Are Covid 'Resort Bubbles' The Next Step For Safe Travel?

Mar 15, 2021

Are Covid ‘Resort Bubbles’ The Next Step For
Safe Travel?
Ramsey Qubein

Grand Hyatt Baha Mar Nassau Paradise Island in the Bahamas successfully rolled out a resort
bubble for guest and employee safety.
GRAND HYATT BAHA MAR

With many countries or states already requiring a negative test to travel, the
concept of a resort bubble provides one more layer of assurance as more
Americans demonstrate comfort in traveling to destinations that make visitors
feel safe. While Spring Break travel may earn the wrong kind of headlines,
resort bubbles provide an alternative method of travel that can be effective.

Island resorts have been among the first to test the resort bubble
concept. Grand Hyatt Baha Mar on Nassau Paradise Island in the Bahamas,
and its two sibling properties SLS and Rosewood, are using a resort bubble
with great success. Many resorts on the Hawaiian island of Kauai have also
implemented a similar resort bubble program, which has proven effective.

Not all resort bubbles are created equally, but here is the gist of how they
work.

Once you arrive

A woman has her Covid health app checked at the resort.
GRAND HYATT BAHA MAR

Putting a full testing regime into place to provide an added layer of security is
no easy feat. Many international destinations already require proof of a
negative test result to enter. Hawaii, for example, has implemented a testing
requirement for visitors, and airlines check documentation of a negative test
before a passenger boards their flight.

Sealing off a resort, through one more testing layer, to keep out further
infection helps to boost travel confidence although planning for it is complex.

“The process began months before our re-opening,” says Ulrich Samietz,
general manager of Grand Hyatt Baha Mar. “We collaborated with medical
experts from the Cleveland Clinic and other industry advisors to fine-tune our
operating procedures as an extension of Hyatt’s Global Care and Cleanliness
Commitment.”

A guest checks into Grand Hyatt Baha Mar and gets his temperature checked before the resort
bubble Covid-19 test.
GRAND HYATT BAHA MAR

When guests arrive, they are asked to sanitize hands and undergo a scan of
their temperature. This is all done while extending the typical courtesies of a
resort welcome: details on the property layout and suggestions on what to
experience. As guests complete check-in formalities, the staff provides a
friendly reminder to wear masks indoors as well as when walking around
unless swimming, dining, drinking or relaxing by the pool or beach.

A guest gets a quick and free Covid test after checking in to the resort's Covid bubble.
GRAND HYATT BAHA MAR

The next step is a mini clinic visit of sorts. Nurses ask a few questions before
performing a rapid (and free) antigen test and sending guests on their way to
the room. Guests are not free to roam just yet; instead, they are escorted, with
their luggage, to the room. No keys are issued until the test comes back
negative.

A guest room at Grand Hyatt Baha Mar. Guests must wait in their room until staff return
shortly after check-in with Covid test results to satisfy the conditions of the resort bubble.
GRAND HYATT BAHA MAR

It is only natural for guests to feel apprehensive while they await test results
even though they had to test negative to arrive there in the first place. Within a
half hour, the staff should arrive with room keys and the green light that
guests can wander as they wish. The process is swift, yet reassuring.

“Overall, the feedback has been positive, and our guests have expressed how
safe and comfortable they’ve felt,” adds Samietz.

On Kauai, guests staying at hotels participating in its resort bubble must wear
a monitoring bracelet for 72 hours as a contact tracing measure. They must
also complete daily, online health checks. Depending on the property, there
may be a fee for the monitoring bracelet.

The Kauai resort bubble is intended to keep guests from wandering off
property during their first 72 hours on the island, and the associated app
sends alerts to your phone should you step outside of the resort’s “bubble.”

Timbers Kauai at Hokuala was successfully using a resort bubble concept most of the winter.
The ... [+]
TIMBERS KAUAI AT HOKUALA

Guests are not trapped though. Timbers Kauai at Hokuala, for example,
partnered with the adjacent Marriott Kauai Beach Club to create an 800-acre
area where guests in quarantine can enjoy outdoor amenities like the pools,
beach and bike paths during their first three days on the island while
remaining in the bracelet’s tracking zone.

After 72 hours, guests take a Covid-19 test. If negative, they are free to roam
off property should they wish. Beginning April 5, however, Kauai will shift
from the resort bubble system to synchronize its protocols with those of other
Hawaiian Islands.

Even in a resort bubble, having so much outdoor space on property means there is plenty of
areas to roam.
TIMBERS KAUAI AT HOKUALA

This is not due to inefficacy of the resort bubble, however. Representatives for
Timbers Kauai at Hokuala say occupancy has been nearly 100% at times and
that the resort bubble helped boost confidence in safety there.

But what happens if you test positive?

A medical professional sanitizes a chair between guest arrivals.
GRAND HYATT BAHA MAR

At Baha Mar, there’s a plan in place, known as the Travel With Confidence
program. Essentially a resort guarantee, the program covers all meals,
accommodations and even transportation back home should the guest test
positive. The return flight would be via a private plane service that is approved
to carry medical passengers.

Such a generous program is expensive, but the number of people that test
positive is so minuscule, according to Baha Mar, that it is a safe bet.

All travelers to the Bahamas over the age of ten have already completed the
Bahamas Travel Health Visa, which requires a negative PCR test. Still, the
possibility to test positive en route exists.

If someone tests positive upon arrival, a medical professional will come to the
guest’s room to perform a PCR test, which is typically more reliable to verify
the positive result.

If positive a second time, guests are given suite accommodations and a daily
$150 dining credit for 14 days or until they test negative.

Why resort bubbles make sense

A medical professional checks a guest's records.
GRAND HYATT BAHA MAR

These secondary assurances may be what moves the needle for people as they
look to safely travel again and as the hotel industry seeks its path to recovery.

Depending on the destination, there are additional protocols in place, too. In
the Bahamas, guests must complete a daily health survey as well as test again
if staying longer than five nights in the country. At Baha Mar, this second test
is free. On Kauai, no additional test to return to the mainland is necessary
since it is not a foreign country.

These precautions keep infection numbers in check allowing any rare cases to
be caught quickly.

One of the many pools at Grand Hyatt Baha Mar Nassau Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
GRAND HYATT BAHA MAR

Like other destinations (Costa Rica and Turks and Caicos among them),
Bahama-bound travelers must also purchase a travel insurance policy that is
based on their length of stay.

When the United States closed its borders in late January to anyone that could
not show a negative Covid-19 test result, hotels and resorts went a step
further. Many major hospitality brands began offering complimentary tests for
guests before they returned to the U.S.; this includes the resorts at Baha Mar.

The signature pink flamingos of the Bahamas. Guests at Grand Hyatt Baha Mar can even
participate in flamingo yoga with the curious birds.
GRAND HYATT BAHA MAR

The bubble is less likely to “burst” thanks to staff testing as well. Everyone that
works on resort properties with such bubbles is tested weekly. At Baha Mar,
even contract staff (third-party drivers and tour guides entering the resort
grounds) undergo rigorous checks at the entrance gate to verify a recent
negative test result.

None of these precautions replaces the ongoing mask requirement, social
distancing signage and hand sanitizing stations that have become prevalent in
daily life within the past year. It is just an added layer of security that seems to
be working.

One of the many pools available to guests at Grand Hyatt Baha Mar
GRAND HYATT BAHA MAR

Most hotel companies already have rigorous cleaning and sanitation protocols
in place. Some involve robots sanitizing surfaces and using ultra-violet light to
clean rooms; others, like Hyatt, have a dedicated staff person focused on
cleanliness and well-being.

Is the concept of a resort bubble perfect? No, but it does provide an added
layer of security that people are looking for to travel again responsibly. Time
will tell if more resorts follow suit and travelers prove trustworthy of this
innovative Covid-era idea.

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ramseyqubein/2021/03/15/are-covid-resort-bubbles-the-next-step-
for-safe-travel/?sh=5ec6f4a21435