The COVID-19 pandemic in the hotel industry: the application of hygiene and safety protocols by hotel employees

Butuhy, Cláudia Regina Rodrigues Sarralheiro; Luna, Expedito José de Albuquerque

doi:10.1590/S1678-9946202668024

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Original Article • Rev. Inst. Med. trop. S. Paulo 68 • 2026 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-9946202668024 linkcopy

The COVID-19 pandemic in the hotel industry: the application of hygiene and safety protocols by hotel employees

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

This study sought to understand how the application of hygiene and safety protocols by hotel companies in Sao Paulo city, Brazil, occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first objective of the study was to find, based on the information provided by employees who worked in certain hotels via questionnaires from March 2020 to December 2022, which protocols were applied in the studied period and which measures were definitively incorporated into the hygiene schemes of these hotels. Secondly, this study aimed to assess how the interaction and adaptations to the implemented hygiene protocols took place to find the measures that have become hygiene habits in everyday life. The literature on the applied health protocols during the pandemic was reviewed. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with 421 respondents. This study found a significant association between sex and the adoption of protective measures during the pandemic. Women adhered more to protective measures than men, and this association remained after the pandemic. Employees who worked in the food and beverage area contracted COVID-19 more often than employees in other hotel areas. Those with higher education levels received more doses of COVID-19 vaccines than those with lower levels of education. Finally, this study found a direct relationship between the quality standard of the hotels and the frequency of training received by employees and a high adherence to vaccination against COVID-19 that was lower at higher educational levels.

KEYWORDS:
Pandemic; COVID-19; Travel medicine; Hygiene protocol; Hotels; Employees; Brazil

Variables		n	%
Gender
	Male	205	48.7
	Female	216	51.3
Age
	18 – 30	279	66.3
	31 – 40	98	23.3
	41 – 50	39	9.3
	51 or older	5	1.2
Marital status
	Married	144	34.2
	Single	241	57.2
	Divorced	36	8.6
Education
	Elementary	48	11.4
	High school	77	18.3
	Undergraduate	265	62.9
	Graduate studies	31	7.4
Have you had COVID-19?
	Yes	229	54.4
	No	192	45.6
How many times have you had COVID-19?
	1 time	138	32.8
	2 times	59	14.0
	3 times	32	7.6
Have you been vaccinated against COVID-19?
	Yes	405	96.2
	No	16	3.8
How many doses of the vaccine have you taken?
	1 dose	29	6.9
	2 doses	33	7.8
	3 doses	157	37.3
	4 doses	55	13.1
	5 doses	131	31.1
Department of work
	Lodging	274	65.1
	Food and beverage	90	21.4
	Management/Financial	57	13.5
Hotel classification
	Non-classified	32	7.6
	1 star	63	15.0
	2 stars	67	15.9
	3 stars	83	19.7
	4 stars	103	24.5
	5 stars	73	17.3
Frequency of training on the use of hygiene and safety protocols
	None	22	5.2
	Once	147	34.9
	Quarterly	14	3.3
	Bimonthly	16	3.8
	Monthly	94	22.3
	Biweekly	25	5.9
	Weekly	103	24.5

Variable	n	%
1. Wear masks correctly at work	396	94.1%
2. Use alcohol gel to disinfect hands	421	100.0%
3. Maintain physical distancing	421	100.0%
4. Have acrylic barriers at the reception	334	79.3%
5. Keep employees belonging to risk groups away from work	70	16.6%
6. Reduce the number of employees entering the rooms (cleaning and/or room service)	383	91.0%
7. Pack bed linen and towels	353	83.8%
8. Pack plates, glasses and cutlery	366	86.9%
9. Reduce the number of passengers in elevators	381	90.5%
10. Have mats with disinfectants	401	95.2%
11. Work from home	36	8.6%
12. Check the employees’ temperature upon arrival at work	317	75.3%
13. Remove self-service coffee and/or other drinks from social areas (thermal/machine)	334	79.3%
14. Have alcohol gel dispensers in the elevators	371	88.1%
15. Remove newspapers and magazines from the lobbies/reception	355	84.3%
16. Use soap and disposable towels (washbasins) in addition to activated trash cans without using their hands.	407	96.7%
17. Conduct campaigns, via online communication channels, about the hotel policy on safety protocols	409	97.1%
18. Reduce the amount of furniture in social areas	211	50.1%
19. Clean rooms with ventilated areas	371	88.1%
20. Perform wet cleaning instead of dry cleaning and use of a vacuum cleaner	347	82.4%
21. Make reservations for customers in restaurants and bars with reduced spaces	128	30.4%
22. Keep employees to serve guests at buffets, which must be completely closed	259	61.5%
23. Install acrylic/glass protection at the buffet in restaurants	226	53.7%
24. Do not perform table mise en place to avoid cross-contamination	243	57.7%
25. Provide and maintain good ventilation in social areas and back offices	197	46.8%
26. Disinfect leisure areas (gyms, saunas, solariums, etc.) after use and only with reservations	142	33.7%
27. Disinfect air conditioning weekly	389	92.4%
28. Cover payment machines with plastic film	408	96.9%
29. Encourage contactless payments	406	96.4%
30. Disinfect luggage upon check-in	278	66.0%
31. Cover TV and air conditioning remote controls with plastic film	342	81.2%
32. Have signs with COVID-19 prevention guidelines	408	96.9%
33. Disinfect TVs weekly	376	89.3%
34. Cover power cables with plastic film	105	24.9%
35. Use disposable amenities as a priority	367	87.2%
36. Disinfect room key cards (check-in)	402	95.5%
37. Remove trash more frequently	358	85.0%
38. Check guests’ temperature upon checking in at the hotel	124	29.5%
39. Disinfect the key card after the guest returns it (check-out)	383	91.0%
40. Have alcohol gel dispensers in social areas	421	100.0%
41. Have alcohol gel dispensers in internal areas	421	100.0%
42. Provide personal protective equipment for use by employees	290	68.9%
43. Establish an isolation area for confirmed cases of infection due to COVID-19, with restrictions on the movement of people and employees	16	3.8%
44. Thoroughly clean and disinfect rooms and furniture surfaces	286	67.9%
45. Pack and transport linen in plastic bags to avoid direct contact	177	42.0%
46. In F&B areas, maintain a minimum distance between tables (2 m) and chairs (1 m)	246	58.4%
47. Install acrylic/glass protection in the employee cafeteria, in the case of a buffet	82	19.5%
48. Have one person serve other employees at the cafeteria buffet.	63	15.0%
49. Maintain a schedule for use in the employee cafeteria to avoid crowds	368	87.4%
50. In the employee cafeteria, individual meals must be served sealed	77	18.3%
51. Cover trays and food when transporting it to the room, in room service	390	92.6%
52. Respect the minimum distance between tables (2 m) and chairs (1 m) in event areas	119	28.3%
53. Other	0	0.0%

Variable	n	%
1. Wear masks correctly at work	396	94.1%
2. Use alcohol gel to disinfect hands	421	100.0%
3. Maintain physical distancing	421	100.0%
4. Have acrylic barriers at the reception	334	79.3%
5. Keep employees belonging to risk groups away from work	70	16.6%
6. Reduce the number of employees entering the rooms (cleaning and/or room service)	383	91.0%
7. Pack bed linen and towels	353	83.8%
8. Pack plates, glasses, and cutlery	366	86.9%
9. Reduce the number of passengers in elevators	381	90.5%
10. Have mats with disinfectants	401	95.2%
11. Work from home	36	8.6%
12. Check employees’ temperature upon arrival at work	317	75.3%
13. Remove self-service coffee and/or other drinks from social areas (thermal/machine)	334	79.3%
14. Have alcohol gel dispensers in elevators	371	88.1%
15. Remove newspapers and magazines from lobbies/reception	355	84.3%
16. Use soap and disposable towels (washbasins) in addition to activated trash cans without using their hands.	407	96.7%
17. Conduct campaigns, via online communication channels, about the hotel policy on safety protocols	409	97.1%
18. Reduce the amount of furniture in social areas	211	50.1%
19. Clean rooms with ventilated areas	371	88.1%
20. Perform wet cleaning instead of dry cleaning and use of a vacuum cleaner	347	82.4%
21. Make reservations for customers in restaurants and bars with reduced spaces	128	30.4%
22. Keep employees to serve guests at buffets, which must be completely closed	259	61.5%
23. Install acrylic/glass protection at the buffet in restaurants	226	53.7%
24. Do not perform table mise en place to avoid cross-contamination	243	57.7%
25. Provide and maintain good ventilation in social areas and back offices	197	46.8%
26. Disinfect leisure areas (gyms, saunas, solariums, etc.) after use and only with reservations	142	33.7%
27. Disinfect air conditioning weekly	310	73.6%
28. Cover payment machines with plastic film	408	96.9%
29. Encourage contactless payments	345	81.9%
30. Disinfect luggage upon check-in	19	4.5%
31. Cover TV and air conditioning remote controls with plastic film	70	16.6%
32. Have signs with COVID-19 prevention guidelines	199	47.3%
33. Disinfect TVs weekly	185	43.9%
34. Cover power cables with plastic film	7	1.7%
35. Use disposable amenities as a priority	312	74.1%
36. Disinfect room key cards (check-in)	381	90.5%
37. Remove trash more frequently	326	77.4%
38. Check guests’ temperature upon checking in at the hotel	0	0.0%
39. Disinfect the key card after the guest returns it (check-out)	346	82.2%
40. Have alcohol gel dispensers in social areas	404	96.0%
41. Have alcohol gel dispensers in internal areas	404	96.0%
42. Provide personal protective equipment for use by employees	144	34.2%
43. Establish an isolation area for confirmed cases of infection due to COVID-19, with restrictions on the movement of people and employees	0	0.0%
44. Thoroughly clean and disinfect rooms and furniture surfaces	156	37.1%
45. Pack and transport linen in plastic bags to avoid direct contact	119	28.3%
46. In F&B areas, maintain a minimum distance between tables (2 m) and chairs (1 m)	43	10.2%
47. Install acrylic/glass protection in the employee cafeteria in the case of a buffet	23	5.5%
48. Have one person serve other employees at the cafeteria buffet.	8	1.9%
49. Maintain a schedule for use in the employee cafeteria to avoid crowds	326	77.4%
50. In the employee cafeteria, individual meals must be served sealed	39	9.3%
51. Cover trays and food when transporting it to rooms in room service	355	84.3%
52. Respect the minimum distance between tables (2 m) and chairs (1 m) in event areas	63	15.0%
53. Other	0	0.0%

Variables	n	%
1. Wear masks correctly at work	15	3.6%
2. Wear masks correctly when "outside"	65	15.4%
3. Maintain physical distancing	181	43.0%
4. Avoid crowded elevators	147	34.9%
5. Work from home	8	1.9%
6. Prefer contactless payment	234	55.6%
7. Remove trash more frequently	218	52.0%
8. Cover remote controls for electronic devices with PVC film	76	18.1%
9. Keep alcohol gel in use	307	72.9%
10. Keep a bottle of alcohol with their personal belongings	274	65.1%
11. Disinfect electronic devices weekly	62	14.7%
12. Have disinfectant mats	28	6.7%
13. Use alcohol gel to disinfect their hands	206	48.9%
14. Always keep their home well ventilated	41	9.7%
15. Take off their shoes when they enter their house	307	72.9%
16. Keep the habit of washing their hands constantly throughout the day	74	17.6%
17. Disinfect their groceries when they get home	0	0.0%

Variable		n (%)	p-value
Carrying a bottle of hand sanitizer
	Female	105 (48.6)	0.0001
	Male	42 (20.5)
Frequently cleaning electronic devices
	Female	47 (21.8)	0.0001
	Male	15 (7.3)
Disinfecting hands with alcohol gel
	Female	175 (81.0)	0.0001
	Male	31 (12.4)

Variable		n	Mean number of doses	p-value
Education
	Elementary	48	3.31	0.029
	High school	77	3.73
	Undergraduate	265	3.41
	Graduate studies	31	2.87
Age group
	18 – 40	377	3.54	0.001
	41 and older	44	2.43

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Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 470, 05403-000 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil, Tel. +55 11 3061-7005 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revimtsp@usp.br

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