Hotels and resorts offer guests Covid-19 testing
Hotels, spas and resorts around the world ramp up efforts to attract more visitors by ensuring they can access rapid Covid-19 testing facilities
Dubai’s Hotel Atlantis will be offering international guests who stay five nights or more in-resort, free Covid-19 PCR tests until 18 December 2020. The resort has partnered with one of the Emirate’s hospitals in order to be able to conduct the tests in the resort itself.
The team at Atlantis will make all the necessary arrangements with each guest staying five nights or more to ensure they receive free testing from an authorised medical facility, and obtain their test results within 24 hours.
Timothy Kelly, Executive Vice-President and Managing Director at Atlantis Dubai, said: “We’re continuously evolving to meet the needs of our customers during this challenging time. Using our on-site medical centre, the new PCR tests will help to reduce any travel inconveniences and encourage more international guests to visit Dubai’s premier entertainment destination.”
Room Mate will offer free antigen tests
Spanish hotel chain Room Mate will also be offering free Covid-19 tests to its guests. They will be tested on arrival, or can choose to take a free antigen test before travelling at any of the 100 clinics across Spain run by Quirón. Long-stay guests and hotel staff will be tested every three to five days.
The antigen test produces results within 15 minutes, compared with 48 hours for the PCR tests, which have to be sent off to a lab. The scheme will be piloted in four Room Mate hotels in Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and Granada, and will then be rolled out at the company’s 28 hotels around the world.
“Right now, our priority is the health of our guests,” CEO Kike Sarasola told The Guardian. “My employees will have the comfort of knowing they are working in a safe environment, as will our clients.”
Offering hospital beds to visitors
Elsewhere, at Casa de Campo Resort & Villas in the Dominican Republic, visitors are assured a spot at an onsite hospital, with an entire floor reserved only for hotel guests. And Californian Montage Hotels is offering guests access to a tailored healthcare experience through One Medical: guests can schedule virtual doctor's visits and consultations while at the hotel, and for a month after departure.
Efforts such as these are bolstered by other testing offers and Covid cover from airlines and tour operators, and should give travellers the confidence they need to travel again once borders are open.