The Association of Serviced Apartments Providers (ASAP) has launched an initiative titled ‘ASAP Stay with Confidence Promise’ as part of its accreditation process which aims to ensure its levels of cleanliness are pandemic-proof.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the serviced apartment sector has housed guests isolating from home, key workers and those most vulnerable to the virus. The serviced apartments offer a safe, self-contained accommodation with homelike conveniences such as kitchens, washing machines, welcome packs and keyless entry systems.
To reassure future guests in the wake of Covid-19, ASAP has created a new hygiene standard which considers before and after a guest stay. It ranges from the pre-arrival deep-cleaning of rooms, lift buttons and other touch-points, to PPE worn by staff within the premises, hands-free entry, hand sanitiser gel alongside a period of non-occupation between guest stays to avoid cross-contamination.
James Foice, CEO, ASAP, said: “When we realised how hard it was to find suitable places to live during the crisis, we worked closely with councils and public bodies to offer safe serviced apartments to those desperate to isolate close to work, or needing emergency accommodation.
“The comments we got back were all about the standard of cleanliness and the ability for guests to isolate safely. This made us realise how the industry was calling out for a formalisation of standards that we can all meet, across the industry. Crucially, this offers that all-important reassurance to visitors and travel buyers that serviced apartments offer a vision of accommodation post Covid-19.”
Marcia Gomez, managing director of Cotels has joined the ASAP Emergency House Support Scheme to provide safe and secure accommodation to those in need.
Gomez added: “As a team we have been vigilant in ensuring that social distancing measures are in place. It’s been a challenging time for everyone the past few weeks, so the support being offered by ASAP have and will continue to be, invaluable to us all. Safety and cleanliness to build traveller confidence is going to be paramount in the ‘new world’. The accreditation scheme will play an important role in this.”
