Hosts not observing enhanced cleaning protocols

[Kenneth12]

Three stays in a row,   all listings featured enhanced cleaning protocols:

1)  Host says apartment will be ready at 2pm.    Host and friend in apartment at 2:30pm until after 3:15p fooling with equipment in one bedroom.  Host & freind exit via kitchen,   where they take things out of refrigerator cabinets etc.;   no gloves etc;  pretty clear no enhanced cleaning or disinfecting because *no cleaning products in sight*.  (This host has 1800 reviews for multiple properties).

2) "New French host."    (The one who has no one to bring keys for days;   also had no check-out plan).    In apartment at check-in.   No gloves,  clearly no protocols from state of things (food left open in refrigerator etc);  insists on showing apartment despite checking off contactless check-in.    Ditto cleaning products.

3) Italian hosts running multiple rooms around city.    Self-check in instructions revealed as "meet host in person" 24 hours in advance;   meet in entryway to building,  insist on taking us up one-by-one on a small elevator.   Enter apartment,   host takes mask off;   host enters apartment at other times!;   host and cleaner or assistant enter apartment without notice without masks (aren't mobile cams great?).   (I haven't checked what they have in the cleaning cabinet;  it's possiblethey cleaned beforehand,  but are taking back-to-back reservations at this point).

To be frank,  I don't know where to begin,   but based on this limited experience,   the protocols are just check boxes and a significant number of hosts are just going through them without reading (hey,  I noticed that you have to agree to a contactless check-in!). 

How the heck are same-day turns being allowed?!!?  for that matter.   We are doing very well in Italy and France,   but continuing to do so requires care and vigilance.   The above aren't it.

This is disappointing and concerning (not to start on some behaviors I've seen in Milano in the past days-- my grandfather's temper and some of his most pointed Italian phrases,   almost came out for some teenagers on the subway today).   

Equally,  though,   as a guest,   I chose and paid for those services and there's a problem when those services are not delivered,  at all.

[Huma0]

@Helen3 

Thank you! I'm not in Streatham either (although I did grow up there) but in Stockwell. They are not so different I guess, except that Stockwell is much better connected (two tube lines and one stop from Zone 1) but there are far fewer shops and restaurants. Then again, Streatham has the longest high street in the UK so everywhere has fewer shops!

@Debra300 

Richmond is a whole different world and somewhere I've never considered as I've always assumed it would be way out of my budget. I did date a guy who lived there though and his father was a Baron and mother a concert pianist, so that maybe gives an idea of the type of residents Richmond attracts...

[Kenneth12]

@Debra300 @Huma0 @Emilia42 :

At least at our property in Chicago,   over half of inquiries have inquired about Covid preparation.   (I have the impression that about 1/3rd are looking for a place to party).   Bookings in the area are still quite,  quite low.

Looking at calendars in UK/Paris/Milan,   bookings seem up.    Venice did not.

I agree that the gloves thing and other parts of the ECP appear unnecessary if not counter-productive hygiene theater.    But if people in Europe are getting so lax that they don't care (and frankly,  I see a lot who appear to be so) -- that's exactly what can open the door to a suddenly,  possibly devastating comeback.

Or as one of the more chilling papers I read in the past week put it:   "the virus stalks us in indoor spaces."   It aerosolizes and persists on surfaces where it eventually encounters people and infects,   beginning new vectors.

[Huma0]

@Kenneth12 

From what I have seen in London (and this is mostly my own neighbourhood as I have rarely ventured out of it since this all started, but I do get an impression from talking to others what it is like in other parts of the city) a lot of people do care and are being very careful and others really don't and have barely taken any precautions even when the restrictions were fairly strict. 

The contradictory Government advice, fines so small as to be fairly meaningless and lack of any enforcement are all factors in this, as is human nature.

However, I don't think this is necessarily isolated to behaviour in Europe. From a lot of the posts I see here from US (and other) hosts, there are people all over who do not believe that COVID-19 is a big enough problem to restrict their activities in any way. 

In addition, many of the guests who are enquiring about my listings lately may be based in the UK but are Asian. They show no more concern for COVID safety than any of the Europeans enquiring. In fact, I would say they show less, which surprises me.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  But a host walking in wearing gloves is no assurance of anything. The host could have touched something else after putting on those gloves, and if the host's hands weren't thoroughly washed before putting those gloves on, possibly contaminating the outside of the gloves, the gloves would be pointless. So unless the host washes his hands and puts on a fresh pair of gloves in front of the guest, wearing gloves is just for show.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Yes, that's what I meant by a fresh pair of gloves, but you are right, they would need to wash their hands before putting on the gloves. Then I suppose they would have to disinfect anything they touched prior to doing so, e.g. door handles/locks.

[Matt682]

@Sarah977 I was taught that very point when I worked in food prep, so I’d support your logic there

[Debra300]

Uh oh, it's going there.  Well, where's my Robin Harris joke?  I gonna bounce from here. See ya' @Huma0, @Emilia42, @Sarah977, @Mike-And-Jane0 on the next go-round.

[Quincy]

Hello @Kenneth12, thank you for sharing your experience here as it is very insightful. However, I'd like the conversations to be held in a more respectful manner going forward. If you're in doubt about this, then please refer to our Community Guidelines.

Thank you,

Quincy 

[Laura2592]

This seems to read as an advertisement for the OP's on adherence to cleaning protocols/back door ad for his listings. If I were so concerned about the virus "stalking" me in an indoor space I would not be anywhere near a jet, bus, train, or foreign country. But that is me. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Laura2592 Given how rude the OP has been to several people posting I don't really see how this could ever have been an attempt to advertise his own listings.