The world as we know it has changed forever, but that doesn’t have to be all bad! San Diego Office Design is here to guide you through the “New Normal” of the hospitality industry after a pandemic.
As a business owner, it’s critical to ensure that guests and employees feel comfortable in your space. Comfort and anxiety levels will differ for everyone so it’s important to address concerns surrounding emotional wellbeing, physical distance, cleanliness procedures, and more.
To help with all this, we created some guidelines that will help your guests and employees feel comfortable and safe.
- Implement the easy updates right away
- Plan for longterm investments
- Share your progress and your plans
Here are changes that can make a big difference:
- Promote physical distance
By separating all furniture at least 6’ for all common areas including lobbies and waiting rooms. You might need to hide some chairs to be able to meet this guideline. And keep in mind clearances on areas that you want to keep pathways open.
- Add visual separation
If physical separation is not an option, adding obstacles like movable walls that can improve acoustics and provide design elements of your brand.
- Improve Air Quality
Natural ventilation is recommended over recirculated and filtered air. Keeping common areas open to natural ventilation is the goal, but changing your filter more than recommended is going to help for the spaces that need air conditioning. Adding tall plants can also help clean the air and add visual separation.
- Can’t touch this
Integrate touchless technology to reduce spreading viruses by touching door handles, touchless hand soap dispenser, voice sensor trash can and touchless faucet for example.
- Keep cleaning supplies in every common room
Integrate touchless technology to reduce spreading viruses by touching door handles, touchless hand soap dispenser, voice sensor trash can and touchless faucet for example.
- Limit Gatherings
If you are planning on having a gathering of 5 people or more, provide virtual meeting access to attend the meeting.
- Add Counter Shields
An easy way to add visual separation is by adding Counter Shields. These come in different sizes and options depending on your needs, from checkout options with an opening at the bottom for transactions or full coverage that provides an extra layer of safety. See more Counter Shields here and make sure you ask us about our special designer pricing!
- Partition with purpose
It’s ideal to have full coverage between each person: from the floor to the top of our heads (or higher). We love to use multi-functional partitions with materials like felt, dry eraser boards, magnets, glass, and color or wood accent to tie in with the rest of the space. Click here to see more LoftWall partitions (psst… we can get you special discounts on these! Click here to learn more)
- Disposable everything
Encourage the use of sustainable disposable plates and cups if you are serving drinks or food in your lounging areas. However, we recommend limiting self-serving drinks unless they are touchless.
- Hand-sanitizing Stations everywhere
Give the tools to our employees and visitors to take the right steps to keep their hands clean. We have limitless options for the type of stations available, from wall mounted to freestanding with different styles and colors.
- Screen Visitors
It might feel a little weird, but screening employees’ and guests’ health will help keep your whole company healthy. Consider installing a Health Screening Device where you can safely test guests’ and employees’ temperatures. We love this Thermobile by Clarus (and we get special discounts on it! Click here to learn more)
Your hospitality lounging space might not need to do everything tha on this list, but it is important to make small changes right away since this is going to create a big impact on how your employees and visitors feel about being in your space. Encouraging an open discussion about how employees are feeling is key.
Want more information on the products in this article? Or do you need a little more help implementing safety measures in your business?
Use this special link to schedule your call and use code: HOSPITALITY to book your time with the Design Boss, Tamara Romeo. (a $50 value)
We’d love to hear about your success! Let us know how this list helped you – connect with us on social media!