Increased hygiene standards in all areas

"The safety, protection and well-being of our guests is our top priority," says hotel manager Peer Höhle. In close coordination with the authorities, the responsible persons have developed a comprehensive hygiene concept for the hotel and adapted the code of conduct to the current requirements. In the public areas, floor markings and partitiondiscs (e.g. at the reception) ensure a guest contact with distance. Wearing a mouth and nose protection is mandatory and disinfection dispensers are available throughout the house to implement hand hygiene. In the restaurants, too, the food on offer has been adapted to legal requirements. The visitor control is carried out by predetermined running paths, the service to the guest with protective gloves and buffet offers for self-service are dispensed with. In busy areas of the hotel, cleanliness standards have been raised once again. Here, the hotel relies on shortened cleaning cycles, during which "focal points" such as handrails, door handles, elevator buttons and fittings are cleaned more often with disinfectant. An extended hygiene concept also applies in the guest rooms, which complements the existing cleaning standards with additional disinfection measures. In the in-house laundry, all hotel linen is washed and processed according to the guidelines of the Robert Koch Institute. 

"All our employees were trained on the new hygiene and disinfection measures," says Peer Höhle. The hotel received a lot of support from its long-standing hygiene partner Ecolab. Not only the training and individualized work schedules for hygiene measures and behaviors were particularly helpful, but also the provided dosing equipment with cleaning- and disinfectant products. "These systems have the great advantage that they always dose the products in the right amount, which is particularly important right now, so that the disinfectant can act," says Dennis Odenthal of Ecolab, who oversees the hotel as a Territory Manager. The KitchenPro Oxy system has proved very successful in the current situation: the hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectant cleans and disinfects in one step and has a broad range of efficacy. "The product is suitable for a wide range of surfaces. With the practical KitchenPro Oxy Wipes, you can quickly use a ready-to-use cloth to disinfect critical surfaces such as the remote control, jack, light switch or ballpointpen." The Nexa hand hygiene system, which provides germ-killing products in non-contact dosing dispensers, ensures effective hand hygiene for guests and employees.

After the re-start in mid-May, the number of hotel accommodations in Willingen is slowly rising. "The guests still have information deficits, because every federal state has different rules. In addition, many are still afraid of getting infected and do not accept the prescribed distance regulations," Says Peer Höhle, describing the current, not-so-simple situation. The hotel hopes for a gradual recovery in the private individual guest area, but also has high hopes for the B2B business: With 36 seminar and meeting rooms as well as large congress center of up to 2,200 sqm, this is an essential pillar and generates more than two thirds of the entire business. "We also hope that the Germans will spend their holidays in their own country, as our hotel offers a wide range of opportunities and leisure activities here."