What it’s like to stay in a hotel in the COVID age
Lesson summary
Hi there, welcome once more to Plain English, this time for lesson number 295. That means you can find this full lesson at PlainEnglish.com/295. JR’s the producer of Plain English. He’s been holding things together here while I’ve been away.
Speaking of being away, today’s lesson is about the experience of staying in a hotel in the age of COVID. It’s a bit different than before. Since I just spent some nights in hotels, I wanted to share some of the differences with you in today’s lesson. The expression is “go by” and we have a song of the week.
Changes in hotel stays during COVID
The hospitality industry is starting to open for business once again, but the experience of staying in a hotel, at least in the United States, is not exactly the same as it was pre-pandemic. But people are traveling. To put things in perspective, the average hotel occupancy in the United States is typically between 70 and 75 percent in July; this past July, it was 47 percent. Although that was well below normal, that’s higher than I imagined and it means business and leisure travelers are getting away from home, at least domestically.
I was one of the people staying in a hotel for leisure travel in late August and early September. I spent about 12 days on the road, traveling from my home in Chicago out to Yellowstone National Park and back again, stopping in a mixture of very small towns and medium-sized cities. I stayed in some budget hotels, some medium-quality hotels, and one nice downtown hotel in Denver. Here’s what’s different about staying in a hotel post-COVID.
First off, the registration desk usually has a plexiglass barrier between the guest and the front-desk workers. Other than that, the check-in process is mostly the same: you still have to hand your identification to a hotel worker and swipe a credit card. They hand a plastic key to you. Most front desk workers were using gloves and changing them with every guest interaction.
Next up, the elevators—and this is one of the most frustrating things. Most hotels I was at had a rule saying that only one party could be in the elevator at once. That means, if you’re traveling alone, it’s just you in the elevator. If you’re with a partner or a family, it would be just your family in the elevator. The trouble is that elevators are not programmed for this. A person staying on a high floor descending to the lobby will stop frequently on the way down because other people have pressed the down button. But when the doors open, nobody can get inside. If you’re on middle floor, you might have to wait for several elevators to go by before you can get in. This wasn’t more than a slight annoyance where I was staying, but I imagine that this would be quite frustrating in a bigger hotel with a lot of floors. If you get a choice, ask for a low floor so you can take the stairs during peak hours.
Things are mostly the same inside the room. One hotel I stayed at removed the in-room coffee machine. Another wrapped the television remote control in plastic. Another hotel placed a sticker over the door to indicate the room had been cleaned and sealed—in other words, to prove nobody had entered since it was last cleaned. Other than those small details, the rooms themselves were the same.
The biggest change is that no hotel offered housekeeping during my stay. Of course, the room is clean and freshly prepared when you arrive, but if you stay for two or more nights, you do not get a visit from a housekeeper during your stay, as you normally would. If you need specific service, such as additional towels, you can request it. But the daily housekeeping is gone. At first, I didn’t like this change. I like coming back to a room that’s well organized, clean, with the bed made for me, and the towels folded. However, I do recognize this is a bit of a waste: nobody makes my bed for me at home, so I think I can make my own bed in a hotel. If I had to bet, I would say the hotels will probably keep this model in the future, even after the pandemic passes, to save on labor costs and energy.
Breakfast is often included in some lower-priced hotels in the US. I stayed in a few budget hotels when I was just outside Yellowstone—very basic, budget-friendly hotels. In normal times, they offer a limited breakfast buffet of cereal, bread, fruit and such. In these hotels, they instead offered bagged breakfasts with pre-packaged muffins fruit cups. This was a disappointment: it was worse than the normal breakfast these cheaper hotels offered. In the medium-quality hotels I stayed in, they offered a hot breakfast buffet as usual, but they had attendants serving the food. The days of individual guests scooping their own scrambled eggs and selecting their own fruit seem to be gone.
Needless to say, masks are required in common areas. A few other small changes: The pools and fitness centers are open, with capacity limits. There seemed to be fewer people resting or hanging out in the lobby. At check-out, you drop your plastic key into a basket instead of handing it to a person. Ice machines in some hotels were disabled; in others, just a single ice machine was operational.
Some of this was just theater: the stickers over the door and the remote controls wrapped in plastic don’t seem to serve any purpose of stopping the virus. Others, such as limits on elevator rides, will probably be temporary. But as I mentioned, I do think hotels will take this opportunity to cut back on housekeeping during a stay even after the pandemic passes.
Return to travel
It felt a little strange to be traveling again, to be honest. Pre-COVID, I used to spend two, three, sometimes five nights a week in hotels as I worked for clients. But this was the first time I stayed in a hotel since March, which is a long time for me. There was definitely a mix of people on vacation and others working. We still have to be careful about the virus, but it’s good to see people out again, going about their business.
Hey, if you have been to a hotel recently, make sure to tell me in our free Facebook group. Start a post and tell me about your experiences. If you’re not yet in our Facebook group, you can always join by visiting PlainEnglish.com/Facebook.
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