Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
Your industry news - first
The original and best - for over 20 years!
We strongly recommend viewing Cleanzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.
Welcome to the Cleanzine
The original Cleaning & Hygiene industry e-news
Read by industry professionals in 163 countries worldwide
Although it's probably not for the last time, the UK's on its way out of lockdown while other countries are at various stages of the process, like ocean waves hitting the shore. The hospitality and entertainment industries have suffered enormously over the past year and I can't see things improving with everything so volatile and no-one seemingly knowing for sure what's going to happen from one day to the next. I'd hate to be responsible for organising or specifying cleaning services for hotels, restaurants, pubs and the like as it's impossible to predict just what's needed, where and when. Likewise, airlines and airports... while one country may be considered safe today, it could be a different story tomorrow, which makes cleaning virtually impossible to plan as you have no idea how many passengers or visitors you're likely to need to clean for - if any.
A UK friend has started taking Airbnb bookings for this year. Having stayed in several Airbnb's myself and thus fully aware that cleanliness is very much at the mercy of the hosts' own standards, I wondered what my friend might mean by claiming to clean her place to Airbnb's 'enhanced cleaning protocol's 5-step process' between guests. As this is something all hosts must do to prevent Covid-19's spread, I decided to investigate and was pleasantly surprised...
I wasn't able to discover which experts helped Airbnb develop its cleaning handbook but having read the publication they've certainly thought things through and - as long as hosts adhere to the process, their homes are likely to be far cleaner than some I've experienced. There are even comprehensive room-by-room cleaning checklists to follow.
The five steps: Prepare... Clean... Sanitise... Check... Reset... include a wealth of useful tips which I can imagine are invaluable to those from a non-cleaning background. These include points such as ventilating the space, wearing PPE which should be disposed of after the clean and the emptying of vacuum cleaners and cleaning of equipment - including product containers - between guests. It emphasises the need to use appropriate products and to read and carefully follow directions, as well as to observe dwell times. Other points that may not occur to the layperson include not flitting between sanitised and non-sanitised rooms and to finish cleaning completely before washing hands and replacing gloves before replenishing guest supplies. If I ran Airbnb, I'd insist that these instructions are in place forever more. It would make a huge difference and with everyone's expectations higher than they were a year ago, may just help that part of the hospitality sector back onto its feet.
You can also follow us on Twitter @cleanzine
Yours,
8th April 2021