral

The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village in Florida is taking that notion of in-room refreshments to the next level. Through their new “Fridge Fill” program, guests can skip restaurants and grocery stores and instead have their refrigerators and pantries stocked in advance of arrival with ready-made meals, groceries, ingredient baskets with recipes and more.

Eventually, though, most people will venture out, which is why visitors to the Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach may be grateful to the hotel’s new social distancing ambassadors, who are positioned around the property to remind people to stay 6 feet apart and also limit the number of guests in the pool.

Still unsure? Before venturing out at Hoshino Resorts (a Japanese hospitality brand), guests can download a smartphone app that allows them to monitor the number of people in the property’s public spaces — in real time.

Outside the box

The Inns of Aurora in the Finger Lakes of upstate New York offers guests private archery lessons.
Inns of Aurora

Many properties are encouraging guests to get outdoors, where the risk of transmission is lower.

Resorts are taking restaurant experiences outside, as well.

Home suite home

If all this makes you want to escape for the long haul, you’re in luck: Recognizing that people are craving a change of scenery and can now work and study remotely, hotels are now offering deals for “extended stays.” Instead of three-day-weekend packages, hotels such as Ireland’s Dromoland Castle, Jamaica’s Goldeneye and Nantucket’s White Elephant are now advertising rates for stays in 30-day increments.

Other spots are catering to relocated worker bees with infrastructure: Monarch Beach Resort in Orange County, California, has set up remote offices for guests.

Commodore Perry Estate in Austin, Texas, opened in June 2020 as part of the Auberge Resorts Collection.

Douglas Friedman

Meanwhile, Auberge Resorts has partnered with tutoring and nannying company, Advantage Testing.

The Hamilton Hotel in Washington, DC, is taking that concept one step further: Recognizing that co-working spaces are less viable, they’re renting hotel rooms from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (checkout time!) as temporary office spaces with perks such as high-speed WiFi, a Keurig coffeemaker, access to Press Reader (a digital platform of publications) and room service or outside delivery options — making this a different kind of respite from the world.

Troutbeck in New York’s Hudson Valley is capitalizing on their legacy as a retreat for great “romantics, naturalists, humanists and poets” such as Mark Twain and Henry David Thoreau by offering guests work desks in an art-filled gallery space with task chairs, blotters and local, handmade Dumais Made lamps (plus a new HEPA and UV medical-grade filtration system designed to eliminate over 97% of airborne contaminants).

Πηγή: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/hotels-safety-covid-19-amenities/index.html

The post Hotels offer free health care, doctors on demand and other Covid-19 safety amenities appeared first on Web Hotelway.

Why new hotels are opening amid the pandemic

Ellie Parlani — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 10:41:39 +0000

Why new hotels are opening amid the pandemic

To say that Covid-19 has hurt the hotel industry, along with travel as a whole, is something of an understatement.

According to Hotel News Now, the news division of hotel research company STR, the sector has seen a loss of 5 million jobs since February in the United States alone. And Zachary Sears, a senior economist at Tourism Economics, part of research firm Oxford Economics, says that hotel occupancy in some instances is down 95% versus a year ago.

“Properties have been forced to close permanently because of the financial loss they’ve taken,” he says.

In fact, the American Lodging and Hotel Industry released a report on August 31 that indicates 65% of hotels remain at or below 50% occupancy. The same report states that consumer travel is at an all-time low and that only 38% of Americans say they are likely to take a leisure vacation by the end of the year. In normal circumstances, 70% of Americans take a vacation in any given year.

Hope with new openings

White Elephant Palm Beach | Florida Nantucket’s iconic White Elephant Resort will open a sister property in Palm Beach on September 23, 2020. Courtesy White Elephant Palm Beach

Despite the bleak scenario and the continuing pandemic, there is a bright spot: from Europe and the United States to Africa, Asia and Australia, a spate of new hotels from bigger brands as well as smaller owners are set to open this fall and into the winter.

“The next several months are a busy time for hotel openings,” says Leo Sorcher, the founder of luxury travel company Inhabit the World. “They show a light at the end of this long tunnel.”

In the United States, The Inn at the Mission San Juan Capistrano in California will open in September in the heart of downtown near the city’s famous 19th century church ruins. Also in September, the artists enclave and celebrity hideaway of New Hope, Pennsylvania, will see the opening of luxury boutique property River House at Odette’s. Come November, Palm Beach will have White Elephant, the second location of Nantucket’s well-known eponymous resort.

In Europe, London will have two new hotels in the fall: The Mayfair Townhouse, in Mayfair, along with The Mitre Hampton Court. In Madrid, the Mandarin Oriental Ritz is set to make splashy debut in early 2021.

The list goes on and includes One&Only Desaru Coast in Malaysia, Angama Safari Camp in Kenya’s Maasai Mara and The Oval Hotel in Adelaide, Australia, on the grounds of the city’s Oval stadium.

Delayed, not dead

The River House at Odette’s in New Hope, Pennsylvania, delayed its planned summer opening to September. Courtesy River House at Odette’s

Most of the properties making their debut in the coming months had their original opening dates pushed later because of the pandemic, but even in a battered economy, they didn’t abandon their plans to go forward.

River House at Odette’s was due to open early this summer instead of September. Ron Gorodesky, the developer and managing director, said that the hotel was under construction when Covid-19 hit and forced the project to a temporary stop. “We’re only delayed by a few months but have seen a huge financial loss,” he says. “We had 40 weddings scheduled this year, and most have gotten moved to next year while a handful were canceled.”

But Gorodesky never thought not to open. “New Hope is a great destination year-round with an incredible arts scene and restaurants,” he says. “I believe in the drive market potential.”

Mitre Hampton Court on the outskirts of London.
Courtesy Mitre Hampton Court

Opening a high-end hotel, something there is a dearth of in New Hope, is also an incentive to stay committed to River House, according to Gorodesky. The 36-room property has a contemporary design, Prohibition style rooftop club and a piano lounge featuring live music.

The Mayfair Townhouse in London is also delayed by a few months while The Mitre Hampton Court is actually on track to open in September as planned.

Sorcher says that these delays are minor in the bigger picture and par for the course even in ordinary circumstances. “Openings get pushed all time. It’s almost expected,” he says.

The view from the new Angama Safari Camp in Kenya’s Maasai Mara Courtesy Angama Safari Camp

In general, according to Stephanie Ricca, the editorial director of Hotel News Now, hotel projects can take anywhere from 18 months to three years from the planning stages to completion. “Once a property is under construction, it’s almost certainly going to open, so the ones debuting this fall were already well underway,” she says.

Going forward, however, properties in the early stages of planning may see significant delays, says Ricca, or get deferred to an unknown date. Some will get abandoned all together.

As of June 19, according to Hotel News Now, 19 hotels projects were deferred in the United States. “Given the economy, some hoteliers don’t want to make a big financial investment or may have an issue getting loans,” says Ricca.

The industry will bounce back

One&Only’s new Desaru Coast resort in Malaysia. Courtesy One&Only Resorts

Overall, experts say, the hotel industry will bounce back, although it’s hard to know when.

“In all likelihood, there is going to be a remedy for coronavirus which means the industry will recover,” says Sears of Tourism Economics. “It’s a question of timing, but in the meantime, hotels will continue to open.”

Ricca agrees as does Sorcher of Inhabit the World. In fact, he believes that the hotels opening in the current environment have a better chance of success than usual.

“The people behind these properties have been observing the pandemic and they’re seeing how other hotels are handling it and what’s worked and hasn’t,” he says. “They’re in a good place to do well.”

Πηγή: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/new-hotels-opening-fall-covid-19/index.html

The post Why new hotels are opening amid the pandemic appeared first on Web Hotelway.

Select luxury hotels now offering private flights to lure guests

Ellie Parlani — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 13:51:32 +0000

Air travel around the world is taking tentative first steps to ramp up daily flights again, but understandably, many would-be passengers continue to be wary of commercial airline travel and they prefer the private flights.

Some elite hotels, however, may have found a workaround in packages that include private flights with the stay.

With many resorts eager to make up for lost revenue during the early months of the pandemic, it’s little surprise that top-tier properties are finding creative ways to entice affluent travelers through the private flights.

Of course, flying privately does not eliminate all risks.

Travelers arriving from areas with high Covid-19 infection rates — like the United States — have more than just their own health and safety to consider.

High-rollers who wish to travel with limited exposure might consider private air travel offered as a package deal by a growing handful of luxe resorts. Schubach Aviation

But, for people with the means and gumption to forge ahead with travel, chartering a private plane is certainly one way to arrive.

“We have seen an increase of 75% in the amount of inquiries coming in from around the world compared to this time last year,” says Air Charter Service CEO Justin Bowman of private plane bookings.

“With the new realities of traveling, consumers are more concerned with privacy, safety and hygiene, and flexibility [is] at the top of their list.”

For those who also include luxury in their list, read on for six properties who are rolling out a high-flying, red carpet.

Caldera House, Wyoming

This eight-suite hotel and alpine club in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, reopened on June 25 with a new package that allows guests unprecedented access to the beautiful, remote surroundings.

Caldera House partnered with Indagare to create a four-night experience that showcases some of the American West’s most stunning landscapes and animals, all with socially distanced luxury.

The package starts with round-trip private charter flights to the hotel, which is located in charming Teton Village. Once guests arrive at the resort, they can choose from either a two- or four-bedroom suite. Regardless of size, the kitchen can be fully stocked upon arrival.

Daily activities include spending a morning in Grand Teton National Park to scout for wildlife, a tour of Jackson Hole’s geological history, and horseback riding at Diamond Cross Ranch, where views encompass incredible vistas of the Teton Range.

The oversized suites are a welcome — and private — respite at the end of the day. Amenities include soaking tubs, patios with fire pits, dining rooms and even home theaters. Spa services, like a 90-minute deep tissue massage, can even be arranged en-suite.

Four Seasons Resort Lanai, Hawaii

For travelers comfortable with a potential quarantine in the tropical paradise (Hawaii’s mandatory 14-day quarantine for arriving passengers is to remain in place until September 1), a stay at the tony Four Seasons Lanai may be one of the best options around.

The resort, located on one of the most unspoiled Hawaiian Islands, is currently including private air transfers on Lanai Air from Honolulu to the hotel for all bookings made by August 31 (for arrival by January 4). In addition, the hotel is also partnering with luxury travel agencies like Protravel International to secure private jets for their clients arriving to Honolulu, making the entire journey both seamless and secure.

As soon as guests land, they’ll be greeted by a hotel representative, who will ferry them by Tesla or Mercedes to the resort.

Once there, relaxation is paramount: Guests can choose to relax in the sun next to the lagoon-style pools, wander through the colorful botanical gardens, or get a pineapple-scented Lanai Tai scrub at the on-site Hawanawana spa.

For the more adventurous, however, there’s a Jack Nicklaus-signature golf course built around natural gorges, two tennis courts, and an archery and shooting range.

But it would also be quite tempting just to listen to the waves from your bedroom. For the ultimate in privacy, book the Alii Royal Suite. At nearly 4,000 square feet, it’s bigger than most houses and includes a media room, a library, and three oversized balconies that look out over the ocean.

Πηγή: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/hotel-packages-include-private-flight/index.html

The post Select luxury hotels now offering private flights to lure guests appeared first on Web Hotelway.