Hotel Taking Disinfection One Step Further with Guest Sanitation Booths

Hotels have undergone numerous cleaning protocol changes due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some have turned to new equipment and features such as robots, self-cleaning rooms, electrostatic disinfectant sprayers, and high-tech ultraviolet cleaning machines. Others have increased cleaning protocols for housekeepers to follow to help alleviate travelers’ safety concerns.

Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Golf and Spa Resort, located near downtown Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, is not only cleaning and disinfecting its rooms, but also its guests, European Cleaning Journal reports.

Every time guests arrive at the property they must enter a cabin—which resembles a glass telephone booth—where their temperature is taken. They then spin around twice as they are sprayed with an odorless sanitizing mist of antiseptics. Once the spray has finished, a light in the booth turns green and then guests can exit the booth. Guests’ luggage is sent through a separate external sanitation system.

Although the aim of the booths is to boost customer confidence during the pandemic, some experts are doubtful about their effectiveness. “Decontaminating surfaces is a start, and sanitation cabins can help with that,” said Yohann White, travel health specialist and immunologist based in Kingston, Jamaica. “But if you have already contracted the virus there is nothing you can do superficially to hasten its clearance.”

“While antimicrobial booths have become popular as a potential tool to help stop the spread of germs, facilities should focus on enforcing social distancing, mask wearing, handwashing, and the frequent disinfection of high-touch surfaces,” said Saskia Popescu, MD, an infectious disease epidemiologist.