ONYX Hospitality Group enhances hygiene and safety across every step of the guest journey with “ONYX Clean”

In preparation to welcome travellers back to its hotels, resorts and serviced apartments across the Asia-Pacific and to reassure guests who are currently in residence, ONYX Hospitality Group has announced enhanced operational hygiene and safety standards as part of a brand-new “ONYX Clean” initiative that will be implemented across its full portfolio that includes brands and properties such as Amari, OZO, Shama and Oriental Residence Bangkok. 

“ONYX Clean” will impact every step of the guest journey from arrival to departure, with updated standards and operational procedures that complement the Group’s existing industry-leading health and safety initiatives. “ONYX Clean” will be introduced across all of the company’s 52 properties across 7 countries in the coming weeks, and at all new openings. All properties with temporary suspended operations will reopen with full “ONYX Clean” implementation, as team members take this unprecedented opportunity to prepare, train and finetune procedures for the return of the first guests.

During this operational hiatus, ONYX team members are continuously engaged while staying home as they participate in an online learning platform that offers a wide variety of training programmes, including in-house produced educational videos that help deliver awareness on pathogen risks and demonstrate the enhanced cleaning and sanitising methodologies and updated guest service protocols. 

Each property has appointed an in-house “ONYX Clean” champion who will ensure the implementation and internal audit of all standards based on a property-wide checklist developed in partnership with Ecolab, a global leader in hygiene, safety and energy technology solutions and supplier of many cleaning products used by ONYX Hospitality Group properties.

“As one of the leading medium-sized hospitality players in the Asia Pacific region, we have always taken pride in our high levels of hygiene and our long standing commitment towards the safety and well-being of our guests, team members and the community,“ said Douglas Martell, President & CEO, ONYX Hospitality Group. 

“With the impact of COVID-19 leading to new norms and heightened consumer interest in hygiene and safety, we would like to assure all travellers – both new and returning – that we have their safety and well-being as our number one priority. Every property will adhere to an updated and consistent list of housekeeping, maintenance and service delivery protocols. Given the importance of safety, our portfolio size and the pace at which we collaborate, we will prioritise and implement all these revised measures within a matter of weeks,” he added.

The revised standards of the “ONYX Clean” initiative take into consideration every step of the stay journey that is visible to guests, as well as the ‘unseen’ heart-of-house areas such as team member dining and locker rooms, receiving bay, food and supplies storage, and kitchens. Highlights include:

• Welcome and arrival – Compulsory temperature readings, hand sanitisation, observation of potential symptoms for all guests and patrons. Every arriving residential guest will be requested to complete an ONYX health and travel questionnaire. Physical distancing will be implemented in the event of queues or waiting and all keys and pens used to complete the check-in procedure will be sanitised. 
• Guest rooms and suites – A room seal will be placed on every guest room door to indicate to arriving guests that their personal space has not been tampered with since being thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. Housekeeping team members will service all guest rooms and suites with hotel-issued masks and gloves, with a list of high-touch surfaces such as door handles, TV remotes, room controls and faucets being wiped down with approved sanitisers and further sterilised by UV-C wands.
• Public Areas – Hourly sanitisation of high-traffic and common-touch areas including door handles and lift buttons. Furniture placement in the lobby and all guest areas will be revised and elevator capacities will be limited to observe safe distancing. Hand sanitisers will be easily available at multiple points and UV-C wands will be used to regularly sterilise seats and tables.
• Food and beverage outlets – All outlets will be rearranged to ensure a safe distance of at least one metre between tables and clusters of bar chairs, with queue management activated during busy meal periods like breakfast.
• Kitchens and food preparation – Implementation of advanced hygiene and safety protocols in all kitchen and food preparation zones with stringent sanitation standards to complement the enhanced safety measures in all F&B outlets
• Spas – Additional temperature readings and hand sanitising for guests prior to consultation and treatment, with issued masks to be worn by every team member and spa therapist at all times.
• Pool and fitness areas – Enhanced sanitation of sun loungers and pool furniture which will be rearranged to ensure safe distancing. In fitness centres, hand and equipment sanitisers will be easily accessible. During high occupancy periods, guests will be invited to reserve a gym session or sunbed space to minimise crowding.
• Team member wellness – Mandatory temperature readings and hand sanitisation as team members report for duty, with enhanced grooming and hygiene inspection before the commencement of every shift. Team member locker rooms, dining areas, contact points and heart-of-house corridors and elevators will also be regularly sanitised with safe distancing among colleagues enforced.
• Receiving bays – Enhanced protocols and collaboration with suppliers to ensure maximum hygiene during deliveries, and temperature reading for delivery persons and hygiene screening for vehicles and equipment.

A rapidly-expanding Bangkok-headquartered hotel company with presence across the Asia-Pacific region, ONYX Hospitality Group has a development pipeline of more than 20 hotels scheduled to open in the coming years in locations such as Niseko, the Maldives, Penang, Colombo, Vientiane and Pattaya. The company is committed to ongoing safety and hygiene as its operational reach continues to expand beyond its Thai roots.