Sounding Off: COVID-19 protocols aren't forever - but should they be?

Each Friday, PhocusWire dissects and debates an industry trend or new development covered on our site that week.

The coronavirus crisis has, inadvertently, set in play an opportunity for a new breed of startups to emerge in the travel industry.

Cleanliness, hygiene and housekeeping operations were, until now, fairly unchallenged areas of the hospitality world when it comes to attracting the attention of new businesses.

But the landscape has changed, obviously. Perhaps forever, if you ignore someone like Marriott boss Arne Sorenson.

Hygiene protocols that are being imposed on the hospitality industry through either official regulations or brand-level guidelines may eventually be relaxed.

Yet any such scaling back of those official standards may not be matched by the expectations of guests, many of whom may have faced the virus themselves and will fully understand its impact.

This virus may instil a hygiene regime in people and how they interact with objects and the public world that modern society has never witnessed at scale outside of a hospital.

Sounds a bit far-fetched? No-one really knows, not least because - despite some semblance of a recovery beginning to emerge - so much of the travel industry is still reacting to events and has no idea what the picture will be in six months, 12 months or two years.

It would be a fool that bets against hygiene being the most important consideration for guests across the hospitality spectrum for decades to come.