TravelPulse Loews Hotels & Co. announced that they are one of the first hospitality brands to achieve the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management through the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). The WELL Health-Safety Rating is an evidence-based third-party assessment for new and existing buildings; it reviews everything from operational policies and maintenance [...]

Lodging Magazine Guests often consider a hotel’s amenities when choosing a place to stay. Hotel door locks are an overlooked amenity that have a big impact on the guest experience. Guests can misplace keys and cards, causing them to visit the front desk and get a new one, sometimes having to pay a fee for [...]

Lodging Magazine Marriott International, Inc. today announced the debut of a pilot program for contactless arrival kiosks at several select-service hotels, as well as the launch of a proof-of-concept for contactless grab-and-go marketplaces at two Fairfield by Marriott hotels. Both concepts build on ongoing measures to boost traveler confidence while reinforcing the company’s Commitment to [...]

WCBS-TV Retirees will soon have the option of living on a college campus in New York. As CBS2′s Kevin Rincon explains, SUNY Purchase has more than 4,000 students enrolled in its classes. In the not-so-distant future, they’ll be joined by seniors – senior citizens, that is.  READ MORE

Facilities Net Air quality sits at the intersection of sustainability, energy efficiency, health/wellness, productivity, climate change, and inequity. Even prior to 2020, this nexus of multi-level, overlapping issues centered on air quality drove a growing recognition of the need to conduct more research and spend more resources addressing air quality outdoors and indoors.  READ MORE 

Facility Executive In response to President Joseph Biden’s executive order on protecting worker health and safety, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has launched a national emphasis program (NEP) focusing enforcement efforts on companies that put the largest number of workers at serious risk of contracting the coronavirus. The program [...]

Senior Housing News Covid-19 has disrupted commercial real estate for the past year, but few asset classes have been hit as hard as the hospitality industry. From the early days of the pandemic, some senior living developers, investors and operators have said they anticipate opportunities to acquire and reposition hotel assets.  READ MORE

Utilities Currently, just over half the world’s population lives in cities, but that is expected to rise to 68 percent by 2050. As a consequence, world energy demand is set to increase by more than 50 percent by 2050, according to predictions by the U.S. Energy Information Administration — resulting in even higher energy consumption.  READ [...]

Hotel Executive We’ve all learned a lot more about what it means for something to be “clean” over the last several months. When we’re talking about spaces, there are three levels of environmental cleaning: clean, sanitize and disinfect. The first level is “clean.” Clean is best described as cleaning with soap and water to remove [...]

ASHE Health Facilities Management Health care organizations are currently required to comply with the 2012 edition of the National Fire Protection Association’s NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code® (LSC), as adopted in July 2016 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). However, there have been three subsequent editions of the LSC published since the [...]

Washington Business Journal Tony Capuano, a longtime executive at Marriott International Inc., is the company’s choice to succeed Arne Sorenson as the Bethesda hospitality giant’s chief executive. Marriott made the announcement Tuesday morning, about a week after Sorenson died following a battle with pancreatic cancer.  READ MORE

AHLA The following is a statement from Chip Rogers, President and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recent update to prioritize “Traveler Accommodation” under the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Categories of Essential Workers.  READ MORE

FM Link Otis Worldwide Corporation, a global provider of elevator and escalator manufacturing, installation and service, recently released the results of a three-month academic study that investigates how elevator airflow affects potential exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes Covid-19, and provides a science-based approach for how to mitigate that exposure in elevators.      [...]

FM Link Otis Worldwide Corporation, a global provider of elevator and escalator manufacturing, installation and service, recently released the results of a three-month academic study that investigates how elevator airflow affects potential exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes Covid-19, and provides a science-based approach for how to mitigate that exposure in elevators.      [...]

The Washington Post -  One day last summer, the newest member of YOTEL Boston’s housekeeping team pulled up to work in a big crate. “It was an imposing box,” recalled general manager Trish Berry, who watched as a team of robotics professionals then unpacked the employee, a tall cleaning bot nicknamed “Vi-YO-Let.”  READ MORE Yotel Boston’s [...]

FMLink -  Global building technology society ASHRAE’s Epidemic Task Force has released new guidance to address control of airborne infectious aerosol exposure. According to the group, an infectious aerosol is a suspension in air of fine particles or droplets containing pathogens such as the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19, that can cause infections when inhaled. [...]

IFMA’s FMJ Magazine -  As health care facility managers navigate transitions from COVID-dedicated spaces to general patient care areas and back again to respond to rising hospitalizations, many are focused on building stronger levels of flexibility and resiliency to ensure the safety of patients and staff…READ MORE

Hotel Management -  Following successful pilot programs in North America, Europe and Asia, Accor is rolling out a new digital key solution to provide a contactless guest journey in its hotels. Named “Accor Key,” the solution will provide customers with a keyless door entry solution, which customers will access via Accor’s digital key app. This [...]

Skift – Hotel room revenues may have tanked during the coronavirus pandemic, but some leading operators in the industry hope underutilized kitchens can pave the way for future profits. Even before the pandemic depleted hotels of high occupancy rates and coveted business like corporate travel and conventions, full-service hotel owners struggled with food and beverage [...]

Hotel Management -  A six-month follow-up to the fall’s “J.D. Power Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study” reveals some compelling insights into what guests are demanding from hoteliers. Guest responses from June to November 2020 make it clear that hotel teams are working hard to maintain cleanliness and safety protocols—and that guests are aware of the efforts. [...]