Tripadvisor and Reckitt assemble public health and disinfection expert panel to guide hospitality businesses through travel recovery

Science-backed videos from Lysol Pro Solutions Expert Panel offer advice to business owners, as Tripadvisor updates Travel Safe feature

News provided by

Tripadvisor

Jul 28, 2021, 07:00 ET

NEEDHAM, Mass. and PARSIPPANY, N.J., July 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tripadvisor®, the world's largest travel guidance platform, and Reckitt's Lysol® Pro Solutions, Lysol's business-to-business offering, have joined forces to launch the Lysol® Pro Solutions Expert Panel. The panel's mission is to help hospitality and tourism business owners stay one step ahead in the ever-changing environment of recommendations and guidance.

The panel is part of Tripadvisor and Reckitt's Lysol Pro Solutions' wider partnership, which was announced earlier this year. The purpose of this collaboration is to accelerate the travel industry's recovery by supporting businesses, providing guidance on cleaning and disinfection of surfaces, and offering specially produced Lysol Disinfection & Sanitization Kits and industry-specific advice to assist business owners.

According to Tripadvisor's most recent travel research, as the vaccination rollout gains momentum, vaccinated traveler attitudes are shifting, with more travelers likely to book, visit cities, invest more, and take longer trips. As a result, many tourism businesses are readying for a busy peak period this summer. To help these business owners, the Lysol Pro Solutions Expert Panel was formed to include public health and disinfection experts to create comprehensible and up-to-date science-backed guidance, helping businesses rebuild consumer confidence in cleanliness and disinfection in their industry.

The series of easy to digest videos share cleanliness and disinfection best practices specific to the tourism and hospitality industry. The videos cover topics including: understanding and tackling germ hotspots, the future of health inspections, cleaning myths, and the connection between cleanliness, hygiene and health in relation to reception and restaurant amenities.

"Due to the nature of this pandemic, guidelines can change so quickly, so it can be challenging for business owners to stay on top of the latest disinfection and safety advice. What hasn't changed is the customer's need to feel safe. By working collaboratively with Reckitt and Lysol Pro Solutions to create easy-to-understand, accessible guidance for businesses, we're helping our travel partners address those concerns," said Christine Maguire, GM/VP Global Media Business at Tripadvisor.

The Lysol Pro Solutions Expert Panel of advisors is the latest addition to Tripadvisor's industry-recognized Travel Safe feature. Travel Safe is a suite of on-platform tools helping travelers and diners find, filter for, and validate health and safety protocols being enacted by businesses, helping guests feel more confident in their travel choices.

Taking into consideration feedback from travelers, business owners, associations, government agencies and the new expert panel, Tripadvisor is implementing changes to its list of safety precautions business may be taking, including but not limited to:

For restaurants, the "single-use or sanitized menus" safety measure will be updated to "single-use or contactless menus", the "contactless payment" will be updated to "contactless payment available" and "takeout available" and "outdoor seating available" will be added to the Travel Safe checklist.
For hotels, the "doctors available 24/7" safety measure will be updated to "licensed healthcare professional available. 24/7". Two new safety measures "elevator capacity limits are enforced" and "on-site COVID testing available" will be added to the Travel Safe checklist.
For hotels and restaurants, "regular temperature checks for staff" has been updated to "daily temperature and symptom checks for staff" and "paid stay-at-home policy for staff with symptoms" has been updated to "stay-at-home policy for staff with symptoms". Two mask policy measures "masks required for guests not fully vaccinated" and "masks encouraged for guests not fully vaccinated" will also be added to the checklist in addition to "face masks required for guests in public places" for business owners to choose from.

Since Travel Safe was launched back in June last year, the tool has proven to be extremely useful for travelers and their safety concerns, with a click-through rate of 70%* from the search page to the business listing when a traveler has selected the Travel Safe filter. More than 185,000 businesses have participated in the free program by uploading information to their business listing about the ways they are working to keep guests safe.

"For more than a century, Lysol has been at the forefront of helping people protect their loved ones and helping to prevent the spread of illness causing germs. Now, with our Lysol Pro Solutions offering and Lysol Pro Solutions Expert Panel, we hope to extend our support to business owners. Our simple, science-backed direction helps them confidently welcome customers back to their hotels, restaurants, and tourism businesses," said E. Yuri Hermida, Executive Vice President of North America Hygiene for Reckitt.

The following are the specially selected advisors who are part of the Lysol Pro Solutions Expert Panel:

Jessica Malaty Rivera, MS - Infectious Disease Epidemiologist

An infectious disease epidemiologist and science communicator, Jessica earned her MS in Emerging Infectious Diseases from the Georgetown School of Medicine and has dedicated the last 15 years of her career to researching microbiology and immunology and public health. Her specialty is in translating complex scientific concepts into impactful, judgement-free, and accessible information for a diverse audience.

Joe Rubino - Senior Microbiology Consultant, Reckitt

A Senior Microbiology Consultant for Reckitt, Joe has cultivated a deep knowledge of product development, consumer sensory science, regulatory compliance, analytical chemistry, and clinical testing throughout his 40-year career in microbiology and research and development. Joe has also authored over 55 peer-reviewed journal articles on antimicrobial agents, transmission of infectious agents, and infection control strategies.

Becky Foley - Senior Director, Trust & Safety, Tripadvisor

Leader of Tripadvisor's Trust & Safety team, Becky is focused on content integrity, website policy, and traveler safety. She's spent the last seven years at Tripadvisor committed to ensuring travelers around the world have access to trustworthy information they need to plan their next trip and travel safely. Becky was one of the leads for Tripadvisor's Travel Safe response to the pandemic, ensuring precautions were being taken by business owners listed on Tripadvisor to keep their guests safe. Tripadvisor's Trust & Safety team mission is to create a safe and friendly environment by implementing strong community policies and meaningful standards.

You can read more about the Lysol Pro Solutions Expert Panel and its newly created content here.

NOTES TO EDITOR

*Source: Tripadvisor site data, May 2021

**Source: Tripadvisor report, 'A Shot in The Arm for Travel? Examining the Vaccine's Impact on Leisure Travel Demand', June 2021

ABOUT TRIPADVISOR

Tripadvisor, the world's largest travel guidance platform*, helps hundreds of millions of people each month** become better travellers, from planning to booking to taking a trip. Travellers across the globe use the Tripadvisor site and app to discover where to stay, what to do and where to eat based on guidance from those who have been there before. With more than 887 million reviews and opinions of nearly 8 million businesses, travellers turn to Tripadvisor to find deals on accommodations, book experiences, reserve tables at delicious restaurants and discover great places nearby. As a travel guidance company available in 43 markets and 22 languages, Tripadvisor makes planning easy no matter the trip type.

The subsidiaries of Tripadvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP), own and operate a portfolio of online travel brands and businesses, operating under various websites and apps, including the following websites:

www.bokun.io, www.cruisecritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.thefork.com, www.helloreco.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.housetrip.com, www.jetsetter.com, www.niumba.com, www.seatguru.com, www.singleplatform.com, www.vacationhomerentals.com, and www.viator.com.

* Source: SimilarWeb, unique users de-duplicated monthly, March 2021

** Source: Tripadvisor internal log file

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ABOUT RECKITT

Reckitt* is driven by its purpose to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner, healthier world. We fight to make access to the highest-quality hygiene, wellness and nourishment a right, not a privilege, for everyone. Reckitt is proud to have a stable of trusted household brands found in households in more than 190 countries. These include Enfamil, Nutramigen, Nurofen, Strepsils, Gaviscon, Mucinex, Durex, Scholl, Clearasil, Lysol, Dettol, Veet, Harpic, Cillit Bang, Mortein, Finish, Vanish, Calgon, Woolite, Air Wick and more. 20 million Reckitt products a day are bought by consumers globally.

Reckitt's passion to put consumers and people first, to seek out new opportunities, to strive for excellence in all that we do, and to build shared success with all our partners, while doing the right thing, always is what guides the work of our 40,000+ diverse and talented colleagues worldwide. For more information visit www.reckitt.com/us.

*Reckitt is the trading name of the Reckitt Benckiser group of companies

ABOUT LYSOL® PRO SOLUTIONS

Reckitt's Lysol Pro Solutions harnesses the power of Lysol to help protect businesses and public spaces from the spread of germs. In today's world, consumers have increased hygiene expectations which makes germ-protection more critical than ever. The comprehensive approach from Lysol Pro Solutions incorporates science-backed protocols and training, EPA-approved Lysol products and Lysol branded marketing materials and signage. Lysol Pro Solutions empowers businesses to demonstrate to their staff and customers a commitment to providing a trusted standard for protection.

SOURCE Tripadvisor