Hyatt announced a Global Care & Cleanliness Commitment to further enhance its operational guidance and resources around colleague and guest safety. The multi-layered commitment will include an accreditation process by the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) at all hotels around the world, employee training and support resources, and a cross-functional working group of medical experts and industry professionals that will contribute to various aspects of the hotel experience.
Global Cleanliness Accreditation
In May 2020, Hyatt plans to introduce a GBAC STARTM accreditation through a performance-based cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention program that will focus on establishing hotel environments that are sanitary, safe and healthy. GBAC is a division of ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, and is composed of leaders in the area of microbial-pathogenic threat analysis and mitigation, designed specifically to deal with biological threats and real-time crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Hyatt is the first hospitality brand to announce plans to commit to GBAC STARTM accreditation which will include detailed training at more than 900 Hyatt hotels worldwide. Hyatt intends to complement this with regular internal and third-party auditing.
Hotel-Level Sanitization Specialists
Further, as part of Hyatt’s Global Care & Cleanliness Commitment, by September 2020, every Hyatt hotel will have at least one person on property trained as Hygiene Manager who will be responsible for their hotel adhering to new operational guidance and protocols, some of which may include:
- Employee certification, trainings and recertification process for hygiene and cleanliness
- Increased frequency of cleaning with hospital-grade disinfectants on all high-touch surfaces, guestrooms and shared spaces
- Implementation of enhanced food safety and hygiene protocols for restaurants, room service and group meetings and events
- Prominently placed hand sanitizer stations throughout hotel public and employee areas and entrances
- Exploring purification and sanitization device installation in an effort to ensure enhanced air quality
- Protective masks and other equipment for hotel colleagues
- Social distancing guidance in public areas across hotel properties
Cross-Functional Panel of Industry Experts and Professionals
Hyatt continues to engage additional medical experts and leading industry professionals as part of its commitment. The goal of the working group will be to provide counsel on key areas of Hyatt’s business, challenging Hyatt to act even more holistically in this new environment. Topic areas and advisors in discussion include: Health & Hygiene, Colleague Safety, Food & Beverage Safety, Travel Journey, Space Design, Technology and Wellbeing
