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Wyndham Destinations Asia Pacific has finalised new rigorous, industry-leading health and cleanliness protocols developed in partnership with global hygiene experts to provide confidence to guests and timeshare owners staying at its Club Wyndham South Pacific and Club Wyndham Asia resorts.

The overhaul of hygiene practices will make use of Ecolab’s hospital-grade disinfectants to clean high-traffic areas, provide guests greater access to hand sanitiser, redesign common areas for social distancing and tighten housekeeping procedures. It comes as Wyndham Destinations Asia Pacific gets ready for a staged reopening of 35 properties in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia and Thailand to guests and members of Club Wyndham South Pacific, the Asia Pacific’s leading timeshare club.

“Our operations team chose to go back to the drawing board and rethink how we can ensure every interaction and space at our resorts conforms to the highest standards of hygiene,” said Wyndham Destinations Asia Pacific’s Vice President of Operations, Warren Cullum. “We considered everything from guest check-in, use of resort amenities, housekeeping and other obvious examples of contact to more subtle interactions, like the way keys are handed between staff.

“The health and safety of our guests and timeshare members has always been our top priority and the pandemic has really vindicated that approach. Our post-COVID-19 methods are permanent measures that will ensure our teams create a safe environment while making hygiene a customer-friendly experience, rather than it feeling intrusive or awkward.”

To develop the standards, Wyndham Destinations Asia Pacific worked alongside parent company Wyndham Destinations – the world’s largest vacation ownership and exchange company – and cleaning industry expert Ecolab, which has nearly 100 years of experience in assisting hospitality, public health, food safety and hygiene services.

Specific protocols include:

Check-in and check-out

  • Suite keys are thoroughly sanitised and disinfected before they are given to guests or vacation owners
  • At selected resorts, online check-in, keyless entry into rooms through mobile phone or drive-through check-ins are being introduced

Cleaning products

  • Hospital-grade disinfectants from Ecolab will be used in all cleaning 

Public areas

  • Hospital-grade disinfectants will be frequently used to cleanse high touch areas across the resort, including touchscreens, handles, hand railings and elevator buttons
  • Common areas will be rearranged so that furniture placement reflects social distancing standards
  • Indicators will be set out for social distancing
  • Buffets will be removed at restaurants and cafes
  • Sanitising stations and disinfectant wipes will be placed strategically in common spaces for guests to use
  • Resort staff will have access to personal protective equipment and will be required to wear it if it is a local requirement
  • Masks will be available for guests and vacation owners on request 

Housekeeping

  • Housekeeping staff will be assigned a partner and the pair will work together all day to minimise contact between different people
  • They will conduct a visual inspection of rooms first, remove all dirty material including linens and sheets, then work through room zones in a specific order
  • Protective gloves and cloths will be changed as they move from zone to zone
  • Surfaces will be cleaned with hospital-grade disinfectants from Ecolab

Behind the scenes, resort staff will have an in-house health check every morning. New procedures have also been created for staff interactions, from a cap on the number of people using lunchrooms at once to how shared phones and keys are to be cleaned.

Additionally, while resorts are closed, Wyndham Destinations Asia Pacific has fast-tracked a mammoth operation to ‘deep clean’ more than 1,200 Club Wyndham South Pacific rooms, while 206 more will undergo extensive cleaning as part of refurbishments. A deep clean involves carrying out all maintenance, tidying and sanitisation required to bring the room to as-new condition.

Wyndham Destinations Asia Pacific manages a collection of properties across the Asia Pacific, some of which are mixed-use hotel and timeshare developments. It also serves almost 71,000 vacation owners who are part of Club Wyndham South Pacific and Club Wyndham Asia.

Its vacation club rooms are typically multi-room apartments that provide generous living spaces and separate bedrooms, allowing guests to spread out. Many feature full kitchens so that travellers can prepare their own meals, while resort restaurants, cafes and bars will relaunch with an expanded range of takeaway and room service options.

In June, and subject to government travel conditions, Wyndham Destinations Asia Pacific will start a staged reopening of two resorts in New Zealand and 12 resorts in Australia. All will be opened at a limited capacity initially.