2nd draft
Rebecca Good
Professor Harrison
English 202
21 March 2008
Holistic Hotel Rooms
After seven wretched hours being crammed with four over bearing family members, a black and white cat, a German Shepard, and a Shit-Zu, my dad finally pulled over at a Holiday Inn somewhere in the middle of Virginia. I grabbed the cat, Fergie and leaped out of our stale , musty, French fry odor, fur infested, van and step into what I thought to be a fresh, clean, and comfortable room for the evening, but much to my surprise the hotel room was not to much better than the family’s beaten down ten year old van.
My expectations for the room where not too high, I just wanted a place where both animals and my family could rest soundly, in a clean and safe environment, and wake up feeling rested, healthy, and excited for the many adventures planned on the family vacation. As soon as I look around it was pretty easy to the hotel room was dirty. My search did not require tracing over every ounce of furniture with a pristine white glove, it simply required me looking around. I noticed the towels where dirty, and the bathtub was filled with slime and grime, not to mention the stains on the carpet and the greatest of them all the television stand contained the world’s largest collection of dust. All night we heard loud noises, with a broken air conditioner that released dust and dust mites, mold and mildew, fragrant detergents, and God only knows what other toxic waste into the air. The cleaning solutions the housekeeping used smelt like a funeral parlor, I woke up feeling exhausted with our bodies drained of energy. My mom had red bumps on her chest and back and I had the same bumps occurring on my legs the list continues, I was better off sleeping in the van! The one thing I did like I about my stay at the Holiday Inn was the chocolate chip cookies that the front desk provided and Ellen DeGeneres show on a 50 inch plasma screen.
I remember lying on the tacky floral patterned comforter ( that’s where those bumps came form), with two out of the three animals, watching Ellen hosts a special episode to kick of "Breast Cancer Awareness Month." Ellen, whose mother is a breast cancer survivor, was joined by musician and breast cancer survivor SHERYL CROW who shared tips how to avoid Breast Cancer. Sheryl Crow claimed to get breast cancer by drinking bottled water left in her car. Miss Chow talked about the heat causing toxins from the plastic to leak into the water, which can be found in breast tissue.
These accusations made by Miss. Crow made me recollect on my own health in the hotel room. I am now a Hospitality student and some day wish to be part of a resort, and I want my future guest and employees be staying and working in a healthy. I thought about if Hotels think about plastics affected their bodies or if they turn on the air conditioning and have a first hand experience with all the dust and mold particles that get trapped in the room. When I become a hotel manager the well-being of my guests will be very important. What are hotels offering their guests healthy holistically? Do they know what really is happing to the water bottles the hotels provide to their guests? Or how well of a job house cleaning does cleaning the hotel amenities like the drinking glasses? Or what their guests are breathing in at night when they sleep? I wanted to investigate more so and find out what the Hotels are doing to keep their hotel rooms healthy from the inside and out.
To start my research I asked my peers if they had similar personal experiences to ones like mine, and most of my peers had the same frazzled feeling. Many skeptical guests have the same feeling too about their vacation destination.
Testing was done in a Hotel in San Francisco and guests are leaving behind more than just socks. A new study found viruses on TV remotes, light switches and even hotel pens after cold sufferers checked out. The germ testing was done before the rooms were cleaned, so it likely overstates the risks that most travelers face. It shows the potential hazards if a hotel and resorts turnaround service and how their methods really are used to clean the rooms.
Every day approximately 2.6 million hotel rooms are sold to travelers and overnight guests in the United States, according to the Travel Industry Association of America. While traveling, guests are at risk for illness due to sudden changes in altitude, humidity, microbiology and temperature. The stress of travel can worsen these factors. A poll by Health magazine and AOL City Guide revealed that 85 percent of those surveyed worry about staying healthy on the road.
High quality service is the key to a hotels success however cleanliness is very important as well. It is more likely a guest will remember a hair in his or her glass than how quickly housekeeping brought new towels to the room. Hotel operators should be more like Tony Shalhoub from the television series Monk. The guest should not have to worry about the germs lurking inside the hotel room. It should be the facilities job to insure sanitization and health conditions.
The guests should be the main concern when operating at a hotel. Mangers need to not just make sure their service and appearance is excellent, but making their hotel rooms pristine and healthy. Having a sanitized and healthy stay in a room will help maintain a great experience for the guests at the hotel.
Any time someone lives out of a room that is not their own, one that may not be as clean as one likes, you might find thoughts of bed bugs and dust balls dancing in your head. Many may wonder when the last time the bathroom was scoured or wonder how many people have wiped their dirty hands on the hotel room curtains. You may fervently hope that no previous guests lived by the quote, "What happens in a hotel room stays in a hotel room."
I looked to my family doctor for the next step in my research process about Sheryl Crow’s water bottle accusations. Dr. Curely said that water bottles causing cancer was nothing but an urban myth. The toxins in the plastic can add containments into the water however it hurts the environment more than a human’s body. I did some more in depth research to find where Miss. Crow got her information from. I found out that a bogus email was widely circulated a few years ago making this claim. The hoax email originated from a University of Idaho student's masters thesis, although the student's research was taken up by the mainstream media, the FDA did not review the thesis nor was it published in any scientific journal. Furthermore, the thesis incorrectly identifies DEHA as a carcinogenic element when this is not the case. According to the American Plastics Council website the thesis "Did not reflect a level of scientific rigor that would provide accurate and reliable information, its senders claimed the information was from Johns Hopkins, who denied it and confirmed it was only nonsense.
The next step in my research process was to find the true definition of a healthy person, and how to live life holistically. When I asked Dr. Curely she responded:
Health is our ability to prevent and heal from disease are all dependent on the millions of overlapping factors that comprise how we move like exercise, stretching, rest, and breathing, as well as, how we eat . Like weather we eat healthy foods, nutritional complements, cleansing and detoxification, and how we think (mental, emotional, spiritual, social and relationship health). Our levels of sufficiency and purity in these 3 lifestyle categories must always exceed our levels of deficiency and toxicity in order for us to experience true health (Curely.)
Being a holistic person factors a greater understanding of ones body. Being physical and mentally whole is how a person becomes holistic. All aspects of life are closely interconnected and equally important with each other. Very few people in hotel management are committed enough to take responsibility for providing a healthy nights rest. The holistic approach takes the broadest possible view of illness and disease, identifying multiple causes both internal and external. For 80% of our modern health complaints, the lifestyle, stress, and behavioral disorders, natural, holistic self-care methods are a possible alternative to drug-dependence, side effects, and expensive, hi-tech intervention. The fundamental premise is that your body knows how to be well, given the proper support (De Nardi).
Travelers use a hotel’s reputation to choose where they are staying. Many booklets and travel guides will rate hotels based on several factors, one of these being cleanliness. If a hotel receives five stars for food, but only one for cleanliness, the traveler will most likely not stay there. The traveler can always stay at a different hotel and just dine at their dining facilities.
So, taking all of that into consideration, I consider the following when it comes to helping guests be healthy while one a busy travel schedule could have helped their bodies from becoming ill, I know I wouldn't get my best sleep, in different hotels, different time zones. Shower filters should be placed into each faucet. Chlorine is directly linked to hormonal cancer like chlorine from pools, tap water, and especially from hot showers, which gets absorbed right into our tissues and cells (Baum).
My suggestion for hotels to start to think about balanced health. Give opportunities for their guests to move their bodies well, eat well and think well! Create sufficiency and purity in these areas at all costs. Then you can start to reduce or eliminate the hotel room’s deficiencies and toxicities. Other tips to help traveler stay healthy holistically would be for hotels prohibit smoking. Smoke lingers in the air and rests on the tangible items of the room, leaving them discolored and filled with an ashtray-like smell.
Hotels need to get rid of the spread…the hotel room bed spread. If there is one thing in the hotel room that has not been cleaned in a while it probably the comforter. At home, guests probably do not wash their home bedspread all that often, perhaps saving it for the Spring-cleaning times of year. This is often true in hotel rooms: bedspreads are not washed with great frequency. The housekeeping should eliminate them all together; just stick with the regularly washed sheets. The guests can always crank up the heat if it gets cold.
To be healthier holistically offer guest a fit menu choices by creating a relationships with nearby health care facilities to help them develop healthy menus, and ask for examples of healthy menu items when booking future guest rooms.
Offer some medical supplies in the room so guests can put in their carry-on or hand bags, for example a first-aid kit including wound dressings, insect repellent and bite treatment, eye drops, scissors, safety pins and a thermometer. Offer any items the guest might need for existing or recurring illnesses. An on-site pharmacy or one that delivers to the hotel is best.
The hotel rooms could offer the bottled water in a clean glass container, because the amount of time a bottle of water really spends in your hot car, how long does it really spend there…a few hours? But really if you put that into perspective, that bottle of water has also spent days, if not weeks, in hot conditions. First it spent time in the bottler's warehouse waiting to be picked up. Then it was trucked in an un-refrigerated trailer for a few days. Next, it spent at least a little bit of time in a distribution center. Finally, it made to the mini- fridge in the hotel room.
In the more dated articles I read sustainable tourism practice has been less prevalent, resulting in overdevelopment, causing germs and toxic health hazards to be a part of the hotel experience. Hotels cause health risks to the environment in which and the guests are surrounded in and damage to the body. Research by the International Hotels Environment Initiative found hotels that have not yet adopted environmental programs could save between 10 and 40 percent on energy bills, 25 percent on waste and 20 percent on water bills (BioCycle). The entire hotel would have to be responsible and practice would be to make little concerted efforts like water conservation with filters, and reducing carbon dioxide gas emissions.
While constructing my research I did find some articles that converse about positive things hotels are doing for their guest’s health like, honor bar with organic food and beverage options: Honor bars include organic snacks and beverages, and replaced chlorine bleach with peroxide-based bleach in laundry department, however, bottled water is being used at turn down services instead of the mint on the pillows but at least it is one step closer to a holistic view in the hospitality industry. The holistic view promotes a holistic development system integrating body, mind and spirit to create balanced, self-renewing and sustainable hospitality developments.
The Evangeline Imperial has been practicing it right. "Now, more than ever, guests are looking for a lodging alternative that understands that whether at home or abroad, they want to continue on the course of healthy eating and living, and we provide that seamless transition when traveling to Vancouver."
The Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside offers not only a smoke-free hotel, but offers guests an array of healthy living options, suited to give guests the nudge they need to keep with the healthy goals they have set for themselves.
Along with an in-house, state-of-the-art fitness center, the hotel also offers an array of smaller, in-room exercise equipment for guests' convenience and privacy. The hotel's public health club features Life Fitness Treadmills along with headsets for television viewing during workouts. Cardiovascular equipment, free weights, Apex, stair master, rowing machine and stepper are also available in the fitness center to create a place to work-out and enjoy the company of others doing the same.
After refreshing early morning workouts, healthful menu options are available for breakfast in Patina Restaurant. This downtown Vancouver restaurant specializes in simple and fresh, chef created food, surrounded by bright and vibrant 20-foot floor-to-ceiling windows to let the morning light shine in. Patina's offers an international menu, prepared daily with zero trans fat, which lets guests indulge in guilt-free cuisine that's not only figure friendly, but tastes unbelievably delicious as well.
Time spent at the picturesque indoor pool and whirlpool makes for a refreshing way to burn calories and keep the heart rate up, while enjoying time alone or spent with friends and family.
Whether it's a family vacation, a romantic getaway or a business trip, travelers can enjoy the many ways that the Renaissance is encouraging a healthful vacation. The Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside offers guests a whole host of ways to look and feel great.
The hospitality industry needs to change. Taking into account one's body, mind, emotions, and spiritual life, holistic health combines the best of modern scientific diagnosis and monitoring techniques with both ancient and innovative health promotion methods. These include natural diet and herbal remedies, nutritional supplements, exercise, relaxation, psycho-spiritual counseling, meditation, breathing exercises, and other self-regulatory practices. Hotels could address not only symptoms, but change the entire person, and his or her current life predicament, including family, job, and religious life. This will emphasizes prevention, health maintenance, high-level wellness and longevity will open guest’s eyes to how well the hotel took care of them and their loved ones.
Web Sites
Angela Clarke." Holistic Hotel and Resort Design - A New Paradigm in Int'l Tourism." Tuesday, 8th November 2005. February 5, 2008. http://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_fshw.php?mwi=1005
The web site Hotel and Resort Design in tourism describes the holistic hotel movement as a new trend in the industry, and how it should be important as a staff at the hotel to have a service Philosophy that delivers service in the hotel industry can often be the key part of a hotel’s success. The web site describes holistic philosophies as respect to the individual customs and traditions of its staff, and incorporates their needs within the hotel or resort.
“The meaning of Holistic Health - Holistic Lifestyle Spa Mallorca / Marriott Son Antem Golf Resort & Spa.” February 5, 2008. http://www.wellness-spain.com/3_0_377/Wellness-Health/
This website discusses how hotels in Spain are going forth in the movement. The website tells about their philosophy is that each person has a responsibility for his/her own health and must be an active participant in his/her own healing. Patients are encouraged to be responsible for the daily care of their health through diet, exercise, lifestyle and attitudes about what constitutes wellness. We support our patients every step of the way, helping them to make appropriate choices and take responsibility for their well being.
“Hotel guests leave plenty of germs behind.” Sept. 29, 2006. February 5, 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15062246/
Testing was done in a Hotel in San Francisco and guests are leaving behind more than just socks. A new study found viruses on TV remotes, light switches and even hotel pens after cold sufferers checked out. The germ testing was done before the rooms were cleaned, so it likely overstates the risks that most travelers would face. It shows the potential hazards if a hotel and resorts turnaround service and how their methods really are used to clean the rooms.
“Hotels get more eco-friendly.” Monday, September 19, 2005 February 6, 2008 http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/09/14/eco.hotels/index.html
This article I found on CNN.com talks about how much hotels cause health risks to the environment and to the health of their guests. The article discusses that it is the responsibility for eco-friendly policies and practices by the hotels themselves, with some making concerted efforts on such matters as energy efficiency, water conservation, and reducing carbon dioxide gas emissions, however hotels should look into being eco and health friendly because there is an economic incentive. Research by the International Hotels Environment Initiative found hotels that have not yet adopted environmental programs could save between 10 and 40 percent on energy bills, 25 percent on waste and 20 percent on water bills.
Peter Greenberg. “Eco-friendly travel: Hotels and the green bandwagon.” Wednesday, November 7, 2007. February 7, 2008. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21676630/
This article talks about skeptical guests suspect the towel-washing suggestions as nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt on the hotel's part not to save the environment, but to save on soap and energy and money. As for the shower heads, a simple inspection of local laws most often reveals that the hotels installed the flow restrictors because it's already part of the municipal building code in their area. But with some research the article looks at some positive things hotels are doing for the environment and health like, Honor bar with organic food and beverage options: Honor bars include organic snacks and beverages, and Replaced chlorine bleach with peroxide-based bleach in laundry department. Also n the process of switching from bottled water being made available for free in rooms at turndown to locally made carafes being placed in each room.
“EARTH-FRIENDLY PRACTICES AT HOTELS HAVE FINANCIAL BENEFITS.” Aug 2007, Vol. 48 Issue 8, p10-10, 1/6p.
BioCycle. EBSCOhost. Indiana University of Pennsylvania Library. February 7, 2008
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=12&hid=104&sid=ba35191f-b495-475a-951c-dbadf263675e%40sessionmgr104
The article reports that environmental-friendly practices at hotels have financial benefits. According to the "New York Times," because business travelers are demanding to be halthy, hotels are offering all kinds of green programs to keep them up to date with the trend. With the demand, hotels are finding that green saves money. At the annual summer convention of the National Business Travel Association, the group has included eco-friendly elements in hotel design and operations. There are also financial benefits for hotels to installing light bulbs that use less energy or bathroom fixtures that limit water flow.
Baum, Tom. “Human resources in tourism: Still waiting for change.” Dec2007, Vol. 28 Issue 6, p1383-1399, 17p
Tourism Management. EBSCOhost. Indiana University of Pennsylvania Library. February 7, 2008
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=15&hid=104&sid=ba35191f-b495-475a-951c-dbadf263675e%40sessionmgr104
This paper reviews key themes that impact on the role and management of human resources in tourism and assesses whether the past 20 years changed. The paper considers the status of work in tourism and reflects upon the impact that key environmental developments inhuman resource management tourism.
De Nardi, Monica “Tourist water safety: Surf Life Saving initiatives for the Japanese inbound market.” Jul2007, Vol. 13 Issue 3, p275-283, 9p, 3 charts, 2bw
Journal of Vacation Marketing. EBSCOhost. Indiana University of Pennsylvania Library. February 7, 2008
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=19&hid=104&sid=ba35191f-b495-475a-951c-dbadf263675e%40sessionmgr104
Australia is viewed internationally as a desirable tourist destination. At a time when many other destinations are struggling with tourist health, safety and security issues, Australia is fortunate to have a stable political and social environment with little negative impact on both the community and international visitors. Japan is a very important inbound tourism market for Australia. Queensland, especially the Gold Coast, is a leading tourist destination preferred by Japanese tourists. In recent years, however, the number of Japanese inbound tourists to Australia has declined, while the market has simultaneously been exposed to adverse travel advisories. It is therefore essential for the destination to implement positive initiatives that demonstrate a genuine interest in keeping visitors safe.
Fontanari, Martin “The Comparative Analysis of Spas" - An Instrument for the Re-Positioning of Spas in the Context of Competition in Spa- and Health Tourism.”
Tourism Review. EBSCOhost. Indiana University of Pennsylvania Library. February 7, 2008
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=24&hid=104&sid=ba35191f-b495-475a-951c-dbadf263675e%40sessionmgr104
No tourist segment is at present marked by such a massive expansion of offers like the ones of spa tourism. Today, only in Germany more than 350 medicinal baths and spas try to position themselves on the market highly demanded "self-payers" (see Deutscher Heilbäderverband 2002, p. 257-573.). Even outside the spas, the offer of health-tourism develops dynamically. The demand market for health-tourism services is very promising and has initiated a world-wide mobilization health-conscious tourists. To be actually perceived in this very growing market, suppliers - particularly medicinal baths and spas - which have a rather "traditional" image - must distinguish themselves with a clear profile. More over, capital projects or business promotions require clear decisive factors towards specialization and how to position oneself in the long-term. Last but not least it remains to be answered how medicinal baths and spas should be presented on the market at the level of tourism destinations or countries in order to differ from other spa destinations. Of course, these questions are not only a challenge for medicinal baths and spas in the German-speaking countries. Particularly in Eastern Europe where today huge amounts of money are invested into the infrastructure of health-tourism, a basis for long-term support factors as well as for decision taking factors are required to align the specific offer with the needs of selected target groups. For this complex setting of tasks the European Tourism Institute (ETI) has developed a well-aligned instrument for data-collection, data-evaluation and data-analysis which makes possible consistent decisions on product development and product positioning for the individual spas well as for marketing on the regional or state level. Therefore, the comparative analysis of spas takes into consideration the needs of the market as well as the specific design of offers and the attractiveness of locations.
Avril, Alizee B. “A holistic approach to expatriate success.” 2007, Vol. 19 Issue 1, p53-64, 12p
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. EBSCOhost. Indiana University of Pennsylvania Library. February 7, 2008
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=27&hid=4&sid=ba35191f-b495-475a-951c-dbadf263675e%40sessionmgr104.
The paper has a holistic selection, training, and organizational support approach encompassing variables such as the expatriate's family status, emotional intelligence, dietary and exercise habits, and his/her learning orientation is needed to enhance the odds of the expatriate's success. Design/methodology/approach — The argument brought forth in this article is the product of a literature review drawing upon multiple streams of current research. Findings — The holistic approach to expatriate selection, training, and organizational support detailed in this paper should be employed by multi-national hotel corporations. Practical implications — This information should benefit hoteliers since the industry is currently experiencing a high rate of failure. Originality/value — No research to date has addressed the issue of expatriate failure from this holistic viewpoint.
Fuel, Polyester And Other Chemicals From Biomass. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 11, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2007/06/070614151749.htm
Water bottles. The American Plastics Council. February 15,2008, http://www.americanchemistry.com/plastics/
Interview
Dr. Curley. Telephone interview. 10 March. 2008.
Survey
Rachel, Baker. Matt, Carney. Stefanie, Bures. Christopher, Incudine. “Worst hotel room experience” Questionnaire, Penn State, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, West Chester University. Feb. 2008.
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