Page updated April 2021
The Forever Cornwall team would firstly like to thank you all for your hard work and effort during 2020. We appreciate what a challenge housekeeping presents during the pandemic. Moving forward, we should all continue to prioritise providing safe and clean properties this year.
12 April is fast approaching and with that in mind we’ve reviewed and updated our Safer Stays policy. Please make sure all property managers, housekeepers, and cleaning staff are aware of all aspects of the policy, so we are all following the same principles.
We are also expecting guests to follow rules and guidelines, to help you do your job safely. You can find a link to what we are saying to them further down this page.
Safe working guidelines
- Stick to the government social distancing guidelines if you are working as a team.
- Try to avoid working in teams of more than 2/3 and try to work with the same ‘cleaning buddy’ as regularly as possible. This also applies to travelling to/from properties in shared cars.
- Ideally wear face masks and gloves, as it’s possible you are contagious but not experiencing symptoms.
- Wash hands immediately on arrival and immediately after gloves are removed. If that’s not possible, use hand sanitiser.
- Make sure you know how to safely remove any cleaning gear (i.e. masks, aprons, disposable gloves), dispose of them or sanitise accordingly after use. Change PPE items between cleans.
- Mid-stay cleans continue to be advised against, however do continue to offer a change of linen & towels weekly for longer stays. Ask guests to bag up used linen, and drop off fresh linen for guests to replace themselves.
Cleaning principles
- On arrival open windows to allow fresh air to circulate the property during the entire cleaning process.
- On hard surfaces follow a two-step process (particularly kitchens and bathrooms). Don’t just sanitise – clean, then sanitise. First clean areas with hot soapy water, second apply disinfectant (let it stand for a few minutes before wiping) to kill viruses, as well as bacteria and germs.
- High touch items should be sanitised, including TV channel hoppers, light switches, hand rails, door knobs, key safes etc.
- Use disposable cloths or paper towels when possible or machine-wash reusable cloths at the highest heat setting appropriate after each clean.
- Bedding, towels, bath mats and tea towels should be machine washed at 60°C (including unused ones).
- Mattress & pillow protectors should continue to be washed on every change over.
- Double check all surfaces for dust, crumbs or any debris, under beds and sofas, on top of cupboards, in tucked away corners. If your guests see dust, they will question whether the property has been thoroughly cleaned.
What should be in the property
- Removed items. Last year some of you removed some items (toys, games, soft furnishings). This year we are happy for these to go back in — “the science” shows that close human contact for extended time in close spaces is the big spreader of Covid, rather than touching things. However we will continue to tell guests that “some non-essential items may have been removed” to cover you in any situation.
- Welcome packs should be back to normal, however we will continue to say “your welcome packs may have been reduced” to cover you in any situation.
- If you would like to continue to provide hand sanitiser in your property please feel free to do so, however this is not mandatory as we feel most guests will be practising good hygiene themselves, i.e. using their own sanitiser.
What we ask from guests
This year we are again putting Safer Stays sheets into all properties. These are A4 laminated sheets for guests which give them instructions from us all. Most of the information is the same for all properties but some needs to be bespoke so there are boxes at the bottom for you to customise. We’ll give you stickers because you won’t be able to write on the laminated sheets!
- Write in the bin day/time to encourage guests to remember it!
- Write the check out time (10:00 am). We found last year that asking guests to depart earlier was counter-productive as it contributed to properties being left in a hurry especially in busy peak season (i.e. young, disorganised families). They will already have been told this in emails but you writing it personally as well can only help to ensure that guest don’t keep you waiting.
- This year again we are asking guests to strip their own beds and to follow your written instructions for what to do with linen, towels and tea towels. This will vary depending on how your laundry operates so you need to write specific instructions on the Safer Stays sheet — see example.
- Check in is 5pm for all properties, giving two hours more than “usual” for most properties.
Legionnaires’ disease (not Covid-related but worth mentioning)…
- If the water has not been used for a while, it is important to be aware of the risk of legionnaires’ disease in the water systems.
- Raise the temperature of the hot water in your boiler/cylinder to 60°C or higher.
- Flush the water system – flush your toilets and let taps run for a couple of minutes.
- Disinfect the showerhead and run water from both hot and cold taps for a couple of minutes.
Emergency procedure — if guests fall ill
Guests are asked to immediately contact us if any become symptomatic. If they do so we’ll contact owners and housekeepers immediately. They will be advised to travel home immediately if safe to do so. If they need to self-isolate in the property they will be charged for occupancy and incoming guests will be cancelled.
What we are telling guests
Read our guest web page here: forevercornwall.co.uk/coronavirus
Owners, supporting housekeepers
We know many of you are already doing this and your support should continue. When you ask your cleaners to complete additional tasks to disinfect your property, and wash extra items, allocate extra time & money to allow for the additional cleaning. To this end we are continuing with our 5pm check-in policy, to support Housekeepers and allow an empty period of time before new arrival.
Please also support your Housekeeper by making sure that there is an adequate supply of mattress & pillow protectors for a change after every guest stay. Typically one set will be one the beds, one at laundry, and one bagged up and ready to go.
Please do ask us for any support you may need over the coming weeks, Louise is always happy to help!