Designed for all travelers but especially suited to guests with asthma, allergies and other respiratory sensitivities, the Respire by Hyatt ─ Hypo-Allergenic
Rooms, powered by PURE Solutions NA, are designed to eliminate up to 98 percent of airborne viruses and bacteria, as well as pollen and other irritants commonly found in indoor environments.
Hyatt has promised to have Respire by Hyatt rooms in all of their U.S., Canada and Caribbean hotels by the end of 2010. Currently, more than 60 Hyatts already have these super clean rooms. In total, Hyatt wants approximately 2,000 Respire rooms at 125 of their full-service properties.
For more:Â Â http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Hypo-Allergenic%20Hotels
Category Archives: Training
Hotel Industry Guest Health Issues: Hotels Are Increasingly Adding “Hypo-Allergenic Rooms” That Eliminate Up To “98% Of Airborne Viruses And Other Irritants”
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Filed under Guest Issues, Health, Maintenance, Training
Hotel Industry Employee Wage Issues: Employee Unions Plan To Use Threat Of Strikes To Put Pressure On Hotel Management To Negotiate Wage Contracts Acceptable To Both Sides As Industry Recovers
The scene looks much the same among union hotel workers: bold employers, drawn-out bargaining, and unions launching intermittent short strikes to keep up pressure. Hilton 
is now UNITE HERE’s target because the union judges that company most likely to move—a shift in strategy after months of rolling strikes and pickets against the Hyatt chain.
The union hopes to establish a pattern at the bargaining table with Hilton that other hotels will follow.
Chicago hotel workers authorized strikes at four Hilton-owned or -operated properties. They struck the Hilton Chicago for three days in October, coordinating with Hilton workers in Honolulu and San Francisco. Those strikes ended October 19, but more may be on the way.
Workers in Toronto took advantage of the Toronto International Film Festival in September to gain visibility for their struggle. Rolling one-day strikes at three hotels, including festival headquarters, caused actors Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez to join the boisterous picket line. The blare of vuvuzelas added to picket-line noise.
Workers rolled out a red carpet and offered passersby the opportunity to have their photo taken with a hotel worker. Inside, workers spotted the housekeeping manager doing bell work.
Six additional one-day strikes have cascaded through Toronto hotels since the film festival. And 500 workers walked out of the Delta Chelsea, a large downtown conference hotel, on October 28. Delta Chelsea workers say they’ll stay out for two weeks.
Cristal Cruz-Haicken of UNITE HERE Local 75 said the two-week strike was necessary because “they weren’t even taking us seriously†at the bargaining table.
Unstable work schedules and job security are a serious problem. Feliz Serrano, a server, said he has worked there 30 years and still usually only gets 30 hours of work a week, but only if he works six days in a row.
Room attendant Jian Ying Liu said the hotel has tried to get rid of her three times because of injuries she received in her 18 years of work there.
Several conferences immediately moved because of the strike.
LOCKING IN THE RECESSION
In the U.S., Hilton workers have been working without a new contract since August 2009. They charge their employer with trying to lock the recession into their wages and workloads even as the hotel industry recovers profitability.
Blackstone, the private equity group that controls Hilton, upped third-quarter profits by 23 percent, to $340 million. This April, the New York Federal Reserve wrote off $180 million of Blackstone’s debt, allegedly to create jobs.
But the hotel chain is trying to squeeze more work from the existing staff. Hilton is proposing that workers who currently clean 14 rooms a day clean 20, with the result that some workers will be laid off.
UNITE HERE members call Hilton’s push to increase their workload the “dirty rooms†program, pointing out that Hilton is reassuring workers they won’t have to meet the same high standards of cleanliness when they’re required to clean 40 percent more rooms.
The average Local 2 member in San Francisco makes $30,000 a year, and if Hilton gets its way workers will soon be paying $173 a month for family health care coverage.
According to Local 2 staffer Riddhi Mehta-Neugebauer in San Francisco, workers have foregone raises over the years, preferring to maintain affordable health coverage. The new $173 per month amounts to a huge takeaway.
Hilton is resisting the union’s proposal that the company put aside an extra 12 cents per hour for pensions, which, UNITE HERE calculates, would mean the difference between a $900 and a $1,200 monthly pension.
Meanwhile, management’s pay is up. According to a Wall Street Journal survey, Blackstone’s executive team got a 12 percent pay increase this year.
For more:Â http://labornotes.org/2010/11/unions-reach-short-strikes-stop-concessions
Filed under Labor Issues, Management And Ownership, Training
Hospitality Industry Employee Safety And Wage Issues: Hotel Management Should Expect 2011 OSHA Regulations To Require A Written “Injury And Illness Protection Progam” And Dept. Of Labor (DOL) Rule Requiring Full Disclosure On “Worker’s Pay Computation”
 
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing a regulation mandating that employers have a written health and safety program, referred to as an Injury and Illness Protection Program or “I2P2.â€
- This rule would give an OSHA investigator the authority to find that an injury should have been avoided even if it was not regulated under a specific standard.
- OSHA will also publish a regulation that will require employers to analyze every employee injury to determine if it is a work-related recordable musculoskeletal injury.
- This regulation would set the stage for OSHA to revive its controversial ergonomics standard.
 
- The Wage and Hour Division at DOL has a highly anticipated rule that would greatly expand recordkeeping requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- It would require employers to disclose how a worker’s pay is computed and complete a written “classification analysis†for each worker who is exempt or outside of the coverage of the FLSA.
For more:Â Â http://www.worldtrademag.com/Articles/Column/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000932009
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Filed under Health, Injuries, Labor Issues, Legislation, Liability, Risk Management, Training, Uncategorized
Hotel Industry Guest Relations: Hotels Will Increasingly Opt For “Check-In Kiosks” To Provide “Cozy, One-On-One Welcomes” To Improve Guest Satisfaction
 The key is removing the barrier between the guest and the hotel — be it for better service, streamlining, experience or profit. The sitting-behind-a-desk days are not what travelers 
want,†Sinclair said. “However the hotel chain chooses to roll it out — kiosks, check-in pedestals, tablets or iPads — you walk to the lobby and whoever you speak to can handle your entire needs …
“Traditional front desks, however, may be destined for a scrap heap teeming with bygone lobby fixtures like key boxes, desk bells and hat racks. Some mid-market chains already are dumping imposing check-in counters for cozy, one-on-one welcomes or for virtual check-ins through kiosks or mobile devices.
When Sherry Richert Bulel entered the Andaz West Hollywood in February, she was greeted by a “host†who offered her wine, a comfy chair and room selection via his laptop. “There was no looming desk between us to indicate that he was the hotel staff and I was the guest,†said Richert Bulel, author and founder of simplycelebrate.net, which creates tribute books for special occasions. “I immediately relaxed.â€
In addition to Andaz, Courtyard by Marriott has renovated 201 of its 800 U.S. lobbies, swapping its standard front desks for smaller “welcome pedestals†that allow clerks to step out to meet patrons, then step back to check them in. Courtyard will finish the makeover by 2013.
Meanwhile, Starwood has used one of its urban-style Aloft hotels to test a tech-driven welcome service. Several thousand customers who already carried Starwood Preferred Guest cards were texted their room numbers before arriving at the Aloft Lexington in Massachusetts, allowing them to bypass the front desk and head to their floor.Â
FITs, or Free Independent Travelers. In general, FITs have above-average income, prefer to roam alone, in small groups or as couples, avoid tourist tracks, research their explorations via their mobile devices, and spend freely. They are, Sinclair said, “now the dominant market traveler being sought after by most major brands.†FITs, experts believe, prefer hotels that offer texted check-in codes or lobby kiosks that spit out room keys. So how long until old-school front desks vanish from most or maybe all mid-market hotels?
“Within the next 36 months,†forecasts James Sinclair, principal of OnSite Consulting, a national restaurant and hospitality consulting company. His clients include W Hotels and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Related: Tech-savvy travelers embrace self-service model “ You sit on a couch and wait your turn rather than (stand) behind Bob who is arguing that he didn’t have the salt-and-honey peanuts from the minibar.†Viewed from the bottom line, chopping the front desk also “makes sense for the hotel in terms of profit maximization,†Sinclair said. “As the hotel market has become more competitive with the various online practices and the need to refocus on margins, there are only a few areas that can be looked at.†Number one: payroll. No front desks, or smaller versions, could allow hotels to operate with fewer employees. What’s next? No beds? Then again, that’s the chief reason why some mega-mile travelers — like comedian Dan Nainan — hate the downsizing of check-in counters. Spending huge chunks of their lives on the road, they befriend hotel employees and feel somewhat protective of them. “If I ever see a hotel without a front desk, I can guarantee you that that is a hotel I would never, ever, ever patronize,†said Nainan, who flew 200,000 miles last year. “I will turn right around on my heel and march out of that place so fast I will actually do a wheelie. What brilliant cost-cutting move will they think of next? How about hotel rooms with no beds? Imagine the savings!†But hotel chains say de-emphasizing, shrinking or removing the front desk simply gives their guests more options. Further, the tactic is part of a larger shift, they say, to entice patrons to spend more time — working or relaxing — in attractive, compelling lobbies. Courtyard’s fresh, first-floor face, which costs the chain about $750,000 per makeover, includes free WiFi, “media pods†where patrons can plug in laptops and watch TVs, plus a 57-inch, LCD touch screen — the “GoBoard†— that provides news, weather, and directions to local attractions. An eat-in bistro — “Starbucks meets Panera,†they say — offers breakfast, then later a casual dinner and cocktails. About three years ago, Courtyard’s lobby designers used Styrofoam cutouts to simulate changes — including the “welcome pedestals.â€
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Filed under Guest Issues, Labor Issues, Management And Ownership, Training
Hospitality Industry Food Safety: U.S. Food And Drug Administration (FDA) Is Recommending Restaurant Operators To Employ A Certified Food Protection Manager
 Calling for continued improvements in food safety, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that all restaurants and retailers employ 
certified food protection managers, according to a report by Nation’s Restaurant News.
Donald Kraemer, the FDA’s acting deputy director for operations, told Nation’s Restaurant News that the agency plans to add a provision requiring restaurants to employ certified food protection managers to a future edition of the federal “FDA Model Food Code.”
The recommendation, which was met with support from both the National Restaurant Association and the National Council of Chain Restaurants, came Friday as the agency released the results of a 10-year study of retail food risk factors. While the study found overall improvement, the FDA said the presence of a certified food protection manager correlated with significantly higher compliance levels with food safety practices, the report stated.
“In looking at the data, it is quite clear that having a certified food protection manager on the job makes a difference,” said Michael R. Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods. “Some states and localities require certified food protection managers already, and many in the retail industry employ them voluntarily as a matter of good practice. We think it should become common practice.”
The FDA has no timeline for adding a food protection manager provision to the Food Code, but Kraemer said the agency will work to that end through normal channels involving the Conference for Food Protection (CFP). The CFP provides the FDA with input and recommendations, and is made up of members of foodservice trade groups, the food industry, government, academia and consumer organizations. The group meets biennially and convenes next in 2012.
NRA spokesman Mike Donohue said 24 states currently require restaurants to have certified food protection managers. He added that in the other 26 states, some local jurisdictions may have requirements for the employment of such specialized employees, or the state may require such a hire for a specific restaurant or chain that has had food safety problems.
Taking the concept further, some states — including Oregon and, beginning next year, California — require all food handlers to undergo basic safety training and pass an exam attesting to their understanding of the coursework, according to the report.
The FDA’s 10-year study of retail food risk factors found full-service restaurants with certified food protection managers had a 70-percent compliance rate with food safety practices, vs. a 58-percent compliance rate at restaurants without such an employee. In delicatessens, compliance was 79 percent with a manager, compared to 64 percent without, the FDA reported.
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Filed under Food Illnesses, Guest Issues, Health, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
Hotel Industry Pool Safety Risk: FEMA To Enforce “No Glass Zone” Rule That Prohibits “Glass-Enclosed Pools” In Florida
FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, doesn’t allow oceanfront hotels to close off their 
pools with glass walls for the winter. This year, the agency will make sure that rule is enforced, whether the city and the hotels like it or not.
In response to FEMA, the manager of the Myrtle Beach Hampton Inn isn’t sure what to do to close off his outdoor pool to make it an indoor pool this winter.
If he puts up the same glass walls the hotel has been using for years, he’ll be in violation of the FEMA rule. But if he doesn’t, the hotel will lose customers.
“It’s too cold to swim in the wintertime, even though the pools are heated. It needs to be enclosed,” said manager Tom Moore.
The hotel could buy Plexiglas or vinyl enclosures that FEMA allows, but Moore says that would cost up to $20,000 the hotel hasn’t budgeted for.
A couple of years ago, FEMA first became aware of the glass walls used by oceanfront hotels and decided they were hazardous, but the rule wasn’t enforced.
Then this summer, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce announced it had pushed a bill through the U.S. House of Representatives to allow the enclosures. Hoteliers thought the problem was solved and that was the end of it.
But the bill never came up for a vote in the Senate, the Senate has adjourned until mid-November and FEMA has now told the city of Myrtle Beach: time’s up, enforce the rule or else.
“We’ve sent letters to all the hotels that are affected, saying November first is when the rule takes effect. You will not put up your temporary pool enclosures that violate FEMA’s regulations then or expect the consequences,” said city spokesman Mark Kruea.
http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=531094
Filed under Claims, Maintenance, Pool And Spa, Training
Hospitality Industry Information Technology: Small- To Medium-Sized Hotel Owners Should Support A “Shared-Services” Model For Data And Call Center Services
CLICK ON PICTURE TO READ ENTIRE "SHARED TECHNOLOGY REPORT"
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Filed under Guest Issues, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Training
Hospitality Industry Health And Safety: Use Of “Improved Safety Practices” And “Older Workers” Contribute To A Decrease In Workers Comp Claims
“Indemnity and medical severity for workers compensation claims continued to rise in 2009…
“…the frequency of workers comp claims dropped 4% in 2009 following a 3.4% decrease in 2008. A downward trend in claims frequency that started in 1991 likely will continue through this year, NCCI said…”
Factors such as increased use of robotics, improved safety practices and an aging workforce have contributed to the continuing frequency decrease, NCCI said.
Complex claims, such as those related to carpal tunnel syndrome and lower-back issues, declined more than average during the past five years, NCCI added.
Increasing claim costs, however, have partially offset the decline in frequency. Average indemnity costs increased about 4.5% in 2009 despite a decline in average weekly wages.
“It remains to be seen whether changes in average wage and indemnity cost per claim will begin to converge in 2010,†NCCI said in the research brief.
Average medical costs for workers comp claims rose 5% last year, the lowest increase in the past 15 years, NCCI said.
For more:Â http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20101018/NEWS/101019945
Filed under Health, Injuries, Insurance, Labor Issues, Risk Management, Training
Hospitality Industry Employee Risk Issues: Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) May Require Hotel Management To Pay “Overtime Compensation” To Employees Who Use Smart-Phones “After Hours”
Under the FLSA, nonexempt employees are entitled to overtime compensation for “time spent working†beyond a 40-hour workweek. An employee does not even need to be 
required by the employer to work overtime but must merely do so for the employer’s benefit.
While an employee’s off-the-clock smart-phone use may amount to only a few minutes here or there—and the FLSA provides an exception for “de minimis†overtime—legal experts say an employer’s liability can mount up in a class action.
Moreover, the electronic records stored on smart phones may give an employee solid evidence on which to base an overtime claim.
    The department “has willfully violated the FLSA [Fair Labor Standards Act] by intentionally failing and refusing to pay Plaintiff and other similarly situated employees all compensation due them under the FLSA†for their after-hours Blackberry use, Sgt. Jeffrey Allen said in a suit filed in May as a proposed class action. A judge has to certify the case as a class action for it to proceed.
The case is one of a handful nationwide in which employees have claimed overtime pay for smart-phone use—and apparently the first involving public employees. But lawyers say such cases are a clear warning to employers to put a smart-phone usage policy in place before they end up in potentially costly litigation. Smart phones “are very dangerous and risky for nonexempt employees to have if you’re worried about overtime,†says Jeremy A. Roth, a partner at San Diego law firm Littler Mendelson.Â
The case is one of a handful nationwide in which employees have claimed overtime pay for smart-phone use—and apparently the first involving public employees. But lawyers say such cases are a clear warning to employers to put a smart-phone usage policy in place before they end up in potentially costly litigation. Smart phones “are very dangerous and risky for nonexempt employees to have if you’re worried about overtime,†says Jeremy A. Roth, a partner at San Diego law firm Littler Mendelson.
For more:Â Â http://www.workforce.com/section/legal/feature/legal-static-over-issuing-smart-phones-workers/index.html
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Filed under Labor Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
Hospitality Industry Health Risk Management: Hotel Owners Must Establish Formal “Bed Bug Infestation Risk Management” Protocols For Preventing And Then Eradicating Infestations
In certain cases, courts can even levy large judgments against hotel operators who rent rooms infested with bed bugs. In 2003, a federal appellate court awarded $372,000 in
State inspectors have the authority to shut down an establishment that poses an "imminent health hazard" involving fire, flood, sewage backup, rodent infestation, bed bug infestation or "any other condition that could endanger the health and safety of guests, employees and the general public."
punitive damages, roughly 37 times the compensatory award in the case, to a couple bitten by bed bugs while staying at a chronically infested Motel 6 in Chicago.
Hotel owners and operators have faced periodic reports of bed bugs for decades, but a newfound public fascination with the problem, combined with the proliferation of websites dedicated to documenting bed bug outbreaks, has created a frenzy of media activity never before seen. Indeed, bed bug stories have been reported in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and many other local television and print outlets across the country. Stoking the traditional media’s interest in bed bugs is a rash of new online forums where travelers post the unsettling details of encounters with the pests.
Much of the coverage seems sensational and overblown, but property owners and third party operators in the hospitality industry have to face the reality that the process of eliminating bed bugs from hotel rooms can be quite expensive and can lead to litigation and costly settlements. Additionally, reports of infestation on online travel sites like TripAdvisor and bed bug reporting sites like bedbugregistry.com and bedbugreports.com can cause significant reputational harm and loss of business.
The good news for hospitality companies is that robust risk management practices, and the appropriate insurance and risk financing programs, can significantly mitigate the financial impact bed bugs can have on a hotel organization.
Establishing formal risk management protocols around bed bugs is an important first step in minimizing the cost of infestation. Proactive steps for hotel organizations include creating a formal program to train housekeeping staff on spotting bed bugs, creating a policy on how to handle outbreaks or complaints and implementing regular pest control inspections.
“Bed bugs are on our list of emerging issues facing the insurance industry, not only for hotels, but in the retail, apartment, and residential healthcare sectors,†noted Brian Gerritsen, Senior Director of Hospitality Business at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company. “The recent increase in bed bug related claims has prompted us to become more proactive about the issue with our insurance customers.†Mr. Gerritsen’s team recently released an industry alert recommending that hotel operators take several actions to prevent potential infestations in guest rooms including:
• Chemically treating mattresses and sealing them in plastic
• Washing/drying bedding and towels regularly and daily if possible
• Vacuuming cracks, crevices and other hiding places and sealing openings permanently so the bugs don’t have a place to hide
• Having regular inspections and extermination services done by a qualified pest control contractor
• Training and educating housekeeping employees to recognize the presence of bed bugs and immediately report any activity to the appropriate personnel
For more:Â http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/don039t-let-bed-bugs-bite-insurance-and-risk-management-perspective
Filed under Guest Issues, Health, Insurance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
