Global hospitality group Accor and certification services provider Bureau Veritas are launching a health and safety standards label to help hospitality businesses in Europe reopen safely.
Hospitality establishments can be certified under the label when they are found to have met its stipulated cleaning protocols and appropriate safety standards. The label will cover both accommodation and catering services, and will lay out sanitary standards for Accor’s hotels, other chains and independent hotels.
Bureau Veritas will kick this off with Accor in France before extending it to the rest of Europe, shared Jacques Pommeraud, CEO, Bureau Veritas Africa & France.
Initiated in conjunction with doctors and epidemiologists, the label was developed through partnership with trade associations, such as the Union des Métiers etdes Industries de l’Hôtellerie (UMIH) and Groupement National des Chaînes Hôtelières (GNC).
The project is set to be presented next week to relevant French government ministries and Alliance France Tourisme — a group of companies looking to spur tourism development in France — in hopes that the label will receive the involvement of and be validated by these parties.
Accor and Bureau Veritas will also submit a concrete proposal to governments in France and in Europe to call for the loosening of lockdown measures in light of the label.
Eventually, both parties are slated to release an operational guide for all hospitality industry stakeholders. The guide would allow stakeholders to effectively apply the health and safety recommendations set by authorities such as the World Health Organsation (WHO).
To make the project useful for the end-user, Accor and Bureau Veritas also intend to set up a dedicated Bureau Veritas website for European travellers and customers to search for certified hotels and dining establishments.
