For months, hotels in Bavaria were only allowed to open to business travelers.
You could spend the night untested.
The rule remains - although all other guests now regularly have to present a negative test result.
However, many hoteliers prefer to play it safe.
Munich
- Since the Grainauer Hotel am Badersee (Garmisch-Partenkirchen district) reopened its doors, the team at the reception has not only welcomed holidaymakers, but also asks them to check them out. Guests must present a negative rapid test or PCR test upon arrival. You have to renew it every 48 hours. “Most of the guests are very well organized. Many have booked their test dates in advance, ”says Marketing Director Sonja Wilms. Supervised self-tests are also possible. "Organizationally, however, they are the greatest challenge because we have to provide employees for them and we cannot yet estimate the need," says Wilms.
Only one group of guests does not meet the test requirement. "Business travelers don't have to submit a test," says Frank-Ulrich John from the Bavarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga). What counts as proof of a business trip is not precisely defined. "In case of doubt, self-assessment is sufficient. We recommend, however, that you have a letter from your employer. ”In the hotel business travelers and holidaymakers enjoy the same rights and use indoor catering and the wellness area together.
The Ministry of Health therefore allows hoteliers to request a test from every guest.
However, there are no plans to generally expand the obligation to test.
Guests who spend the night in the hotel for work would generally not use tourist offers such as wellness facilities.
John also assumes that the groups rarely meet anyway: "Business travelers don't stay in a mountain hotel in Grainau, but rather in a Holiday Inn in the city."
Test obligation for all guests?
- Hoteliers go their own way
In fact, there have never been any business travelers at the Hotel am Badersee.
"Next week, however, there will be further professional training for adults," says Wilms.
In addition to the distance and hygiene rules, the hotel plays it safe: All participants need a negative test result.
The Munich Holiday Inn City Center acts similarly.
"At conferences in the training sector where several people meet, we require tests," explains Sales Director Christiane Göthlich.
"We'd rather be stricter than the rules and protect ourselves." And many companies are even stricter than the Ministry of Health, because they make the tests a prerequisite for booking.
"Our conference guests get their food served in their own area - so they don't mix with the other guests."
Hotel and restaurant association: "Business travelers do not increase the risk of infection"
However, Göthlich grants individual business travelers a “leap of faith” - and relies on employers to have their employees tested on a regular basis. “Experience shows that business travelers do not increase the risk of infection. You have to bring a test with you to each of your appointments, ”says John.
The diffuse regulation around the test procedure also affects smaller hotels in rural areas.
Nevertheless, Theresa Albrecht from the Hotel zur Post in Rohrdorf (Rosenheim district) does not advocate a general test obligation for business travelers: "After 30 weeks of compulsory closure, things must finally continue - with easy-to-understand rules for the guests." Personal responsibility is required.
Albrecht therefore only wants to ask for evidence in individual cases: "I would ask for a test if I were
traveling on
business with children and
adults
."
(Sco)
Dehoga calls for the opening of indoor catering
The Bavarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) demands the immediate opening of indoor catering. "Experience has shown that our operations are safe," said President Angela Inselkammer. For vaccinated, convalescent and people with a negative corona test, Dehoga calls for a general opening of the entire hospitality industry - regardless of incidence values. "In view of such low incidence values, we must also dare to return to normality as quickly as possible without tests, as in the phase after the first lockdown."
(Lby)
