The MagiKote UV-C Key Card Sanitiser unit is now being offered to the Hospitality Sector by “Hotel Suppliers” and will be exhibited at up-coming Events throughout 2022.
Many studies have found that the cleanliness of hotel rooms has a great impact on hotel guest satisfaction, but relatively little attention has been given to the cleanliness of hotel room key cards as a major source of contamination, facilitating the spread of bacteria and viruses.
A responsible hotel needs to go the extra mile to visibly demonstrate to their guests that their good hygiene practice extends to often over-looked items, such as room keys and any guest would be immediately reassured by this.
We know that living life means getting close to bacteria and viruses, but for the immune-compromised, the frail and the elderly amongst us, this can be serious. Post Covid, we still need to take precautions for everybody, to protect against new and emerging viruses in the future.
The hotel key card is the first thing that guests touch on the way to their rooms and they carry it with them wherever they go during their stay. Studies carried out have demonstrated that all used cards and half of new cards issued are defined as “dirty”.
Keyless access systems using smart phones might potentially solve issues with contaminated key cards. However, they raise other issues regarding smartphone cleanliness and the fact that not all guests like to use 3rd Party Apps as well as the extra cost of installing a completely new system.
Director, Stephen Black, came up with the idea of designing a special rack built specifically to hold hotel key cards within a UV-C Sanitiser.
“We designed a transparent Plexi-Glass rack to hold key cards, so that maximum exposure to the UV-C light is achieved” he said.
U.K. based Stephen said: “This small desktop sanitiser unit is manufactured in the EU (with full safety certifications) and we worked closely with their design team to find the best way to hold key cards in place for optimal disinfection.”
It takes less than a minute to sanitise objects placed inside the MagiKote Sanitiser and the unit demonstrates a 99.9% reduction in viruses such as SARS Cov-2 (the virus responsible for Covid-19 disease) cold and flu viruses as well as bacteria such as E.Coli and Staph. This makes the MagiKote unit one of the fastest on the market today.
“Before the Covid pandemic, I happened to ask a Hotel Receptionist of a large well known Hotel Group if they ever cleaned their key cards and when she admitted that they were rarely if ever cleaned, I saw the realisation of what she had just said dawn on her and she looked horrified at the idea of handling so many germy cards with very little attention to hygiene” Stephen explained.
“Whilst UV-C light radiation is nothing new in the Hotel Industry (it is often used to clean whole rooms and large areas) a specially designed unit to accommodate hotel room key cards is.” Stephen added “by using a small desktop appliance, we are trying to make it as easy as possible for Front Desk or Housekeeping to keep key cards, and also other small items, such as TV Remotes, as germ-free as possible.”
“A cursory rub with a “Wet Wipe” is not only ineffective but also contributes to environmental damage as the fibres in the wipes do not easily or quickly bio-degrade and pose a serious threat to marine life.” Stephen warned.
The MagiKote UV-C key card Sanitiser retails £475 and a smaller model is currently being developed for launch later in the year.
Full specification is available at www.hotel-suppliers.com and also at www.magikote.com
