When the lockdown finally ends and global travel resumes, expect a night at hotel to feel rather different. Walks up stairwells, face masks, breakfast in rooms and no gym or gin and tonics at the bar.
Welcome to life after lockdown, according to Pat McCann, chief executive officer at Dalata Hotel Group Plc, which runs 44 hotels across Ireland and the U.K.
None are open to the public right now, but 12 in Ireland and three in the U.K. are hosting about 900 frontline workers a night.
That’s provided McCann with lessons about what a hotel might need to look like to persuade travelers it’s safe to stay in one of his 9,000 rooms. “Confidence will have to be build," McCann said in an interview. “You remove all possible opportunity for infection."