LONDON, 2 November 2020: WebBeds, a global B2B bedbank, has announced a new partnership with its health and safety partner, Intertek Cristal Standards.
As part of the new deal, more than 30,000 directly contracted hotel partners have been invited to participate in a programme providing guidance and assessment criteria to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.
WebBeds has defined a list of minimum standards based on WHO recommendations and input from Intertek Cristal. Achieving the criteria will enable hotels to demonstrate to guests and the wider travel market that suitable controls have been implemented to prevent the spread of infection.
Areas covered in the programme include; cleaning protocols, infection control, hand and respiratory hygiene arrangements, social distancing measures, changes to public areas (enhanced cleaning / social distancing), and monitoring, communication, certification.
Hotels will also be offered the opportunity to work with Intertek Cristal Standards to become independently certified with the ‘POSI-Check’ (prevention of the spread of infection) standard which provides staff training, implementation of POSI protocols in the hotel and ongoing auditing of standards and ATP (adenosine triphosphate) testing of key surfaces, as well as RoomCheck audits to monitor the effective cleaning standards involved in housekeeping.
WebBeds CEO Europe Nigel Horne commented: “We understand the concerns of our travel trade partners in needing reassurance that the hotels they choose for their travellers are of an excellent standard of cleanliness and preparedness in protecting against, or dealing with, COVID-19. At the same time, providing our hotel partners with clear, consistent standards to achieve provides them with confidence that they are investing in the right actions to ensure guests experience a safe and enjoyable stay. We are very pleased to be working with an independent, industry-leading partner such as Intertek Cristal Standards to assist us in delivering and adapting our programme as necessary.”
Launched in 2013, WebBeds supplies accommodation and services to the travel industry, providing global coverage through three regions – Europe, Asia Pacific and AMEA (America, Middle East and Africa) with over 1,600 travel professionals working in 50 offices worldwide. WebBeds operates a range of industry-leading booking platforms as well as specialist trade brands JacTravel DMC & Umrah Holidays International.
