WASHINGTON, D.C.—Leading hotel CEOs met yesterday with the White House to discuss urgent economic recovery solutions needed to protect millions of U.S. hotel employees and 33,000 small businesses as travel grinds to a virtual halt across the country. From Main Street to major cities across the country, hotels everywhere are on the verge of shutting their doors in the coming days—many by the end of this week. With 1 in 25 jobs directly supported by the hotel industry, the rapid pace of booking cancellations is having an immediate, negative ripple effect that risks seeing mom and pop hotel owners...

HOUSTON—The Westin Houston Medical Center is the first and only hotel in the United States to utilize LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots to sanitize and disinfect its guestrooms and common areas to help combat the threat of coronavirus. The room disinfection technology, provided by San Antonio-based Xenex Disinfection Services, was developed by two epidemiologists in Houston, with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center as their first customer. The Westin Houston Medical Center purchased two of the decontaminating robots, which are already at work sanitizing rooms inside the building. LightStrike robots have been proven to quickly destroy viruses, bacteria, and fungi using...

PHILADELPHIA—COVID-19 has elevated the need for cleaning supplies, and many suppliers are running out of stock or engaging in price-gauging practices. In times of national emergency and disaster, Monarch Brands has traditionally ramped up production and logistics without raising prices. Recently deployed automation features and a split shift workforce ensures that Monarch Brands continues to meet demand while mitigating exposure to COVID-19. All wholesale microfiber and rags get automatically weighed and wrapped before being carried to the dock by “Fred,” an automated pallet train that moves along a magnetic track. Fred handles 7,500 pounds loaded on his back while pulling five...

LONDON—The World Travel & Tourism Council says up to 50 million jobs in the travel and tourism sector are at risk due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said: “WTTC figures show the stark impact on the travel and tourism sector of the present COVID-19 outbreak with analysis now suggesting that up to 50 million jobs are at risk in the sector globally. When the time is right, WTTC and the global private sector will be ready to help and support the government and countries to recover.” Latest figures from WTTC, which represents the global travel...

Our industry is certainly going through a challenging time right now. Hygiene and disinfection are top of mind and even a matter of life and death in some cases. I reached out to Stephen P. Ashkin with The Ashkin Group—The Green Cleaning & Sustainability Experts to get his take on the current coronavirus situation and how to address the virus and he contributed the following very helpful six questions and answers relating to disinfection. Please read through his list—especially paying attention to disinfectant dwell time. Are we using the right disinfectant? US EPA has established specific guidelines for disinfectants that are...

CINCINNATI—As coronavirus paralyzes the world with fear, bioscience enterprise The Gilla Co. has developed and independently tested a product shown to be at least 99.9 percent effective in killing the deadly virus. The product, Gilla (pronounced “jilä”), received EPA registration last year as a sanitizer and disinfectant that kills germs such as the flu virus, staph, and MRSA. The Gilla Company’s pursuit of coronavirus testing is consistent with the company’s continued active exploration of the benefits of Gilla. For example, preliminary tests suggest that Gilla protects treated surfaces for a week or more. This gives Gilla the potential to...

FAIRFIELD, CONN.—In ensuring the safest, most sanitized space for your guests—the most protected from the New Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)—ions are your best friend. So says Steve Levine and Tony Abate from AtmosAir Solutions. Their company’s technology has been proven to eliminate the Coronavirus, other viruses, bacteria, fungi and allergens. Levine is President & CEO of the Fairfield, Conn.-based company and Abate is Chief Technology Officer. At the core of AtmosAir systems is Bi Polar Ionization technology. Within an HVAC system or as a standalone unit, ionization tubes are placed. As airflow passes through the tubes, Bi Polar—positive and negative—ions are created...