EL PASO, TEXAS—In El Paso, Texas, a historic hotel built in 1912, Hotel Paso del Norte (Marriott Autograph Collection), has been undergoing a multi-million-dollar, multi-year renovation to bring it to the grandeur of yesteryear with a wide array of modern amenities. As part of the final touches before re-opening later this year, the hotel will be among the world’s first Marriott Autograph Collection Hotels to install a state-of-the-art air filtration system throughout the hotel’s entire HVAC system. The Plasma Air system has been shown to remove 99 percent of bacteriophage in the air after 10 minutes of use. Common...

NATIONAL REPORT—According to the recently released J.D. Power 2020 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index (NAGSI) Study, meeting guest expectations for cleanliness continues to be a strong driver of guest satisfaction. “In fact, satisfaction with guestroom cleanliness has been climbing steadily for many years,” says Andrea Stokes, Hospitality Practice lead at J.D. Power. With guest attention to cleanliness at a hyper level due to COVID-19, making sure guests need not worry about lingering cigarette or marijuana odor is even more critical. As far as the hotel industry has come in banning indoor smoking (97 percent of hotel rooms are nonsmoking),...

PORT OF PALM BEACH, FLA.—RGF Environmental Group, Inc., a Florida-based environmental design and manufacturing company, announced The Palms Hotel & Spa is now sanitizing the air for guests and staff through installation of RGF’s PHI-Cell in-duct air purification systems. Last week, the independently owned and managed luxury resort known for its green initiatives completed installation of 320 total ‘PHI Package’ units, enough for every guestroom AC system, and all public and back-of-house areas including the lobby, gym, spa, kitchen, laundry room, and offices. “We believe RGF has the safest and most environmentally-friendly product in the industry to clean both the...

DELAVAN, WIS.—As hotels strategize to reopen and operate in today’s new COVID environment, hotel owners and managers are scrambling to upgrade their HVAC systems to provide a safer, healthier indoor environment for workers, tenants, customers and students. Onsite Utility Services Capital (OUS Capital) once again leads the market with an innovative solution that solves this problem by giving hotels the cleaner indoor air they need, while potentially reducing their overall energy costs—all without any investment, debt or risk. It is called Clean Air as a Service. Powered by Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization (NPBI), Clean Air as a Service works inside a building’s...

The coronavirus pandemic has created a new normal, and the only seemingly certain thing is uncertainty. When will the economy reopen? How can we be sure it is safe to reopen? What steps can we take to ensure everyone is safe upon reopening? For hotels, which are especially hit hard by the pandemic response, answers to these questions are imperative. Hotel occupancy has dropped about 70% overall during the pandemic, with tourist centers like Hawaii and New York City showing marked declines. As businesses begin to reopen, hotels will likely see increases in occupancy rates, however, the worst is not...

VALENCIA, CALIF.—UltraViolet Devices, Inc. (UVDI) announced it is partnering with the Mole Lake Casino Lodge and Conference Center to provide seven Air Disinfection systems for the Tribal casino’s air handling units. The UVDI V-MAX Grid Air Disinfection Systems are an integral part of the casino’s plan to reopen with enhanced coronavirus disinfection protocols to help protect guests and employees. Mole Lake Casino Lodge is installing a custom-configured UVDI V-MAX GRID system that uses high-output UV-C lamps with proven scientific confirmation of 99 percent coronavirus inactivation and which meet CDC and ASHRAE Airborne Infection Control guidelines. UVDI’s proprietary software system incorporates...

Green Lodging News spoke with Richard Radke, National Marketing Manager for Zeftron Nylon recently and allowed Zeftron Nylon to contribute this guest blog. As businesses begin to welcome employees back to the workplace, safety and wellness are top of mind. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has issued guidance to assist with the reopening, and states: “Reducing the risk of exposure to COVID-19 by cleaning and disinfection is an important part of reopening public spaces that will require careful planning.” To be sure, designers and facility managers are faced with multiple challenges in creating the “new” workplace for today. They are looking...

LEBANON, N.H.—FreshAir, an industry leader in the development of sensors to detect and alert for hazardous chemicals, announces its plan to reduce monthly fees for hospitality clients through December 2020. The company will also extend this monthly fee reduction to hotel properties which install FreshAir Sensor devices during this period. In March, FreshAir announced a complete monthly fee waiver for its hospitality clients through June 30 and continued to provide its novel 24x7 smoking detection and monitoring service for tobacco and marijuana smoke during this period. “We are excited to hear that many of our hotel clients who closed have started...

SAN RAMON, CALIF.—According to the Allergy and Asthma Foundation, dust mites are a leading cause of in-home allergies. In a new report, the American Chemical Society advocates the widespread use of UV-C light as a short-term, easily deployable, and affordable way to limit virus spread in the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. RAYCOP’s new Omni Air cordless stick vacuum uses the same UVC technology that hospitals do to eradicate 99.99 percent of viruses, bacteria and dust mites from fabrics and floors in every corner of the room. The lightweight Omni Air is easy to pick up and it can completely remove dust...

Faced with the prospect of disinfecting a space for COVID-19, many are utilizing corded or cordless sprayers of one type or another. I understand the thinking. You can cover an area quickly, be thorough about it, and then move on to the next space. In press releases distributed by our industry’s leading companies in recent months, many have announced they will be using electrostatic sprayers to disseminate disinfectant. I wrote an article about that technology and other spray technologies this past week. Be sure to read my article. A big thank you to Green Seal for adding additional valuable...