Protocol for hotels in the post-COVID era in Italy

Phase 2 of the coronavirus crisis is underway in Italy and among the most talked about measures are those related to the hotel and accommodation sector, one of the most affected by the health emergency. This sector therefore must study solutions to be able to resume tourism activities with maximum safety. 

As part of the guidelines for phase 2, Federalberghi, the trade association representing the interests of hotel companies in Italy, as well as Confindustria (General Confederation of Italian Industry) and Assohotel have sent a national protocol document on prevention against the spread of COVID-19 in accommodation facilities to the Government and the regional authorities in Italy. The initiative is known as "Accoglienza Sicura" (safe reception).

This document identifies the essential steps to ensure effective measures to prevent the spread of the virus in order to protect the health of guests and staff and to achieve the necessary balance to ensure the provision of the service in safe and sustainable conditions, while avoiding distorting its characteristics.

The intent is to develop a mode of operating common to all accommodation facilities that allows the resumption of activities in compliance with the rules and prevention measures. 

"We need to guarantee and also be guaranteed so that we can reopen our facilities and make our guests feel protected as if they were at home," Federalberghi President Bernabò Bocca specified.  "Precisely for this reason, in the delicate drafting of the national protocol, we relied on third parties, i.e. Italian and foreign professionals who, with their respective skills, could identify the safest way to allow the activities of the accommodation sector to reopen with the right conditions. Our hope, for our collaborators and for the Italians themselves, is that the result of the joint effort of the operators in the sector will be functional to the will and urgency to restart as soon as possible".

In particular, the protocol was drawn up by a task force set up at the initiative of Federalberghi, made up of Italian and foreign entrepreneurs and managers with the help of health and safety consultants and under the supervision of Prof. Pierluigi Viale of the University of Bologna, director of the Infectious Disease Operations Unit at the Policlinico di S. Orsola. The Italian Red Cross and representatives of hotel companies and territorial associations of hoteliers have also collaborated with the Civil Protection and the National Health System to provide accommodation solutions for health workers and volunteers involved in the management of the emergency as well as people in quarantine in recent months.