As COVID-19 spread throughout the world, the hospitality and tourism sectors were hard hit as no other industry. For this reason, the UNWTO developed the One Planet Vision as a response to a sustainable recovery of the tourism sector. At present, when people are starting to travel and stay at hotels again, it is important to analyze what their expectations are of hotels to move forward in the post-pandemic era. For instance, empirical research has been developed to examine people\'s sentiments toward servicescapes, and a comparative study is presented between 2020 and 2022. Findings contribute to the research by identifying new servicescape attributes during a health crisis. These also lead to practical implications by proposing a scale to evaluate customers\' perceptions and to increase their wellbeing and resilience. The current research is one of the first studies to collaborate with the One Planet Vision by empirically proposing improvements in the servicescapes of hotels for a responsible recovery.

Several studies have elucidated the link between outdoor noise and depression, but the relationship between indoor noise levels and depression symptoms in residential and public places remains unclear. This study was a multicenter observational study with a cross-sectional design. In 2019, a total of 10 545 indoor noise levels on-site and 26 018 health data from practitioners were collected from 2402 hotels in 111 cities. Indoor daily noise data levels were detected, and PHQ-9 questionnaires were used to collect health data. Logistic analysis was used to determine the association between depression score and noise level, negative binomial regression was used to determine potential risks. The geometric mean indoor noise level was 38.9 dB (A), with approximately 40.9% of hotels exceeding the 45 dB value (A). Approximately 19.1% of hotel workers exhibited mild and above depressive symptoms. In addition to functional zoning, geographic location, central air conditioner, decoration status, and other factors had an impact on noise levels (p < 0.05). Results of logistic and negative binomial regression showed the following: (1) there was significantly positive association between indoor noise and high depression scores above 2 (OR = 1.007, 95% CI: 1.002, 1.012) and (2) some sub-groups were more susceptible to this effect, especially for the younger female workers working in the first-tier cities, having higher education level, lower level of income, smoking, and longer working hours. This study confirms an early potential effect of indoor noise on depression. It is recommended to implement evidence-based measures to control noise sources in hotels.

The hotel industry is essential for travelers, for both touristic and business purposes. Deaths in hotel rooms, which can occur in various manners from various causes, can result in serious problems for the industry. This study evaluated 8137 autopsies performed by the Antalya Group Administration of the Turkish Council of Forensic Medicine between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2019. All deaths occurred during a hotel accommodation and within hotel borders, including their respective beach areas, and those who collapsed during their hotel stay and died shortly afterward in a hospital or on their way to a hospital were included. A total of 900 cases were identified and ultimately included in this study. According to the autopsy reports, the decedents who died during their stays were from 42 different countries and had a mean age of 54.3 ± 18.55 years. Most decedents were from Russia (n = 251, 27.9%). The most common manner of death was natural causes (n = 552, 61.3%) followed by accidents (n = 284, 31.6%), suicides (n = 40, 4.4%), and homicides (n = 7, 0.8%). Existing cardiovascular diseases (n = 379, 42.1%) were the leading cause of death, followed by drowning in the sea (n = 116, 12.9%) or a pool (n = 58, 6.4%). Most of the causes of deaths identified within this study are preventable with timely intervention or resuscitation. Providing medical personnel 24/7 with adequate equipment in accommodation options, and enabling hotels to take appropriate measures may decrease preventable deaths and improve international travel.

Culture-independent microbiome surveys have been conducted in homes, hospitals, schools, kindergartens and vehicles for public transport, revealing diverse microbial distributions in built environments. However, microbiome composition and the associated environmental characteristics have not been characterized in hotel environments. We presented here the first continental-scale microbiome study of hotel rooms (n = 68) spanning Asia and Europe. Bacterial and fungal communities were described by amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and quantitative PCR. Similar numbers of bacterial (4,344) and fungal (4,555) operational taxonomic units were identified in the same sequencing depth, but most fungal taxa showed a restricted distribution compared to bacterial taxa. Aerobic, ubiquitous bacteria dominated the hotel microbiome with compositional similarity to previous samples from building and human nasopharynx environments. The abundance of Aspergillus was negatively correlated with latitude and accounted for ∼80% of the total fungal load in seven low-latitude hotels. We calculated the association between hotel microbiome and 16 indoor and outdoor environmental characteristics. Fungal composition and absolute quantity showed concordant associations with the same environmental characteristics, including latitude, quality of the interior, proximity to the sea, and visible mold, while fungal richness was negatively associated with heavy traffic (95% confidence interval [CI] = -127.05 to -0.25) and wall-to-wall carpet (95% CI = -47.60 to -3.82). Bacterial compositional variation was associated with latitude, quality of the interior, and floor type, while bacterial richness was negatively associated with recent redecoration (95% CI -179.00 to -44.55) and mechanical ventilation (95% CI = -136.71 to -5.12).IMPORTANCE This is the first microbiome study to characterize the microbiome data and associated environmental characteristics in hotel environments. In this study, we found concordant variation between fungal compositional variation and absolute quantity and discordant variation between community variation/quantity and richness. Our study can be used to promote hotel hygiene standards and provide resource information for future microbiome and exposure studies associated with health effects in hotel rooms.

Intercontinental travel contributes to the spread of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-PE). We assessed risk factors for intestinal ESBL-PE colonization in people travelling to low and middle income countries in the tropics and subtropics to better understand how travel affects ESBL-PE spread.
This prospective cohort study in travellers attending a travel clinic in Leipzig, Germany was conducted in 2016-2017. Information on risk factors related to travel, symptoms, antibiotic use, health care usage, accommodation, destination, diet and hygiene was collected by questionnaire after travel. Stools were phenotypically tested for ESBL-PE before and after travel. Risk factors for ESBL-PE colonization were identified using logistic regression.
Of the 230 travellers that were ESBL-PE negative before travelling, 23% (n = 53) travellers returned positive. Multivariable analyses showed that age, type of accommodation and travelling to Asia were associated with ESBL-PE colonization.
Given that a considerable amount of travellers returned with ESBL-PE, we recommend raising awareness in returning high-risk travellers, e.g. those returning from high-risk areas. They should be aware that they may carry antimicrobial-resistant bacteria after travel, and how they can prevent its spread. The role of the type of accommodation as a factor favouring intestinal colonization with ESBL-PE requires further investigation.

BACKGROUND: Low back pain, the most commonly reported musculoskeletal problem, is a major burden on individuals, health systems and social care systems with the indirect cost being predominant. It results in disability, poor service, low quality of life and sickness absences in working places. The problem of low back pain and its risk factors among hotel housekeepers are not well known in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the prevalence and identify determinants of low back pain among hotel industries\' housekeepers in Gondar town, Ethiopia.
METHODS: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from March to May 2017. A systematic random sampling technique was applied to select 422 study participants, and the data was collected by a standardized Nordic questionnaire for the analysis of musculoskeletal symptoms. Bivariate and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were performed using SPSS version 20. The significance level was obtained at 95% CI and p-value ≤ 0.05.
RESULTS: The prevalence of low back pain among hotel housekeepers in Gondar town was 58.1% (95% CI: 53.6, 62.8%). Being temporary employee (AOR: 3.22), type of job which requires reaching/overstretching (AOR: 2.93), engaging in a job that requires repetitive bending (AOR: 1.97), making > 30 beds per day (AOR: 3.19) signified the significant risk factors for low back pain. However, hotel housekeepers who were satisfied in their current job were less impacted by low back pain (AOR: 0.49).
CONCLUSIONS: A high proportion of hotel housekeepers in this study reported they had low back pain. Employment pattern, rest break taken, reaching/overstretching, repetitive bending, job satisfaction, training related to health and safety and numbers of beds making were among the factors associated with low back pain. Hence, ergonomic measures focusing on correcting the arrangement of work station, rest breaks and changing some equipment are potentially important targets to reduce the problem.