Promoting Cleanliness Online – How to Ensure Trust in Your Hotel’s Safety and Cleanliness

Cleanliness, safety, hygiene - these are, without a doubt, today’s buzzwords. While staying in the comfort of our homes means that we get to make our own rules and take all the safety precautions necessary, when it comes to travel, concerns are bound to arise. The need for control is deeply embedded in human nature - in order to feel safe, especially during these uncertain times, we want to be on top of the situation and create a safe environment for ourselves and those close to us. We want to have things planned, confirmed - and with a trusted guarantee that all is well. 

This is why, now more than ever, hoteliers find themselves with a great deal of responsibility. As a hotel manager, you need to restart business, make up for the financial hit taken during the lockdown months, and ensure thorough cleanliness and constant disinfection. All this while putting the guest first - without any ifs, ands, or buts. So how exactly can you showcase the extra effort you take in adhering to the stringent COVID-19 hygiene standards, ensure trust, and encourage bookings?

Cue the Trusted Cleanliness badge by TrustYou. To support hoteliers in displaying a positive and highly important hotel trait right on the hotel website, we have developed the Trusted Cleanliness badge. As with the majority of hotel marketing efforts, it’s important to note that modern travelers prefer summarized content throughout their booking journey, which helps them get a clear impression of the hotel’s overall image in a quick and efficient way. While cleanliness and hygiene are crucial topics in the light of the coronavirus outbreak, trying to prove your compliance in those categories should be done in a condensed, easily-digestible, and highly effective manner. 

The exclusive Trusted Cleanliness badge is based on an assessment survey that hotel management has to submit. The thorough and extensive survey consists of more than 50 questions meant to demonstrate the clear and stringent guidelines taken by the hotel in regards to cleanliness, safety, and hygiene on the premises. The badge is only awarded to properties that are enforcing strict safety and sanitation measures. The survey questions are targeted towards three main categories that are essential for the new hygiene and safety measures implemented by the relevant local, regional, and global health organizations and governmental authority: personnel, sanitation measures, and facility & services.

After submission, hotels that confirm to follow and implement the standard measures required in terms of health and cleanliness are awarded the TrustYou Cleanliness badge, which they can embed on their website. Visitors will then be aware of the hotel’s commitment regarding cleanliness, reinforced by TrustYou, and will have the option to click on the badge and see the details behind it. As with other foolproof hotel marketing widgets, the cleanliness badge enables travelers to verify the hotel’s efforts in a visually appealing way, which is also time-efficient and easy to consume. 

The Trusted Cleanliness badge aims to deliver the following results:

- Reinforcing travelers’ confidence in the hotel’s compliance with the new health and safety standards

- Highlighting safety protocols and their day-to-day applicability

- Increasing your chances of getting a booking

- Marketing the hotel’s cleanliness as a key strength

- Showcasing the hotel’s interest in their guests’ safety and wellbeing

When we once again leave our homes and start traveling, we are challenged to surrender control, and find ourselves in the hands of transportation companies and accommodation providers. Traveling in 2020 inevitably comes with a great deal of vulnerability attached to our suitcases and lurking on the back of our minds. 

As a hotelier, you need to, first and foremost, think of this new audience, the post-COVID traveler. From now on, your guests will be more cautious, more selective in their choices, and they will likely have more concerns and questions in the back of their minds than ever before. So why not put those concerns at rest at the very beginning of their journey - more exactly, in the booking phase? After months of lockdown, the guest reviews - that travelers would normally explore to get an inside look at the hotel experience - might be sparse or non-existent. It’s now completely up to you to showcase your efforts, your commitment to the new safety protocols, and to ensure enough trust to lead to a booking.

In order to find out more about the Trusted Cleanliness badge and how you can apply for it, please reach out to our team and we will gladly assist you in properly and effectively promoting cleanliness online. 

If you are looking for more information and insightful advice on how to push through the crisis and prepare for recovery, check out our COVID-19 resource library.

Author
Laura Badiu

Laura is a passionate bookworm and a gifted writer. Since joining TrustYou’s marketing team, she has embraced topics in the travel and hospitality sector with enthusiasm. Using her degree in Journalism, Laura creatively weaves words into insightful stories with a focus on reputation management.