Worldwide: Vacation rental management software tool and housekeeping platform, Properly, is piloting a program in partnership with Booking.com in order to enforce stricter quality and safety standards to help operators manage their way through the coronavirus and lead a post-pandemic recovery.
With cleanliness and sanitation standards increasingly coming under the microscope, particularly in wake of Covid-19 and the various social distancing measures, San Francisco-based Properly is working closely with a number of short-term rental operators who have fallen foul of Booking.com’s minimum cleanliness threshold as part of its integrated quality rating system.
Booking.com’s system seeks to attract travellers and match guest expectations for properties, based on location, size and facilities.
Work on the pilot program began pre-pandemic, in November 2019, and the desire for greater transparency on cleanliness and sanitary standards has become an even more pressing matter since.
Properly founder and CEO, Alex Nigg, told Phocuswire that Booking.com will be contacting properties that receive a string of inadequate cleaning scores and will warn the owners that the property may be delisted as a consequence. As part of the Booking.com-sponsored program, the online travel agency will in turn provide Properly as a downloadable app solution to help raise the score of the property with its emphasis on cleaning standards.
A cleaning app has been developed for Properly users, professional cleaning services and other hosts participating in the pilot, which takes into account all of the World Health Organisation’s guidelines and recommendations for accommodation providers around the world.
Nigg told Phocuswire that the future of any property taking part in the pilot would be subject to passing a remote inspection, before it becomes certified through Booking.com’s platform.
He said: “The fundamental notion behind this is there are a million different hosts, but there shouldn’t be a million different ways of cleaning.
“A key element is this creates a level playing field for the entire industry. You can be an individual host or [part of a larger property management company] and apply the exact same standards,” he added.
Nigg also revealed that Properly had agreed another partnership with a major global booking platform and was in “advanced negotiations” with another brand to roll out the program.
For more information, visit the Properly website here.
