The travel and hospitality industry were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic due to flight restrictions, a sharp decline in business and leisure travel and growing fears around the spread of the virus. Thankfully, the industry is poised to recover as vaccinations continue and people become more eager to travel again. Some hotels have even started successfully hosting events and conventions again.

In fact, in a recent survey from the Global Business Travel Association, three out of four respondents answered that they expected to attend an in-person meeting or event in Q2 or Q3 of 2021. Moving forward, hotels should expect much higher volumes of foot traffic than they have been dealing with throughout the pandemic. When hosting events, properties need an effective strategy in place for maintaining carpet. Read on to learn how to keep high-traffic carpet areas clean.

High-traffic Traveling Will Return

In a survey from Trip Advisor, 74% of respondents answered that they intend to take at least one domestic leisure trip in 2021. Furthermore, 89% of respondents from the Global Business Travel Association survey answered that they are set to attend an in-person business meeting or event in 2021. While virtual events will continue to be popular in the short term, more in-person events will return as confidence continues to increase among event hosts and attendees.

Notably, in a recent Harris Poll, 28% of participants answered that the level of cleanliness in a hotel would impact their decision to book a future event at the property. Consequently, this means that hotels will be facing the challenge of adapting their cleaning programs to satisfy guests’ and visitors’ heightened concerns for cleanliness in the context of high-traffic events.

Furthermore, the best defense that hotels can adopt is to pay special attention to areas of the hotel that receive high-levels of foot-traffic, such as the lobby, event spaces, hallways, dining areas and casinos (if applicable).

How to Clean High-traffic Carpet Areas

Carpeting is one of the first things people see when they enter a hotel. Because carpeting is used throughout many different areas, visitors encounter carpet nearly everywhere they go inside a hotel. Carpet for high-traffic areas can be prone to more frequent soiling if proper care is not a priority. Maintenance is essential for proving and showcasing cleanliness to guests and event attendees.

Consider the following tips for cleaning and maintaining carpet throughout your property ahead of and during high-traffic events.

• Assess high-traffic areas – Events like conferences, weddings, award banquets and fundraisers result in high foot traffic throughout hotels. Facility managers should take the time to consider where these high-traffic areas are and adapt cleaning schedules accordingly. Carpet in these areas will need attention ahead of, during and after events.
• Install carpet matting – Installing carpet matting at hotel entrances and exits helps decrease the amount of dirt, mud and other grime being tracked throughout a facility. Mats should have scraping features to remove soils and moisture from shoes and be able to hold this moisture without it seeping onto floors.
• Conduct carpet care regularly – Regular carpet care helps preserve the lifespan of carpet, in addition to showcasing a clean facility. The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) recommends vacuuming high-traffic areas daily. Additionally, the CRI also recommends that medium-traffic areas are vacuumed twice weekly and light-traffic areas once weekly. Conducting low-moisture encapsulation frequently further removes soils that can negatively impact the look of carpet.
• Address spills as they happen – Most events are catered by hotel properties, increasing the risk of food and drink spills onto floors. Spills not only cause damage to carpet but can also give visitors a poor impression of a facility if they become permanent stains. Training hotel staff to be vigilant is key, as they can alert cleaning staff if they discover a spill during an event.
• Use high-quality chemistry and equipment – Poor-quality chemistry and equipment do not just produce sub-par cleaning results; they can also compromise a carpet’s integrity by leaving a buildup of sticky residue. High-quality chemistry and equipment help protect a carpet’s color and appearance and, more importantly, provide a much more efficient and high-quality clean.

The Importance of Carpet Care

As businesses and individuals shift back to planning in-person events and conventions for the future, hotels will need to prioritize carpet care. This is because of the larger aesthetic role that a hotel’s surroundings, including carpet, now plays in presenting cleanliness to guests and visitors. The heightened public awareness and concern with the cleanliness and safety of facilities means that people will need more assurance of cleanliness than before. More importantly, this means that hotels will need to be more strategic about the way they approach facility cleaning and maintenance, making sure that they are prepared for the high-traffic events that are sure to return and revitalize the industry.

Is your hotel looking for a better way to maintain high-traffic carpet? Learn about Whittaker’s Smart Care® TWIN and TRIO low-moisture encapsulation machines and CRYSTAL® chemistry. Contact us at 800.422.7686 or sales@whittakersystem.com today!