The scene at many hotel front desks conjures up an image of bygone days and operations on the wrong side of town, when clerks used to labor behind bulletproof glass in setups similar to teller cages.
A new version of that is afoot as the hotel industry copes with COVID-19. Plexiglass barriers are now commonplace — even at the Ritz-Carlton Cleveland, although a spokesman describes it as tastefully done.
Signs point out how often counters and doorknobs in public areas get cleaned, and staffers are wiping things down.
Welcome to a hotel in 2020 as the industry grapples with a pandemic threatening the livelihood of more than a few properties. Travel, especially for business, has taken a big hit, and hotels are undertaking steps big and little to protect their mask-wearing guests and workers.
Insiders estimate the line item for disinfectant-strength cleaning products is up 20% at hotels, and electrostatic cleaning machines are commonplace.
The shift is a cultural change for the industry, said Teri Agosta, general manager of the Hilton Cleveland Downtown.
"Safety and cleanliness have moved up to number one on the guest list," Agosta said. "The guest wants to see evidence of it. They want to see people cleaning. They want to see explanations about our precautions. In the past, you didn't want to see a housekeeper in the lobby. You didn't want to see someone wiping a window. Now guests want to see us wiping down chairs on their way in.
"Back in the day, you would never, never put a hand sanitizer in the lobby. Now we have six of them. Before the feeling was that it made it look like a hospital. However, that was before you would have thought to sanitize your hands after touching most public surfaces."
Operationally, she said, it means more people are seen working in the front of the house, and fewer are in the back of the house.
Nic DiLillo, general manager of the Crowne Plaza Cleveland at Playhouse Square, said cleaning standards may be much the same, but efforts to "overcommunicate" them are commonplace.
"We spent a lot of money on signs to show how often we are cleaning and to suggest only two patrons use an elevator at once unless it's a family or group already traveling together," DiLillo said. "If two strangers are in the same elevator, we suggest they stand diagonally opposite each other."
Such a measure is common among hotels. DiLillo said it has not been an issue because, between lower occupancy and the shortage of business travelers, there is less of a rush to leave the Crowne Plaza in the morning.
Families and local getaway customers accounting for much of this summer's business also leave at a variety of times, he said. Constant cleaning of elevator buttons as a common point of public contact became ubiquitous overnight as the pandemic hit.
The Hilton installed antimicrobial devices over its elevator buttons that provide a fresh film each time one is touched. Agosta did not know how much the installation cost but noted the 32-story building has 11 elevators.
Keeping a room unrented after a guest checks out also is common. The Schofield Hotel on East Ninth Street does not sell a room for three days after a guest exits, and the Crowne Plaza does the same.
Complying with such a goal is no challenge as the fall begins, for even with some resurgence over the summer, bookings are so low that some insiders believe many downtown hotels could let rooms sit dark two weeks without having to again use them for guests by simply renting different rooms.
Agosta said the Hilton does not follow such a practice. She said if the room is cleaned properly, it's ready to be sold immediately. Keeping a room out of circulation for the pandemic is, in the long view, not sustainable, she said.
After a room at the Hilton is cleaned, a sticker is put on the door to seal it until the next guest arrives, in a visible sign no one else has entered the room since it was cleaned. The TV remote goes into a plastic bag after it's disinfected.
The workday at hotels also has changed dramatically.
For example, at the Hilton, a thermometer automatically checks employees' temperatures as they show up for work. A washing station was installed at the employee entrance for staffers to wash their hands before they enter. The last step before getting to work is donning a mask.
"We call it Hilton one, two, three," Agosta said.
Partly because of furloughs and layoffs, and partly because of increased requirements for cleaning, remaining staffers are doubling up on jobs. Hotel sales execs, if they are still working, are serving as desk clerks. Sometimes a general manager is handling the traditional hotel night audit.
Anthony Cannistra, general manager of the Holiday Inn Express Cleveland Downtown, downplays the changing sheets side of things, saying it's his policy to work the floors and chip in where he can lend a hand.
Dan DeHoff, the Canton real estate developer who owns the Hilton Garden Inn Akron-Canton Airport in North Canton, said the desk clerk now handles cleaning around the hotel's pool.
"We all have to jump in," DeHoff said. "There's so much more to do, we all have to."
DeHoff said he believes added investments in cleanliness and safe operations will allow the hotel to attract more clients than otherwise, as well as maintain its room rates.
"I'd be lying if I said this did not have an impact on the (profits and losses)," DeHoff said. "We now take one family at a time in the shuttle to the airport. It's what you have to do to be safe. I'm more worried about the integrity of the hotel operation than anything. We're trying really hard to drive revenue and break even."
Another part of hotel operations suffering is the banquet and event business. Big conventions and shows are delaying their meetings. The Hilton Cleveland Downtown has had a few business meetings with about 10 members. It has even hosted two weddings, including one with 250 guests. That wedding used floating dance floors to allow for social distancing by locating them in five different sections of the ballroom.
The general expectation is that the group business will benefit from pent-up demand when normal social practices can be resumed, perhaps after a vaccine is developed and introduced.
Keith Siebenaler, the Schofield's general manager, said he is looking forward to 2021 because many weddings that might have been held this year have been delayed to next year.
Food service also has changed. Finding a hotel with complimentary breakfast, formerly a given, is now a prize, and grab-and-go options are common. Many hotel restaurants are closed for now, and limited-service hotels are at an advantage because they do not rely on an income stream from food and beverage.
Room service is no longer recognizable. When food is taken to rooms at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown, it goes in disposable containers, which means no dishware is in the halls. The hotel's Burnham Restaurant is closed, and Eliot's Bar there now serves food.
Since business travel is so limited, hotels, particularly downtown, now offer specials to woo customers out of their homes for a getaway, even if it's just a few miles from home. Such specials are typical for slow times, but significant today.
Even the Ritz-Carlton has some. For example, in early August it began offering "Your Space" for home-bound office workers to escape and use its high-speed internet. It also launched "Luxury Learning," which offers distance learning with a Cleveland theme for children staying at the hotel. The programs offer, respectively, an eight-hour use of a room and lunch at the hotel restaurant for "Your Space users," or cookies and milk for children.
Derek Kokinda, a Ritz-Carlton spokesman, said the offers are new for the Cleveland hotel, which has had "a surprisingly strong response to them," though he would not provide statistics.
"We've not done day bookings in the past, and we want to be nimble in times like these," Kokinda said.
At the Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center, an offer for a "spa-cation" includes a one-night stay that comes with a $50 gift certificate to the nearby Marengo Luxury Spa. The Marriott's remote office deal with a $99 day rate includes free parking and access to the on-site fitness center. It promises the day will be "stress-free" and "kid-free," with "100% productivity." The office offer also comes with two bottles of water and Marriott bonus points.
Likewise, small efforts in the market can make a difference. More than a few hotels have welcomed health care workers with special rates if they want to stay in a hotel rather than go home and risk infecting family or friends. Others, though, eschew that practice, fearing they might be tagged "a COVID-19 hotel."
Brian Smith, a partner in the new Tru by Hilton Cleveland Midtown, a limited-service hotel on Euclid Avenue, said changes in practices by hospitals have helped occupancy. For example, since family members were not visiting or spending the night with hospital patients, that produced additional room sales.
Adapting is still difficult, however.
DiLillo said he and other hoteliers are troubled by practices that are different from the way they have been schooled to be social in the business.
"For me as a lodging professional, it is hard not to be able to shake a guest's hand, look them in the eye and welcome them to the hotel or show them to an elevator," DiLillo said. "As a leader, it's challenging to muster the energy to feed our teams. That is easier when the city is electric with football or baseball games or major events."
The job losses sweeping the industry not only have an impact on people losing their positions, but the industry.
At the Hilton Cleveland Downtown, 178 workers were furloughed, first for six months and then, in July, indefinitely.
"It was a heart-wrenching time on a lot of levels," Agosta said. "You just can't deny that some people are not going to be in the hospitality business anymore."
Reporter Michelle Jarboe contributed to this story.
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