STB Announce Hotels To Accept Bookings for Staycations
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB), in an advisory sent out on Friday, announced that hotels can now apply to the Government to accept bookings from staycationers and reopen recreation areas for children.
This is in line with the Singapore’s easing into Phase 2 of Circuit Breaker measures.
To gain approval to do so, the hotels must first comply with safe management measures drawn up for them by the STB, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Enterprise Singapore and the Ministry of Health, said STB.
These measures include limiting occupancy to no more than one person per 10 sqm in public spaces accessible to guests at any point of time, excluding hotel staff, and reducing face-to-face mingling among guests by staggering times that guests can be in the hotel lobby and guest facilities.
Hotels also need to be able to disperse crowds and prevent bunching, implement the SafeEntry contact tracing system and put in place a rigorous cleaning and disinfecting regime, especially for high-touch surfaces.
Before accepting guests, hotels must submit an application to STB for assessment. As part of the assessment process, their premises will also be inspected by the statutory board. Each application will take up to 14 days to be assessed. They would also then need to submit a set of required data every week and alert STB whenever there is a positive case of Covid-19 at the hotel.
Under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act, those who fail to comply with these measures will be fined up to S$10,000, jailed up to six months, or both. Offenders may also be ineligible for government grants, loans, tax rebates and other assistance.
