Benefits of a Serviced Apartment During this COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 Coronavirus has already had a large impact on the hotel industry and brought with it a huge amount of uncertainty. The first priority at this time is obviously the safety of guests and staff. However, serviced apartments are much safer than hotels, in regards to keeping social distance.
Here are 4 reasons why a serviced apartment is much better than a hotel during this crisis:
1. You are in control of your own space
Serviced apartments come with a lot more space, basically a home away from our home.
They have all the modern amenities you could ever need. Once you book in, you are totally in control of your own apartment; movement, schedule and the best thing is the meal preparations.
You have a whole fully equipped kitchen to prepare your own meals, helping to obey the social distancing rule.
2. You can work and live
Serviced apartments have amenities that enable you to live and work at the same time; a perfect balance of both business and pleasure.
There are board rooms you can conduct business in, away from distractions. And you can still utilize the space in your apartment for some quiet study or work time.
Keeping in mind the causes of transmission, here are a number of safety measures we have put in place to ensure our guest’s safety:
- Everyone to wear masks (possibly including guest in public spaces). There is a growing amount of evidence that this considerably reduces transmission.
- A ‘no contact’ rule between staff or staff and guests
- Keeping 1.5m distance between people – this means reducing the capacity at shared spaces like pool, restaurant.
3. Sanitization
We have placed sanitizer at strategic places and signage to remind associates to wash hands
- Guest Rooms: Housekeeping Steward to adhere to cleaning and disinfecting SOPs to clean rooms after guests depart and before the next guest arrives, with particular attention paid to high-touch items.
- Public Spaces: Public Area stewards have increased the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting in public spaces, with a focus on the counter at the front desk, elevators (and elevator buttons), door handles, public bathrooms.
- Back of House: Increase the frequency of cleaning focusing on high-touch areas like entrances, changing rooms, laundry rooms, and staff offices.
4. Temperature Check
All visitors and staff are checked before accessing the facility. Your health and safety is our number one priority.
- We are aware and informed
- We are prepared
- We are safe
- We are taking every measure to make sure that our facility is safe.
What to Use to Disinfect Surfaces at Home
You might think that you are safe inside the house, but there are so many surfaces in your home that could be harbouring germs. Social distancing and washing your hands frequently is one of the best steps you can take, but the virus can still cling to surfaces you carry with you into your sanctuaries, like your clothes, shoes, debit card and even your phone
Cleaning products like Clorox, Lysol, Microban, hydrogen peroxide and Maquat products to sanitize all the surfaces in your home are greatly advocated for. Make sure you focus on cleaning all the doorknobs, countertops and other high-traffic areas during your deep clean.
Here are five ways to keep your home sanitized from the coronavirus, and other areas and items you should disinfect:
· Use disinfectant wipes to quickly clean down surfaces
Think about the things you touch multiple times a day -doorknobs, sinks, cabinet handles, refrigerator doors, and remote controls – and how many germs are lingering on those surfaces that you may not think about. Since home is where you’re most relaxed, you may not be as militant about washing your hands in your own space as you are in public places.
To keep the germs at bay, use a disinfectant wipe, like Clorox Wipes, Lysol Wipes or Purell Wipes, to quickly sanitize those areas. Once or twice a day should do the trick to remove germs, but if someone in your house is sick, you may want to wipe down surfaces more frequently. After you wipe the area, let it air dry to give it time to kill any bacteria that could linger.
· Clean surfaces with a disinfectant spray
For areas like your couch and carpet that can’t be wiped down, you can use a disinfectant spray, like Lysol, to go after unseen germs. Spray in a sweeping motion to cover the entire surface, then let it completely dry before sitting down or walking on the surface.
You can also spray down countertops, mattresses and tables. If you’re out of wipes, you can also aim your disinfecting spray into a paper towel to wipe down sink handles and other smaller surfaces.
· Use a bleach mixture to clean floors
Your shoes step on a lot of gross stuff during the day and if you don’t take them off when you come into the house, you could track in viruses and other germs. To clean the floors in your kitchen and bathroom, the CDC recommends using 1 cup of bleach mixed with 5 gallons of water to mop your floors.
Note that you’ll need to use a different disinfectant for porous floors – for example, if you use bleach on hardwood, it can remove the stain colour. Instead, use a disinfecting wet mop cloth on your hardwood floors or combine half a cup of white vinegar and 1 gallon of water.
· Clean up with hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide isn’t only effective for whitening teeth — in fact, the CDC says that 3% hydrogen peroxide was able to inactivate rhinovirus within eight minutes. When you pour the substance directly on surfaces like your sink, countertops or toilets, you’ll need to let it soak for around 10 to 15 minutes. This will give it time to completely do its job. After you let it sit, scrub the area and then rinse with water.
It’s also safe to clean your toothbrush with hydrogen peroxide since the bristles can harbour bacteria.
Other household items you should consider disinfecting:
· Your computer keyboard and mouse
· Speakers
· TV remote and TV buttons
· All frequently used electronics, like tablets and phones·
Debit cards
These are crazy times. Stay safe everyone🕊
(Information found on www.cnet.com)
Basic Hygiene Guidelines during Self-Isolation
The outdoors aren’t such a safe place anymore and its proving difficult for a lot of people to cope. Some are not taking the gravity of the matter at hand seriously and are still moving around unnecessarily and unprotected. To stand a chance at defeating the coronavirus, we have to be united. We have to obey the rules and recommended hygiene practices. It’s all about teamwork. If you can’t observe these guidelines for you, at least do it for the people around you that you care about.
Take care of your health and protect others by doing the following:
- Wash your hands
Clean your hands regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water. Washing your hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on your hands.
- Maintain social distancing
Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing. When someone coughs or sneezes they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain the virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease.
- Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth.
Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Once contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth. From there, the virus can enter your body and can make you sick.
- Practice respiratory hygiene
Make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene. This means covering your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the used tissue immediately. Droplets spread the virus. By following good respiratory hygiene you protect the people around you from viruses such as cold, flu and COVID-19.
- If you have fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical care early
Stay home if you feel unwell. If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention and call in advance. Follow the directions of your local health authority.
- Stay informed and follow the advice given by your healthcare provider
Follow the advice given by your healthcare provider, your international, national and local public health authority or your employer on how to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. International and local authorities will have the most up to date information on whether COVID-19 is spreading in your area. They are best placed to advise on what people in your area should be doing to protect themselves.
The coronavirus is not a death sentence. Most people who become infected experience mild illness and recover, but it can be more severe for others. Do not take any risks. Your health is in your hands.
