Hotels across England can finally reopen on 17 May but research suggests that concerns about catching Covid still hamper consumer confidence about booking a trip away.*

RightRooms.co, a new travel platform that showcases the Covid-safer features of hotels, has launched with an aim to give travellers more confidence by giving them more information about the Covid-safety practices and features of individual hotels – and the steps that different hotels are taking to soothe the worries of the Covid-anxious. 

RightRooms is a new hotel booking platform that digs into the details that other travel sites don’t provide. Its strapline is: “We ask the questions so you don’t have to”. 

Travellers for whom Covid-safety remains important will now be able to identify hotels that offer answers to questions such as:

Do room windows open?

Is there a one-way system in place?

Do staff wear masks when preparing food?

Are keys sanitised?

What cleaning solutions are used?

Is there a Covid-related cancellation policy?

“Even when more of us are vaccinated, the signs are that Covid-anxiety will remain an important issue this year for both travellers and hotels," says Fiona Halton, founder of RightRooms.

The Covid-19 Consumer Sentiment Tracker* compiled by Visit Britain suggests that consumer confidence is still affected by Covid. A US poll by National Geographic found that, even when the pandemic was under control, half (49%) of respondents expected to travel less. 

RightRooms already has 100-plus hotels on its site, with more joining all the time. 

As well as hotel booking, site visitors can read Covid-relevant travel guides to UK destinations and science-based articles about the Covid-safer features adopted by hotels and others

While RightRooms is focusing on Covid first, it will eventually turn its attention to other details that are important to particular types of travellers, such as accessibility, sustainability and child-friendly accommodation.

“The real story”, says Halton, “is that hotel booking is going granular – and RightRooms is finally giving travellers the sort of details that many travellers want but can’t find elsewhere. “Covid-safety is just the start.”