The Post-Pandemic Hotel Looks a Lot Like a Cruise Ship
Incessant pleas for hand-washing, pre-reserved dining times, all-inclusive pricing: Welcome to the contact-less, germ-less hotel stay.
Source: Perry Lane Hotel
If you’ve ever sailed aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise, a song lurks deep within your subconscious: a kiddie-style earworm about washing your hands that loops endlessly in the buffet entrance and on in-room TVs.
“Wash your hands, like 50 times a day,” the tune goes, imploring passengers—with a cartoon octopus cleaning its multitude of hands—to do what it takes to avoid a norovirus outbreak, or worse. It’s far from the ambient music of a five-star hotel, whose in-room TVs are more likely to feature swells of orchestral strings. But it’s what’s necessary to keep 6,000-plus passengers from inadvertently fueling a public health fire.