Maine hotels step up security measures to show quarantines are not needed

When someone checks in at the Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport, no one takes the guest’s credit card, everything is paid in advance.

There are few friendly jokes or encouragement to stay at the reception, either. Instead, attendees receive a white paper bag from a masked attendee. Inside, find your room key, a resort guide, information on Kennebunkport, and a checklist for ordering items you wouldn’t otherwise find in your room: pen and paper, hair dryer, ironing board, or blanket extra.

In a normal year, those would be the standard amenities of hotel rooms. But the Nonantum, like other Maine lodging businesses, is a very different place in the COVID-19 era, and everything that cannot be easily disinfected among guests has been removed.

The lobby, a common gathering place, is stripped of almost all furniture. The lobby bar is closed, and the generous space between the tables makes the dining room feel cavernous.

Fancy swimming in the pool? Be sure to reserve your group’s two-hour block in advance. The same goes for a table to dine in an outside cabin, or one of the resort’s kayaks or bikes. Hand sanitizer dispensers are placed near each entrance, and signs reminding guests to wear masks and stay 6 feet away to wallpaper hallways and doors.

The hotel’s kitchen and bar have been relocated abroad, to provide guests with a clear view of how their food and drinks are prepared. Rooms are left empty for 24 hours between guests, innkeeper Jean Ginn Marvin said, and then they do a deep cleaning of every corner, an exercise that takes twice as long as a normal cleaning.

So far, it’s too early to know whether the effort to reopen it will be worth it. The complex was only half booked during the July 4 vacation weekend, and managers are replacing workers they can’t afford to hire right now, Marvin said.

“We have been here for 136 years: people count on us to be here, workers count on us,” he said. “We felt we had to set the stage, set the standard, and be cheerleaders” for the state’s lodging industry.

Hotels and inns have insisted for months that they are taking the pandemic seriously and doing everything they can to protect their guests, staff and communities. Dedication to security has been the industry’s leading argument why Governor Janet Mills should allow more out-of-state tourists to visit Maine without undergoing a 14-day quarantine upon arrival or vouching for a COVID-19 test. recent and negative. .

More than 2,000 hospitality workers have completed a specialized COVID-19 protocol course designed by HospitalityMaine and Eastern Maine Community College. A state-created checklist includes specific operating procedures for hosting companies to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

On a recent afternoon, Nonantum’s guests sunbathed in groups of well-separated garden chairs. People stood a long distance and quickly covered their faces as they passed other guests and staff.

The reserves began to flood just after the governor announced last week that travelers from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut could visit Maine without restrictions, citing improved public health metrics in those states.

Despite business recovery, the complex still seemed quiet. Visitors strolled, shopped, and dined at Kennebunkport Village, but the activity was quiet compared to the normal summer crowds.

“It feels so weird right now,” said Marvin. “In a normal year we would be working at crazy high speed; there would be people everywhere. “

Staying in a hotel is risky compared to staying in your own community, said Dr. Anne Mills, medical director of MaineHealth.

“Spending the night in a hotel increases your risk of staying home because you will meet other people, including people from places with the highest prevalence of the disease,” Mills said.

It also means moving and eating in restaurants. People at high risk for serious health consequences of contracting the disease should avoid hotel stays, he said, but for young adults and others there are ways to mitigate the risk.

Mills added that there are a few things to keep in mind when considering a hotel. Key questions to ask before booking a room include whether the staff and guests wear masks, if social distancing is applied, there are abundant opportunities to sanitize hands, and whether the hotel hosts large events.

She recommended checking hotel websites to see if they announce the precautions they are taking. If there is no information, that could be a sign that security measures are not taken seriously.

“If they are making it easier for you to comply with them, and for your employees to be, I would feel relatively safe as long as it is not full,” Mills said.

Other hotels are taking similar and even more extreme precautions. At Cliff House Maine, a luxury resort in Cape Neddick, entering guests stop at a guardhouse and staff check their temperatures before driving to the hotel.

Indoors, the chairs in the lobby have been removed to maintain a 6-foot distance between the parties. Air purification machines are placed at intervals in common areas, and reception staff behind the Plexiglas shields use UV machines to disinfect key cards before passing them on to incoming guests. Air filters have also been updated with UV membranes to improve hygiene.

“Everything we do is about air quality,” said managing director Nancy White.

The hotel invested tens of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours in preparation, he added. That included installing glass dividers between tables in their restaurants and across from hotel bars. The hotel even offers access to COVID-19 testing for its guests through a medical office in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

“It makes people feel comfortable, this gives them a feeling of calm,” said White.

About half of the resort’s rooms were reserved for the weekend of July 4. Last year, it was completely full, White said. She doesn’t expect to be full again this summer, but if more tourists are allowed to come to Maine without restrictions, she believes the hotel can get up to 75 percent occupancy.

But that requires the state to trust Cliff House and other lodging businesses and the Maine tourism industry to operate safely and responsibly, something White says they have already demonstrated.

“We feel like we did our part,” he said, but prospective guests continue to cancel trips because they feel they cannot follow the state’s travel restrictions. “They really want to come, but they’ve been quarantined at home for three months and they don’t understand why they have to quarantine when they come here.”

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