Tag: Health and Safety

Keeping it clean- our guidelines to help you reduce the spread of Covid-19 when hosting events

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), one of the ways the new Coronavirus can be spread is by direct or indirect contact with contaminated surfaces and objects. To prevent transmission of the virus, keeping your space as clean and hygienic as possible is now more important than ever. As a host, showing your commitment to having a clean space is also a great way to make sure your guests feel safe and comfortable when booking your venue. With this in mind, we’ve put together some health and safety guidelines to help you keep your space spotless while reducing the spread of the infection during bookings:

Cleaning and disinfecting your space:

To make sure things are as safe as possible for you and your guests we recommend:

• Airing out the venue by opening windows and doors to increase air circulation
• Hoovering and mopping floors
• Cleaning all surfaces with soap and water
• Sanitising the interior with a spray disinfectant, especially high-touch areas such as door handles and light switches
• Sanitising any shared electrical equipment which your guests may have access to

Personal hygiene and protective gear:

To help your guests stay as safe as possible during bookings you must provide:

• Easy access to hand-washing facilities with soap and water or antibacterial hand gel containing at least 60% alcohol
• We also recommend providing protective gear including disposable masks, gloves and wipes plus a dedicated bin for guests to dispose of everything safely at the end of the night

Social distancing:

The WHO advises that the best way to limit transmission of the virus is to practice social distancing by keeping a safe distance between yourself and other people. We recommend:

• Limiting your guest capacity for bookings
• Removing excess furniture to give guests more room to circulate
• Using HEPA-certified air filters with your air conditioning system
• Using outside space to reduce the risk of transmission whenever possible

Spacing out bookings:

In order to continue to host guests comfortably and safely during the pandemic we recommend:

• Spacing out bookings to ensure there is ample time to clean and disinfect each space between events
• Scheduling a deep clean by a professional cleaning company once a month or so to keep your venue as hygienic as possible

Informing guests about your health & safety procedures

To keep your guests safe, it’s important to keep them informed. You can do this by:

• Posting reminders about handwashing and social distancing in bathrooms and shared areas
• Using floor markers and directional arrows to direct the flow of pedestrian traffic in corridors and foyers
• Posting a checklist of the enhanced cleaning protocol and/or any protective measures you’re using in your space. Go to your account to update your space Covid Health and Safety Measures now.

Stay updated:

As a host, you can update the details of your cleaning policy and amenities at any time on your listing page. Let your guests know about all the new health and security measures for your space by keeping your page up-to-date. Plus, once you choose to publish your Covid Health & Safety Measures, you will receive a Health & Safety badge on your listing page to let guests know you have implemented an enhanced cleaning protocol.

Keeping each other safe and healthy: our guidelines to help you reduce the spread of Covid-19 during your booking

As the Covid-19 health crisis continues to evolve around the world, it’s no surprise that cleanliness has become a hot topic for the hospitality sector. With contaminated surfaces thought to be a vector for spreading the virus, ensuring we offer organisers clean and hygienic spaces has never been so important.

With this in mind, we’ve put together some new guidelines to help keep you and your guests safe during your booking. Read on to learn more about our health and safety guidelines and to discover the protective measures recommended by the ECDC to help keep you safe during the pandemic :

Preparing the event safely:

• To protect our guests, we ask organisers to thoroughly air out the venue by opening windows and doors to increase air circulation
• We also recommend that organisers wear protective gear such as disposable masks, gloves and aprons to avoid contamination whilst setting up events

Sanitising high-touch areas:

• As recommended by the ECDC, it’s especially important to sanitise high-touch areas such as doorknobs and light switches in each venue.
• It is also important to thoroughly sanitise any shared electrical appliances or devices which guests might have access to during the event

Personal hygiene and protective gear:

• To keep your guests safe during a booking, organisers must provide access to hand-washing facilities or antibacterial hand gel containing at least 60% alcohol
• We also recommend that organisers provide protective gear including disposable masks, gloves and wipes plus a dedicated bin for guests to dispose of everything safely at the end of the event

Spacing out bookings:

We recommend spacing out bookings to ensure there is ample time to clean and disinfect each space between events to keep venues as hygienic as possible

Social distancing:

• We highly recommend limiting the number of guests at each event to ensure organisers can comply with local capacity guidelines
• We also recommend removing excess furniture to allow more room for guests to maintain social distancing protocols during the event

Protective measures

To protect both yourself and your fellow guests during bookings, the WHO has put together a list of protective measures to help slow the spread of the virus. When hosting an event, you can help keep everyone safe and healthy by:

• Wearing a mask which covers your nose and mouth Staying 1m apart from other guests
• Washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If you do not have access to soap and water, you can also use antibacterial hand gel that contains 60% alcohol
• Avoiding touching your face especially your eyes, mouth and nose
• Opening doors and windows to increase ventilation and minimise risk
• Covering your mouth and nose with your elbow when coughing or sneezing

Staying updated:

Our hosts can update the details of their Covid Health and Safety Measures at any time on their individual listing page. To find out more about all the new health and security measures on offer for your venue of choice, simply click through to the listing page.

Flexible Cancellations in Response to COVID-19

Finally, our continued top priority is the health and safety of our community and we remain committed to supporting you in this time of uncertainty. Following the declaration of the COVID-19 as a pandemic, we updated our Cancellation Policy to clarify the known risks associated with bookings taking place throughout this period. You can review the policy here. For other requests please contact our team on [email protected].

Find out more about how to check the Covid Health & Safety Measures put in place by our hosts:

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to change the way we live and work, social distancing and protective measures are proving to be the key to establishing a new normal. While the health and safety of our guests have always been our top priority, in the face of the ongoing crisis, we are fully committed to ensuring our hosts offer the very highest standards of cleanliness.

To protect our guests whilst preventing the spread of Covid-19, we’ve created some Health & Safety guidelines based on ECDC recommendations to help our hosts take appropriate measures wherever possible. We are also encouraging our hosts to update their individual listing page with details of their Covid-19 cleaning policy and the protective measures currently in place for guests (Are you a host? Update your Covid Health and Safety Measures now).

To make it easier for organisers and guests to check which of our spaces have Covid Health and Safety Measures in place, once a host updates their cleaning policy we will add a Health & Safety badge to their listing page. Additionally, organisers will be able to search for individual properties with specific Covid-19 health and safety measures using our search filter index.

To find out more about the Covid Health & Safety Measures for any of our spaces, simply click through to their individual listing page.

Flexible Cancellations in Response to COVID-19

Finally, our continued top priority is the health and safety of our community and we remain committed to supporting you in this time of uncertainty. Following the declaration of the COVID-19 as a pandemic, we updated our Cancellation Policy to clarify the known risks associated with bookings taking place throughout this period. You can review the policy here. For other requests please contact our team on [email protected].