Royal Park Hotel begins reopening phase with safety measures in place
ROCHESTER, Mich. (FOX 2) - The Royal Park Hotel in Rochester is making several changes after re-opening on Monday
Guests are going to see several things that are different - one of the first things you'll notice when you get to the front door is you'll be asked to wear a facemask.
"It's like Christmas morning, it’s cool to have people walking through the door this morning - it's not something we've seen for two months," said Scott Rhodes, director of engineering.
The Royal Park Hotel opened their doors to welcome guests for the first time in two months. Since closing, the staff has worked non-stop to make changes in response to the coronavirus.
There is now Plexiglas at the front counter, employees wear masks and there is hand sanitizer throughout the hotel. There are also changes you can't see.
"When a guest checks out, before anyone enters that room, there's a 24-hour period," said Kevin Bayless, director of housekeeping. "We feel that helps make it a little bit safer for our employees as well. It's twofold - we want to make sure our guests are safe and we want to make sure our team is safe."
Staff also has extra time to clean each room and they’re wiping down surfaces with hospital grade products more than usual.
"We've gone into all the guestrooms and we've taken all the air handlers apart, pulled all the blowers out, cleaned all the wheels, changed all the filters and coils, so we are really ahead of the game with that," Rhodes said.
The Royal Park is opening in three phases, starting now with welcoming guests and doing restaurant carry outs.
From there, they will slowly ramp up until it is business as usual, even though the Royal Park doesn't know exactly when that will happen. For now, they are happy taking it one step at a time.
"It feels so good to be back to work, we are hoteliers, right, so hugs and shaking hands and taking care of people is in our DNA," said Sue Keels, general manager. "We might not be able to touch or hug, but we will still take care of people because that's who we are and it will never change."
