Travel and leisure companies planning and hoping for the return of business are working to make sure customers feel safe.
That confidence can’t be instilled only through advertising and messaging, executives say. It also depends on the customer experience, including what people can see with their own eyes.
“It’s about communicating the cleanliness factor optically,” said Janis Cannon, senior vice president of upscale brands for Choice Hotels International Inc., a franchiser whose hotels range from budget to high-end.
The company has instructed its housekeeping staff, who typically work overnight, to clean the lobby during more highly trafficked hours “so that people know those spaces are being constantly cleaned and maintained,” she said.
Ms. Cannon also said the company’s Cambria Hotels is refreshing its interior palette with brighter, pastel colors to present an added hygienic impression. These measures aimed at boosting consumer confidence come as the company sees an opportunity in scaling back amenities like hot breakfast options—with prepackaged breakfast as an alternative—to meet local food-service requirements and help defray costs of new cleaning standards.
Though some states have started reopening their economies in phases, residents are stepping out with caution. About six in 10 consumers who haven’t engaged with out-of-home activities due to the pandemic surveyed by McKinsey & Co. said the lifting of restrictions by the government isn’t the only prerequisite to regularly going out. They want to make sure that medical authorities have deemed it safe to go out, indoor places are taking safety measures and other people are stepping out as well, according to the survey, conducted in mid-May. Another 19% said they would only resume outside activities when a vaccine or treatment for Covid-19 is available.
The appeal for a parade of hygiene extends to any business that takes visitors. Houston resident Allyn Madison, who bought her first
Six Flags
Entertainment Corp. season pass last fall, said she would feel reassured if she sees door knobs and tables actively being cleaned as guests visit the park.
“I know that it would make myself and my friends feel better,” said Ms. Madison, 24 years old.
Six Flags said it will reopen its Frontier City park in Oklahoma starting June 5. To limit crowd size, Six Flags will require customers to register in advance to visit its parks and watch a Six Flags video about social-distancing and sanitizing procedures.
When
United Airlines Holdings Inc.
passengers check their bags, they see
Clorox Co.
’s logo on the counter, the result of a partnership between the companies.
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.
has partnered with
Reckitt Benckiser Group
PLC, which owns Lysol, to provide disinfecting wipes for guests in rooms and public areas.
Travel and leisure companies are also using advertising to communicate messages of safety. The hotel-search company
Trivago
NV has been fielding demand from travel-related companies that want to placate consumers’ worries, according to Chief Executive Axel Hefer.
“They want to signal why their recommendation is a safe place to travel and what they are doing to make it safe,” Mr. Hefer said.
But what happens once people do venture out will matter at least as much.
The cruise industry was among those that took an early hit in the health crisis, with
Carnival Corp.
’s Diamond Princess ship in Yokohama, Japan, becoming an outbreak site in February. The outbreak eventually stamped cruise ships’ reputation as petri dishes for Covid-19.
To repair that image, smaller competitor
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.
touts that it is heeding the advice of former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb on developing health protocols.
“People need to regain confidence in the cruise industry and our ability to keep them healthy,” Norwegian Chief Executive Frank Del Rio said on an investor call earlier this month.
Some cruise operators have begun establishing cleanliness and social-distancing measures for when ships resume sailing. Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection Inc., whose destinations include China, Italy, Egypt and Peru, will have security guards constantly wipe the railings as passengers board the ship and the restaurant crew clean tables before each group of guests sits down to show cleaning in action during the day, said President and Chief Executive Ellen Bettridge. The company said it will wipe credit-card machines after each PIN entry.
Restaurants also need to demonstrate that their employees are adopting more stringent health standards, said Jim Coyle, president of customer-experience consulting firm Coyle Hospitality. Mr. Coyle said his clients are seeking to minimize the number of bussers handling a table’s orders, hiring new sanitation supervisors and making clear that employees’ temperatures are checked before they go to work.
Still, many important sanitation practices will be hard to demonstrate visually, Mr. Coyle said, as a lot happens out of customers’ sight.
“There’s always the swinging door of the kitchen, which no one ever looks into,” Mr. Coyle said.
Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
Axel Hefer is chief executive of Trivago. An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to him as Alex Hefer. (Corrected on May 26)
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