CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)

OUR COMMITMENT TO HEALTH, SAFETY AND SECURITY

Astley Bank Hotel’s highest priority is the health, safety and security of our guests, employees, and business partners.

In response to the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to follow the latest advice and recommendations from the Government and the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as the local. For up-to-date information and further details on the pandemic, please refer to the Government (www.gov.uk/coronavirus) and WHO (www.who.int) websites.

 

Astley Bank has strong processes and support teams in place to deal with the pandemic in as controlled a manner as possible. Along with a team of experts, we have reviewed our existing health and safety processes. We have produced a cleanliness and disinfection protocol designed to ensure your safety and peace of mind from check-in to check-out. The protocol has been introduced at Astley Bank since the 19th of July 2020, which was the date we reopened after the first national lockdown.

 

As we are now preparing for our second reopening on the 17th of May 2021, these measures will continue to be applied at our hotel. We have been equipped with resources and educational materials on how to handle suspected or confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) or lockdown for quarantine purposes in cooperation with the local authorities. We have also retrained our staff to ensure that they have a good understanding of the dangers that COVID-19 poses but also to deliver enhanced hygiene, increased levels of cleaning, disinfection regimes, and additional protocols, so you can stay with confidence at our hotel. We have also been accredited by the AA as a Covid-19 confident venue.

 

We are continuously monitoring and following the changes in recommendations and guidelines of the local governments and the local health authorities to continue working towards providing the best service possible while safeguarding the safety of our guests, employees, and suppliers, within the requirements issued by such local authorities.

OUR CANCELLATION POLICY
We are constantly updating our cancellation policy with the intention to offer you as much flexibility and planning comfort as possible. Our policy is subject to local regulations and variations applicable to the hotel legal entity.

We are dedicated to you and recognise the challenges COVID-19 has brought upon many aspects of our lives this year, including travel, weddings, conferencing & events, and dining out. The safety and security of our guests and employees continues to be of utmost importance to us. We want to share the steps that we are taking to manage your accommodation bookings, as well as your conference and/or restaurant reservations during these unprecedented times (for weddings, our coordinator has already contacted all affected couples).

For all conference/restaurant reservations that are affected by the pandemic, you will be contacted by our reception team if your booking cannot be honoured, for example, due to a lockdown or local or national restrictions. Your booking will either be cancelled (and if prepaid, a full refund will be given), or moved to a future date of your choice (subject to availability).

For any guests who have purchased or have been given Astley Bank Gift Vouchers that are due to expire within the dates of the lockdowns/local restrictions, we will extend your vouchers by a further six months so you can use it at a suitable time.

For accommodation reservations, our hotel room cancellation policies in place at the time of booking will apply. Guests are advised to contact our reception team for urgent reservations (travel within the next 72 hours) or in order to modify or cancel their booking. This can also be done via our website. Guests who booked via online travel agents or third-party travel professionals must contact their booking provider for any adjustments.

IN HOTEL PAYMENTS

In the interest of your safety and that of our staff, we discourage cash payments at this time. We kindly request the use of credit/debit cards and contactless payment only during your stay. With many thanks for your cooperation.

ADVICE TO GUESTS AND EMPLOYEES

Exposure to COVID-19 is a public health risk which affects everyone. The COVID-19 pandemic has implications for all workplaces as it can present a health risk to employees and other persons at a place of work. The reopening of the economy goes hand-in-hand with the provision of public health measures to reduce the risk of spread of COVID-19 as well as the existing occupational health and safety measures. Managing the risk of spread in the workplace is important in relation to the health of customers and employees but is also important as part of general efforts to control the spread and protect the most vulnerable.

 

The virus that causes COVID-19 disease is spread from people in fluid and in droplets scattered from the nose or mouth of an infected person when the person with COVID-19 coughs, sneezes or speaks. The fluid or droplets land on objects and surfaces around the infected person. Other people contaminate their hands by touching these objects or surfaces and then bring the virus into contact with their eyes, nose, or mouth by touching them with their contaminated hands. COVID-19 can also spread if droplets from an infected person land directly on the mucous membranes of the eye, nose or mouth of a person standing close to them. There are no reports of transmission of COVID-19 via food. As a result, Astley Bank will continue to apply our food safety management systems, based on the principles of HACCP. In addition, a COVID-19 safety management system will be introduced, which will include enhanced hygiene, cleaning and disinfection, staff training and health checks, as well as physical distancing. This is to protect against the transmission of the virus to or between staff, customers and other persons that enter our premises.

 

It is still not known exactly how long the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 survives on surfaces in different conditions. The period of survival may vary under different conditions (e.g. type of surface, temperature, or humidity of the environment). Studies, however, indicate that it can persist on copper surfaces for up to four hours, on cardboard for up to 24 hours, and on plastic and stainless steel for at least 72 hours. These observations of virus persistence underline the value of regular disinfection of surfaces and attention to hand hygiene in controlling the spread of infection. If disinfection is required it must be performed in addition to cleaning, never as a substitute for cleaning. While people are most likely to pass on the infection when they have symptoms, some infected people spread the virus to others prior to developing or displaying symptoms themselves.

If you’ve become ill in our hotel or feel you may have been in close contact with someone with confirmed Coronavirus (COVID-19):

  1. Call reception immediately. Our reception team will contact the Local Health Authorities on your behalf. If you call the Local Health Authorities yourself, please advise our reception team immediately.
  2. Stay in your hotel room.
  3. Avoid contact with other guests or employees.

The symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19) are:

  • a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
  • a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
  • a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
  • shortness of breath

Some people infected with the virus, so called asymptomatic cases, experience no symptoms at all.

 

World Health Organization definition of a close contact:

  • Any individual who has had greater than 15 minutes face-to-face (<2 metres Distance) with a confirmed case of Coronavirus (COVID-19)
  • Household contacts defined as living or sleeping in the same home, individuals in shared accommodation sharing kitchen or bathroom facilities.

 

Local Health Authorities:

England, Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales – Please visit the NHS website for the latest information and contact details in relation to Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Republic of Ireland – Please visit the HSE website for the latest information and contact details in relation to Coronavirus (COVID-19).

AA CONFIDENT ACCREDITATION

Customer confidence played a major part during the reopening of the hospitality sector in July & August 2020, and will do so again after this second lockdown. If guests do not have the peace of mind they expect, they are simply going to stay elsewhere. A great way of letting our guests know that we are safe, ready, and eager to welcome them back through our doors is by means of accreditation, in order to showcase the steps our venue has taken towards reopening safely. Astley Bank was one of the first venues in Lancashire to be awarded the AA’s COVID Confident Certificate, in July 2020.

 

Supported by key industry bodies, the AA’s COVID Confident assessment scheme supports the hospitality industry in re-establishing and rebuilding consumer confidence as we head out of lockdown. It is basically an industry-standard accreditation programme that offers the reassurance that workers and visitors can return to venues with confidence. The accreditation verifies that an establishment has in place the necessary risk assessment, safety measures and staff training to reopen safely, in line with the UK’s respective government guidelines as well as UKHospitality and respective trade association guidelines, as they are published.

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS

As we constantly evaluate and update policies and protocols, we want to extend a special thank you to our guests, who have been extremely tolerant and understanding during these difficult times. As hospitality suffered, and still suffers, we would also like to thank all these clients who did not want their deposits for restaurant bookings (bookings unable to be honoured due to the two lockdowns) to be returned, but rather moved to a future date, as they recognised the detrimental impact that large numbers of refunds can have on a small, privately-owned business like Astley Bank. Finally, we would also like to express our gratitude to all of you who might have called or emailed Astley Bank during the lockdowns, and patiently waited while your inquiry was handled by whoever was on duty. We thank you for understanding that our team members have been on furlough and that the numbers of staff available were limited. We are excited that we now have a date on which we can open our doors again and welcome all our guests back.

Stay safe.
Before you know it, the sky will clear up and the sun will come out.
We will be ok again soon.