Hoteliers work hard to create a unique guest experience and achieve the ultimate goal of acquiring a happy and satisfied customer. As a "home away from home," hotels are expected to ensure a pleasant and safe environment for guests and staff. That includes good indoor air quality which is something fundamental to our health and well-being.
The pandemic has boosted awareness about the importance of indoor environments. For most people pre-COVID-19, the term air quality applied to outdoor air quality issues, such as smog or haze. Due to the pandemic, indoor air quality and its possible adverse health effects have emerged as a key topic for many people. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, only 5% of business travelers ranked health and safety as the most important factor when booking a trip vs. 40% during the pandemic.
We have compiled four reasons why hotels should start monitoring and communicating their air quality:1. Improved Guest Experience
Hotel guests spend a large amount of their stay either sleeping or otherwise occupying their rooms. For hotels, air quality is about more than temperature and humidity; it is also about indoor contaminants that could cause discomfort such as drowsiness and induce serious health effects.
While pre-COVID-19 guests who experienced poor indoor air quality during their stay may have chosen not to return or leave a negative online review, post-COVID-19 guests want to be reassured before and during their stay that the air they breathe is safe and does not increase the risk of being contaminated.
The ability to prove to guests that the air they breathe is healthy can instill confidence to stay at a hotel and increase the hotel's reputation in the industry and among potential guests.
2. Increase Operating Efficiency
Did you ever stay in a hotel room that smelled stuffy? That room might have experienced mold growth within the enclosed environment because of high humidity and non-sufficient air ventilation. This proves that poor air quality can influence the guest experience and lead to higher renovation and reactive maintenance costs.
Especially now that many rooms have been idle for a long time, hoteliers must monitor their air quality to reduce the risk of them remaining unused and incurring damages due to mold for example. A centralized air quality monitoring system can save hotels costs and resources, as it can increase the quality of the manual checks of rooms done by maintenance teams.
By monitoring and measuring the hotel's air quality, facility managers can take proactive measures before poor air quality leads to costly property damage and lower building quality.
3. Staff Productivity
Poor indoor air quality can also have adverse effects on the staff. For example cleaning supplies, solvents from freshly painted walls, and furniture all increase the levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC), which can have adverse health effects.
Symptoms from VOC exposure can include lower concentration and productivity, which can also negatively affect the guest experience. Low air quality can cause headaches, dry eyes and throats, dizziness, and tiredness.
4. Drive Bookings
A recent survey found that 91% of consumers believe that IAQ is important in the prevention of COVID-19 spread. 77% of consumers said proof of a hotel’s IAQ would impact their decision on where to stay, 52% said they would pay more to stay at a hotel with better IAQ and 76% said a rating system on the IAQ of a building—similar to restaurant ratings—would help them feel better about entering that building.
Addressing indoor air quality can serve as the “tip of the spear” for a larger and much-needed modernization that would make the hotel industry much more streamlined, agile and resilient, the report suggested.
Conclusion
As we can see, there are four crucial reasons why monitoring and improving air quality can positively impact a hotel’s performance and the health and safety of guests and staff. It can improve the employees’ working conditions and even bring back guests into the hotels by instilling confidence. Furthermore, it can support the hotel in saving costs and resources by reducing the time used for manually checking idle rooms, and it can alert about problems that are not visible to the human eye before it is too late.
Did you know? The average human takes 25,000 breaths each day. Let’s make them count for you and your guests. Visit our website today to learn more about how we can improve the IAQ inside your hotel.