Designed for all travelers but especially suited to guests with asthma, allergies and other respiratory sensitivities, the Respire by Hyatt ─ Hypo-Allergenic
Rooms, powered by PURE Solutions NA, are designed to eliminate up to 98 percent of airborne viruses and bacteria, as well as pollen and other irritants commonly found in indoor environments.
Hyatt has promised to have Respire by Hyatt rooms in all of their U.S., Canada and Caribbean hotels by the end of 2010. Currently, more than 60 Hyatts already have these super clean rooms. In total, Hyatt wants approximately 2,000 Respire rooms at 125 of their full-service properties.
For more:Â Â http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Hypo-Allergenic%20Hotels
Author Archives: Ida
Hotel Industry Guest Health Issues: Hotels Are Increasingly Adding “Hypo-Allergenic Rooms” That Eliminate Up To “98% Of Airborne Viruses And Other Irritants”
Comments Off on Hotel Industry Guest Health Issues: Hotels Are Increasingly Adding “Hypo-Allergenic Rooms” That Eliminate Up To “98% Of Airborne Viruses And Other Irritants”
Filed under Guest Issues, Health, Maintenance, Training
Hotel Industry Employee Wage Issues: Employee Unions Plan To Use Threat Of Strikes To Put Pressure On Hotel Management To Negotiate Wage Contracts Acceptable To Both Sides As Industry Recovers
The scene looks much the same among union hotel workers: bold employers, drawn-out bargaining, and unions launching intermittent short strikes to keep up pressure. Hilton 
is now UNITE HERE’s target because the union judges that company most likely to move—a shift in strategy after months of rolling strikes and pickets against the Hyatt chain.
The union hopes to establish a pattern at the bargaining table with Hilton that other hotels will follow.
Chicago hotel workers authorized strikes at four Hilton-owned or -operated properties. They struck the Hilton Chicago for three days in October, coordinating with Hilton workers in Honolulu and San Francisco. Those strikes ended October 19, but more may be on the way.
Workers in Toronto took advantage of the Toronto International Film Festival in September to gain visibility for their struggle. Rolling one-day strikes at three hotels, including festival headquarters, caused actors Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez to join the boisterous picket line. The blare of vuvuzelas added to picket-line noise.
Workers rolled out a red carpet and offered passersby the opportunity to have their photo taken with a hotel worker. Inside, workers spotted the housekeeping manager doing bell work.
Six additional one-day strikes have cascaded through Toronto hotels since the film festival. And 500 workers walked out of the Delta Chelsea, a large downtown conference hotel, on October 28. Delta Chelsea workers say they’ll stay out for two weeks.
Cristal Cruz-Haicken of UNITE HERE Local 75 said the two-week strike was necessary because “they weren’t even taking us seriously†at the bargaining table.
Unstable work schedules and job security are a serious problem. Feliz Serrano, a server, said he has worked there 30 years and still usually only gets 30 hours of work a week, but only if he works six days in a row.
Room attendant Jian Ying Liu said the hotel has tried to get rid of her three times because of injuries she received in her 18 years of work there.
Several conferences immediately moved because of the strike.
LOCKING IN THE RECESSION
In the U.S., Hilton workers have been working without a new contract since August 2009. They charge their employer with trying to lock the recession into their wages and workloads even as the hotel industry recovers profitability.
Blackstone, the private equity group that controls Hilton, upped third-quarter profits by 23 percent, to $340 million. This April, the New York Federal Reserve wrote off $180 million of Blackstone’s debt, allegedly to create jobs.
But the hotel chain is trying to squeeze more work from the existing staff. Hilton is proposing that workers who currently clean 14 rooms a day clean 20, with the result that some workers will be laid off.
UNITE HERE members call Hilton’s push to increase their workload the “dirty rooms†program, pointing out that Hilton is reassuring workers they won’t have to meet the same high standards of cleanliness when they’re required to clean 40 percent more rooms.
The average Local 2 member in San Francisco makes $30,000 a year, and if Hilton gets its way workers will soon be paying $173 a month for family health care coverage.
According to Local 2 staffer Riddhi Mehta-Neugebauer in San Francisco, workers have foregone raises over the years, preferring to maintain affordable health coverage. The new $173 per month amounts to a huge takeaway.
Hilton is resisting the union’s proposal that the company put aside an extra 12 cents per hour for pensions, which, UNITE HERE calculates, would mean the difference between a $900 and a $1,200 monthly pension.
Meanwhile, management’s pay is up. According to a Wall Street Journal survey, Blackstone’s executive team got a 12 percent pay increase this year.
For more:Â http://labornotes.org/2010/11/unions-reach-short-strikes-stop-concessions
Filed under Labor Issues, Management And Ownership, Training
Hospitality Industry Employee Health Risks: Swine Flu Outbreaks Could Cripple Small To Medium-Sized Companies If “Half Of Their Workforces Were Out Sick For Two Weeks”
Only one-third reported that they could sustain their businesses without “severe operational problems†if the swine flu kept half their workforces out sick for two weeks, according to the survey.
Swine flu is a type of influenza caused by a virus which can cause serious health complications or even death in a small proportion of the population. Officially called Influenza A H1N1, the symptoms are similar to ordinary flu (e.g. fever, headache, sneezing) but can be more severe.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta estimates that the H1N1 virus has infected more than 22 million people in the U.S. since April, and more than 4,000 people nationwide have died of related complications. The proportion of deaths attributed to influenza already has exceeded what is normally expected at this time of year, with the young hit the hardest, the CDC says.
    At the same time, a survey published in September by the Harvard School of Public Health found that the pandemic and resulting absences could have devastating effects on U.S. businesses. Only one-third reported that they could sustain their businesses without “severe operational problems†if the swine flu kept half their workforces out sick for two weeks, according to the survey.
    Jennifer Benz, who runs Benz Communications, a San Francisco-based employee benefits communication firm, says many of her clients have begun health education campaigns but have stopped short of analyzing all the issues that could arise from a pandemic.
    “It’s very easy to post communications throughout your company, such as washing your hands when you sneeze, but to really look at changing policies is a much different thing,†she says. “It’s a tough business environment right now.â€
    Many companies may do more if they see absenteeism soar, she says, but by then, it may be too late. “I think a lot of companies have a plan in their back pocket. If their work site gets hit really hard, then they’ll look at ‘How do we respond?’ â€
    The flu pandemic highlights the importance of providing robust health benefits, such as more than one or two sick days a year, she says. But ad hoc solutions, such as allowing employees to work from home, will fail if a company hasn’t thought them through by, for instance, providing enough access to laptops and ensuring that computer networks can support large numbers of workers dialing in.
    Furthermore, just telling employees to stay home doesn’t help if the company has a weak sick-leave policy or doesn’t provide paid sick time for hourly or part-time workers. “For low-wage workers, missing some days off can mean the difference in paying your rent that month,†Benz says.
    In many cases, businesses are opting against more aggressive efforts because of cost and privacy concerns, says Russell Robbins, a principal and senior clinical consultant in the Connecticut office of HR consulting firm Mercer. Unfortunately, it’s easy to dismiss warnings over H1N1 as paranoid or an overreaction, but the truth is that the flu is likely to spread, Robbins says.
    “I just keep saying that the only way we’re going to weather through this is if we’re prepared for a crisis,†he says. “In other words, make plans now.â€
Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Employee Health Risks: Swine Flu Outbreaks Could Cripple Small To Medium-Sized Companies If “Half Of Their Workforces Were Out Sick For Two Weeks”
Filed under Health, Insurance, Management And Ownership
Hospitality Industry Employee Safety And Wage Issues: Hotel Management Should Expect 2011 OSHA Regulations To Require A Written “Injury And Illness Protection Progam” And Dept. Of Labor (DOL) Rule Requiring Full Disclosure On “Worker’s Pay Computation”
 
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing a regulation mandating that employers have a written health and safety program, referred to as an Injury and Illness Protection Program or “I2P2.â€
- This rule would give an OSHA investigator the authority to find that an injury should have been avoided even if it was not regulated under a specific standard.
- OSHA will also publish a regulation that will require employers to analyze every employee injury to determine if it is a work-related recordable musculoskeletal injury.
- This regulation would set the stage for OSHA to revive its controversial ergonomics standard.
 
- The Wage and Hour Division at DOL has a highly anticipated rule that would greatly expand recordkeeping requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- It would require employers to disclose how a worker’s pay is computed and complete a written “classification analysis†for each worker who is exempt or outside of the coverage of the FLSA.
For more:Â Â http://www.worldtrademag.com/Articles/Column/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000932009
Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Employee Safety And Wage Issues: Hotel Management Should Expect 2011 OSHA Regulations To Require A Written “Injury And Illness Protection Progam” And Dept. Of Labor (DOL) Rule Requiring Full Disclosure On “Worker’s Pay Computation”
Filed under Health, Injuries, Labor Issues, Legislation, Liability, Risk Management, Training, Uncategorized
Hotel Industry Employee Risk Management: Employee’s Use Of Stairs In Multi-Story Hotels Subject Them To “Significantly Greater Risk Of Injury” And Result In Higher Workers’ Compensation Benefits
“Because the employees’ periodic breaks were mandatory, Phillips was required to use 
the staircase six times during each shift. In fact, in its opening brief, Rio calculated that during the course of Phillips’ 17-year employment, she traversed the stairs approximately 25,000 times,’
the staircase six times during each shift. In fact, in its opening brief, Rio calculated that during the course of Phillips’ 17-year employment, she traversed the stairs approximately 25,000 times,’ Â
“…the court concluded that the frequency with which Phillips was required to use the stairs subjected her to a significantly greater risk of injury than the risk faced by the general public. Consequently, Phillips should be awarded benefits, the high court wrote…”
Â
The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that although employers are not “absolutely liable” when employees are injured “on the job,” companies should apply the “increased risk test” to determine whether they are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits.
The justices explained the increased risk test in Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino v. Phillips. According to court documents, Kathryn Phillips was a poker and blackjack dealer at the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. While taking her mandatory 20-minute break during her usual eight-hour shift, she walked down the stairs to the employee break room, slipped, and fractured her ankle.
Her treating physician determined her injury was work related, and Phillips had surgery to repair her ankle. But Rio’s third-party administrator, Sedgwick CMS, denied her claim saying Phillips did not prove the injury arose out of her employment.
“The types of risks that an employee may encounter during employment are categorized as “those that are solely employment related, those that are purely personal, and those that are neutral,” the high court said.
Â
Â
Â
Comments Off on Hotel Industry Employee Risk Management: Employee’s Use Of Stairs In Multi-Story Hotels Subject Them To “Significantly Greater Risk Of Injury” And Result In Higher Workers’ Compensation Benefits
Filed under Claims, Injuries, Insurance, Labor Issues, Liability, Risk Management
Hospitality Industry Fire Risk Management: “Security Alert! Check The Security Of Your Hotel’s Knox Boxes Frequently” By Todd Seiders, CLSD, Petra Risk Solutions
Risk Management
by Todd Seiders, CLSD
Check your Knox Boxes! A Knox Box, known officially as the KNOX-BOX Rapid Entry 
System, is a small, wall-mounted safe-like box that holds building keys for firefighters and EMTs to retrieve in emergencies. In many jurisdictions, the local Fire Department requires that a Knox Box be located outside of your hotel (check with your local Fire Department for requirements; some jurisdictions may not require hotels to have one), for their use only, in the event of an emergency. The Knox Box has a complete set of the hotel’s master keys locked inside this box.
Knox Boxes simplify key control for local fire departments. Local fire companies can hold master keys to all such boxes in their response area, so that they can quickly enter a building without having to force entry or find individual keys held in deposit at the fire station. Sometimes Knox Boxes are linked via radio to the dispatch station, where the dispatcher can release the keys with telecommunication tone signaling over analog phone lines.
Knox Boxes have advantages and disadvantages for both business owners and emergency responders. The main advantage for their use is that they cut fire losses for building owners since firefighters can more quickly enter buildings without breaking doors or windows. The disadvantage of the system is that it provides a single point of failure for security. If the key to a district’s Knox Boxes is stolen or copied, a thief can enter any building that has a Knox Box. Likewise, if the locking mechanism or structural integrity of the box is compromised, a thief can gain access to the keys and hence access to the entire building. For this reason some building owners wire Knox Boxes into their burglar alarm systems so that opening the box trips the alarm, thus negating its use in facilitating clandestine entry.
Â
Â
Â
Â
Todd Seiders, CLSD, is director of risk management for Petra Risk Solutions, which provides a full-range of risk management and insurance services for hospitality owners and operators. Their website is: www.petrarisksolutions.com. Todd can be reached at 800-466-8951 or via e-mail at: todds@petrarisksolutions.com.)
Â
Knox Boxes are an actual miniature safe designed to withstand tampering and are built in a variety of sizes ranging from a box designed for two keys to one designed to hold hazardous material information and multiple keys. Prices start at approximately $250.00. Most Knox Boxes are mounted onto a wood or steel mounting with the screws or bolts covered.
Yet, this does not mean that Knox Boxes are indestructible or cannot be removed from their mounting with force. We have recently seen many of these Knox Boxes forcefully removed from their wall mountings and stolen from the property. In several cases the thieves then returned to the hotel with the master keys and stole items.
In one theft at a hotel the thieves specifically used the master keys to access the storage room for the hotel night audit packets and guest files. The thieves stole hundreds of night audit packets containing the names, addresses and credit card numbers of previous guests. Obviously, hotels can be held liable for breach of guests’ personal information or loss of their credit card data.
So, what should hoteliers do? Secure your night audit packets/files in a secure room that has a hard metal key, rather than a magnetic key card lock. There should only be one or two hotel employees that have access to the night audit storage room, and storage room keys. Secure these files separately, and control all access to them. DO NOT include a key to this storage room in your Knox Box, or on your “master key ringâ€, or even leave this key unattended in a key box. The night audit file storage room key should be kept separate from all other keys.
As for the hotel’s Knox Box, local ordinances may require that your property have a Knox Box in the event of an emergency. If so, follow these suggestions:
- Check that your Knox Box is solidly secured to its location, using numerous heavy duty screws or bolts to make it extremely hard to remove.
Â
- Relocate your Knox Box to a well lit area, and in view of security cameras, if your property has them.
Â
- Add a visual inspection of the Knox Box to your property inspection form and security tours so it will be inspected on a regular basis. This will let you know in a timely manner if someone has tried to remove it, or has in fact actually removed or damaged. Immediately re-key the entire hotel if the Knox Box is stolen or the keys inside come up missing. 
 
Pictured above: Here’s what some of the various Knox Boxes look like.
(Todd Seiders, CLSD, is director of risk management for Petra Risk Solutions, which provides a full-range of risk management and insurance services for hospitality owners and operators. Their website is: www.petrarisksolutions.com. Todd can be reached at 800-466-8951 or via e-mail at: todds@petrarisksolutions.com.) Â
Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Fire Risk Management: “Security Alert! Check The Security Of Your Hotel’s Knox Boxes Frequently” By Todd Seiders, CLSD, Petra Risk Solutions
Filed under Crime, Insurance, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Theft
Hotel Industry Security Risk Management: “Fingerprint Entry Systems” Are Starting To Become More Common As A “Reliable” Guest Security Option
If you want to get into your room at New York’s SoHo Loft, you’re going to have to lift a finger. The seven-room hotel has a fingerprint entry system. Guests touch the door pad 
then enter a code for extra security. Kimpton’s 190-room Nine Zero Hotel in Boston was the first hotel to install a biometric iris scanner back in 2004, but only guests of the 1,065-square-foot Cloud Nine penthouse suite have to bat their eyelashes.
Those plastic key cards that once seemed so innovative will soon go the way of the actual key. The new thing is contact less Smartcards and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) cards that need just be waved to allow room access.
Much like the cruise world’s one card system, these cards may soon make hotel stays easier by allowing guests to pay for services, as well as to check-in and check-out, through a single device. Travelers may even be able to save preferences on the cards, from pillow type to floor choice. RFID cards are already in use at New York’s Plaza Hotel, and Starwood Hotels are considering introducing them into their hip Aloft and Element properties.
But travelers worried they will constantly have to traipse back to reception every time they lose their card need not despair. Security systems in some hotels do away with cards altogether.
 “In addition to Radio Frequency Identification, there are also systems that use a smartphone, such as an iPhone,” says Frank Wolfe, CEO of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals. “When a guest checks into a hotel and provides their phone number, they get an encrypted sound code via text message.” You can then play back the code to unlock your room door.
Yet more card-free security systems are on the way. They may still be minor blips on the greater hotel horizon, but biometric systems that seem right out of Mission Impossible have been introduced in the U.S. If you want to get into your room at New York’s SoHo Loft, you’re going to have to lift a finger. The seven-room hotel has a fingerprint entry system. Guests touch the door pad then enter a code for extra security. Kimpton’s 190-room Nine Zero Hotel in Boston was the first hotel to install a biometric iris scanner back in 2004, but only guests of the 1,065-square-foot Cloud Nine penthouse suite have to bat their eyelashes. The uses for biometrics don’t have to stop at the guestroom door, either. The Nine Zero also uses the technology to make the property safer all round, as it has installed the LG IrisAccess 3000 at the employee and delivery entries to the hotel, as well, meaning that non-staff members and intruders can’t access the property.
For more:Â http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/10/29/the-future-of-hotel-security/
Filed under Guest Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
Hotel Industry Guest Relations: Hotels Will Increasingly Opt For “Check-In Kiosks” To Provide “Cozy, One-On-One Welcomes” To Improve Guest Satisfaction
 The key is removing the barrier between the guest and the hotel — be it for better service, streamlining, experience or profit. The sitting-behind-a-desk days are not what travelers 
want,†Sinclair said. “However the hotel chain chooses to roll it out — kiosks, check-in pedestals, tablets or iPads — you walk to the lobby and whoever you speak to can handle your entire needs …
“Traditional front desks, however, may be destined for a scrap heap teeming with bygone lobby fixtures like key boxes, desk bells and hat racks. Some mid-market chains already are dumping imposing check-in counters for cozy, one-on-one welcomes or for virtual check-ins through kiosks or mobile devices.
When Sherry Richert Bulel entered the Andaz West Hollywood in February, she was greeted by a “host†who offered her wine, a comfy chair and room selection via his laptop. “There was no looming desk between us to indicate that he was the hotel staff and I was the guest,†said Richert Bulel, author and founder of simplycelebrate.net, which creates tribute books for special occasions. “I immediately relaxed.â€
In addition to Andaz, Courtyard by Marriott has renovated 201 of its 800 U.S. lobbies, swapping its standard front desks for smaller “welcome pedestals†that allow clerks to step out to meet patrons, then step back to check them in. Courtyard will finish the makeover by 2013.
Meanwhile, Starwood has used one of its urban-style Aloft hotels to test a tech-driven welcome service. Several thousand customers who already carried Starwood Preferred Guest cards were texted their room numbers before arriving at the Aloft Lexington in Massachusetts, allowing them to bypass the front desk and head to their floor.Â
FITs, or Free Independent Travelers. In general, FITs have above-average income, prefer to roam alone, in small groups or as couples, avoid tourist tracks, research their explorations via their mobile devices, and spend freely. They are, Sinclair said, “now the dominant market traveler being sought after by most major brands.†FITs, experts believe, prefer hotels that offer texted check-in codes or lobby kiosks that spit out room keys. So how long until old-school front desks vanish from most or maybe all mid-market hotels?
“Within the next 36 months,†forecasts James Sinclair, principal of OnSite Consulting, a national restaurant and hospitality consulting company. His clients include W Hotels and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Related: Tech-savvy travelers embrace self-service model “ You sit on a couch and wait your turn rather than (stand) behind Bob who is arguing that he didn’t have the salt-and-honey peanuts from the minibar.†Viewed from the bottom line, chopping the front desk also “makes sense for the hotel in terms of profit maximization,†Sinclair said. “As the hotel market has become more competitive with the various online practices and the need to refocus on margins, there are only a few areas that can be looked at.†Number one: payroll. No front desks, or smaller versions, could allow hotels to operate with fewer employees. What’s next? No beds? Then again, that’s the chief reason why some mega-mile travelers — like comedian Dan Nainan — hate the downsizing of check-in counters. Spending huge chunks of their lives on the road, they befriend hotel employees and feel somewhat protective of them. “If I ever see a hotel without a front desk, I can guarantee you that that is a hotel I would never, ever, ever patronize,†said Nainan, who flew 200,000 miles last year. “I will turn right around on my heel and march out of that place so fast I will actually do a wheelie. What brilliant cost-cutting move will they think of next? How about hotel rooms with no beds? Imagine the savings!†But hotel chains say de-emphasizing, shrinking or removing the front desk simply gives their guests more options. Further, the tactic is part of a larger shift, they say, to entice patrons to spend more time — working or relaxing — in attractive, compelling lobbies. Courtyard’s fresh, first-floor face, which costs the chain about $750,000 per makeover, includes free WiFi, “media pods†where patrons can plug in laptops and watch TVs, plus a 57-inch, LCD touch screen — the “GoBoard†— that provides news, weather, and directions to local attractions. An eat-in bistro — “Starbucks meets Panera,†they say — offers breakfast, then later a casual dinner and cocktails. About three years ago, Courtyard’s lobby designers used Styrofoam cutouts to simulate changes — including the “welcome pedestals.â€
Comments Off on Hotel Industry Guest Relations: Hotels Will Increasingly Opt For “Check-In Kiosks” To Provide “Cozy, One-On-One Welcomes” To Improve Guest Satisfaction
Filed under Guest Issues, Labor Issues, Management And Ownership, Training
Hospitality Industry Food Safety: U.S. Food And Drug Administration (FDA) Is Recommending Restaurant Operators To Employ A Certified Food Protection Manager
 Calling for continued improvements in food safety, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that all restaurants and retailers employ 
certified food protection managers, according to a report by Nation’s Restaurant News.
Donald Kraemer, the FDA’s acting deputy director for operations, told Nation’s Restaurant News that the agency plans to add a provision requiring restaurants to employ certified food protection managers to a future edition of the federal “FDA Model Food Code.”
The recommendation, which was met with support from both the National Restaurant Association and the National Council of Chain Restaurants, came Friday as the agency released the results of a 10-year study of retail food risk factors. While the study found overall improvement, the FDA said the presence of a certified food protection manager correlated with significantly higher compliance levels with food safety practices, the report stated.
“In looking at the data, it is quite clear that having a certified food protection manager on the job makes a difference,” said Michael R. Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods. “Some states and localities require certified food protection managers already, and many in the retail industry employ them voluntarily as a matter of good practice. We think it should become common practice.”
The FDA has no timeline for adding a food protection manager provision to the Food Code, but Kraemer said the agency will work to that end through normal channels involving the Conference for Food Protection (CFP). The CFP provides the FDA with input and recommendations, and is made up of members of foodservice trade groups, the food industry, government, academia and consumer organizations. The group meets biennially and convenes next in 2012.
NRA spokesman Mike Donohue said 24 states currently require restaurants to have certified food protection managers. He added that in the other 26 states, some local jurisdictions may have requirements for the employment of such specialized employees, or the state may require such a hire for a specific restaurant or chain that has had food safety problems.
Taking the concept further, some states — including Oregon and, beginning next year, California — require all food handlers to undergo basic safety training and pass an exam attesting to their understanding of the coursework, according to the report.
The FDA’s 10-year study of retail food risk factors found full-service restaurants with certified food protection managers had a 70-percent compliance rate with food safety practices, vs. a 58-percent compliance rate at restaurants without such an employee. In delicatessens, compliance was 79 percent with a manager, compared to 64 percent without, the FDA reported.
Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Food Safety: U.S. Food And Drug Administration (FDA) Is Recommending Restaurant Operators To Employ A Certified Food Protection Manager
Filed under Food Illnesses, Guest Issues, Health, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
Hotel Industry Pool Safety Risk: FEMA To Enforce “No Glass Zone” Rule That Prohibits “Glass-Enclosed Pools” In Florida
FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, doesn’t allow oceanfront hotels to close off their 
pools with glass walls for the winter. This year, the agency will make sure that rule is enforced, whether the city and the hotels like it or not.
In response to FEMA, the manager of the Myrtle Beach Hampton Inn isn’t sure what to do to close off his outdoor pool to make it an indoor pool this winter.
If he puts up the same glass walls the hotel has been using for years, he’ll be in violation of the FEMA rule. But if he doesn’t, the hotel will lose customers.
“It’s too cold to swim in the wintertime, even though the pools are heated. It needs to be enclosed,” said manager Tom Moore.
The hotel could buy Plexiglas or vinyl enclosures that FEMA allows, but Moore says that would cost up to $20,000 the hotel hasn’t budgeted for.
A couple of years ago, FEMA first became aware of the glass walls used by oceanfront hotels and decided they were hazardous, but the rule wasn’t enforced.
Then this summer, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce announced it had pushed a bill through the U.S. House of Representatives to allow the enclosures. Hoteliers thought the problem was solved and that was the end of it.
But the bill never came up for a vote in the Senate, the Senate has adjourned until mid-November and FEMA has now told the city of Myrtle Beach: time’s up, enforce the rule or else.
“We’ve sent letters to all the hotels that are affected, saying November first is when the rule takes effect. You will not put up your temporary pool enclosures that violate FEMA’s regulations then or expect the consequences,” said city spokesman Mark Kruea.
http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=531094
Filed under Claims, Maintenance, Pool And Spa, Training
