Heads of State rent out entire hotel floors for security reasons but several hotels now, at lowest-ever occupancy, are offering to rent out entire floors for people looking for Covid safety. That seems entirely unnecessary.
There haven’t been any documented cases of spread between rooms either in hotels or office buildings.
- Office spread has occurred where there is an open floor plan. But the virus doesn’t seem to spread through HVAC systems, though there’s been conjecture that it could be possible. It doesn’t travel through walls, either. Your hotel room – even with others on the floor – is probably low risk.
- During the first SARS outbreak there was fecal transmission through plumbing in residential complexes but the issue there seemed to be “bathroom floor drains (not common in the US) with dry traps that allow air from the vent stack, which might be contaminated with fecal aerosols from other units, to flow into your bathroom.” If this were an issue in hotels having a floor to yourself wouldn’t be prophylactic.
- Lobbies are potential areas of spread but it seems not your room itself. And resorts with outdoor spaces that have proper precautions seem safe too. Even elevators are safer than we thought, at least modern elevators with regular air exchange. The greatest risk would be standing next to someone with the virus who is talking to you or that coughs on you, rather than aerosol buildup (and your time in the elevator is usually short).
The bottom line is that hotel rooms are generally safe, you don’t need an entire floor, and renting one doesn’t keep you that much more protected.
@ Gary — If you could get elite stay credits for all of the rooms….
Travel shill says hotel rooms are safe. What a coincidence….
Dr. Leff, on SARS:
“One of those cases involved a Chinese respiratory doctor who spread the disease to seven other people during a one-night hotel stay in Hong Kong.”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/02/14/hong-kong-hotel-hosted-super-spreader-in-the-2003-sars-outbreak.html
I remain shocked that nobody seems to know how anyone gets Covid, and what the real risks are — especially with travel.
It would be nice if we saw a scientific study of hotel workers. What’s their infection rate compared to the general public?
What about restaurant waitstaff?
Doug Parker has said AA flight attendants have lower-than-average infection rates. What about other flight crews?
None of this should be hard to put together. Given how bad the science is, it sure would be nice to have more data.
Marketing ploy only! No scientific evidence this works or is even needed. Hotels are desperate. Just left the Seattle Airport Marriott. Place was like a ghost town. The idiotic governor of Washington State
has passed a bunch of rules regarding dining that are totally insane. You can’t eat in the hotel restaurant but now I am in the AK lounge in Seattle eating. You can order food in the mall including a full dinner but there is no where to sit and eat ! You have to walk around the mall eating and if you stop security is on you. God what lunacy! Thanking my lucky stars I no longer live in Seattle.
What about in the central air circulation system? Some hotels have central air and it is recirculated air. Unless they can use only outside air and HEPA filters (which might not be efficient enough) in the system the problem doesn’t go away. In fact the vapors can spread everywhere. My rule is that if you are in a space where you could smell a cigarette burning by an individual then the same amount of vapor is also spreading.