As businesses prepare to reopen to customers at limited capacity, additional sanitation methods are being considered beyond standard surface cleaning.
Breckenridge Grand Vacations, which manages more than 800 units, has brought portable, ultraviolet lights into all of its resorts. The lights are meant to disinfect rooms between stays as well as common areas such as lobbies, spas and gyms.
The UV lights come from the Lakewood-based company PURO UV Disinfection Lighting, which claims the UV lights kill up to 99.9% of viruses and bacteria. The company’s lighting units also are used in places like hospitals and manufacturing facilities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published findings that UV lighting, along with two other methods, has shown the most promise to disinfect N-95 respirators.
Breckenridge Grand Vacations CEO Mike Dudick said he learned about the availability of the technology about three weeks ago and jumped on it immediately because he was concerned suppliers wouldn’t be able to keep up with demand for the products. He said the company now has at least 50 of the UV lights, which are set up on a tripod and can handle one room at a time for 15-minute intervals.
“We obtained a sufficient supply to be able to meet our demand for unit turnover on any given day, so we can assure that we’ll be able to use this technology for every unit and every guest check-in to make sure the unit has the hospital grade UV light disinfection,” Dudick said.
Dudick added that common areas will be disinfected daily by using the lights in the middle of the night, or when there is otherwise no human activity, as the UV lights are harmful to people when directly exposed.
As Breckenridge Grand Vacations prepares for a reopening date of June 1, staff is being trained to operate the hotel using the new technology. Dudick said they are being trained to use the lights safely and properly to fully disinfect rooms.
“It is way beyond disinfecting a countertop or a tabletop in a unit,” Dudick said. “It’s the bedspreads. It’s the drapes. It’s the couches, the chairs, the carpet. I think that most consumers are going to begin to demand that they have the security of UV light and hospital-grade disinfectant anytime they rent a place to stay.”
Some local shop owners also are using the disinfectant capabilities of UV lights. Salon owner Melanie Ash of Melanie Ash Integrative Beauty has purchased UV lights for her salon that she plans to use during longer breaks between clients and at the end of each day to thoroughly sanitize the space. In addition to the UV lighting and required standard sanitation and facial coverings in the salon, Ash has implemented other creative ways to keep her business space as clean as possible. She asks clients to shampoo their hair prior to coming in since the stylists will be touching the client’s hair.
“It’s just another layer of keeping the space sanitized and respecting others,” Ash said.
