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News #StepAhead: Israel To Reopen Hotels With New SOP Called 'Purple Standard'
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#StepAhead: Israel To Reopen Hotels With New SOP Called 'Purple Standard'

As Israel reopens its tourism industry, the country announces 'Purple Standard' for all the hotels to ensure complete safety of their guests and staff.

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By: Priyanka Chakrabarti Published: Apr 30, 2020 07:00 AM IST

#StepAhead: Israel To Reopen Hotels With New SOP Called 'Purple Standard'

As Israel reopens its tourism industry, the country announces ‘Purple Standard’ for all the hotels to ensure complete safety of their guests and staff. By Upasana Singh

Israel Reopen Hotels

As Israel plans to reopen for both domestic as well as international tourism, the country’s health and tourism ministries announce a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the operating hotels, known as ‘Purple Standard’. For hotels to remain in compliance with the new procedures, they must reach and maintain several benchmarks outlined by Ministry of Health officials, that will deem the property safe to welcome travellers.

“It’s extremely important that hotels across our country maintain a high level of health and sanitation standards to ensure travellers’ safety when visiting Israel. When we are able to open our borders to international travellers again, we want tourists to feel confident that Israel is taking every precaution to ensure they have a safe, pleasurable vacation in our beautiful and vibrant country,” said Israel’s Minister of Tourism Asaf Zamir.

 

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As per the ‘Purple Standard’, all the hotels must follow the universal rules of conduct for reducing infection, which includes wearing a face mask in all public spaces, maintaining a minimum distance of six feet, and frequent hand washing. Prior to the opening, all the hotels are required to follow cleaning and disinfecting protocols, guidelines for cleaning the hotel water systems such as pools, and a dedicated staff member to oversee all health and safety procedures.

Once the hotel is open, it should conduct temperature checks on all staff, guests and visitors, install transparent plexiglass partitions at reception desks, put up clear signage detailing health and safety measures, and limit the number of guests allowed in an elevator at a time, also maintaining highest health sanitation standards across all facilities.

Kitchens and dining rooms at hotels will only be reopened once they have met the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health. All staff will be required to wear face masks and gloves and all seating arrangements will be redone in accordance with social distancing measures. Dining hours will also be expanded to allow for proper distancing.

 

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Moreover, each room will have to undergo a thorough and deep sanitation process before a new guest is allowed to check in, and in case the guest is exposed, his/her room will be closed for seven days and will undergo a special sanitation process from an specialist vendor to ensure the room is safe to re-enter.

Furthermore, guests using spa facilities will have to fill out a health questionnaire and take a temperature check before any treatment is performed. Therapists and staff will all be required to wear masks and wash hands after every treatment. In addition, treatment rooms will also be fully disinfected after every session.

While, 50 people will be allowed at a time in outdoor meetings and events, provided they follow all social distancing measures, only eight people will be allowed at indoor events, and will be required to wear face masks.

 

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Some of the hotel chains in Israel that have already announced their reopening strategies include Isrotel, Dan Hotels, Brown Hotels. Fattal Hotel Management, Prima Hotels, Abraham Hostels and Efendi Hotel.

“Starting today, restaurants in Israel will be opening for service again. Make sure to save room for dessert,” Isarel Tourism had tweeted earlier on May 27.

The country’s Tourism Ministry had earlier also announced reopening of guest houses and hotel rooms from May 3, including Zimmers—a form of rural accommodation, generally smaller than a bed and breakfast. The plan was initially meant only for domestic visitors to avoid spread of COVID-19 cases. However, pools, jacuzzies, and dining rooms were still barred from opening.

Related: #SomeGoodNews: New Zealand Emerges Victorious In The Battle Against COVID-19

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