These Two Hotel Chains Have Handled COVID-19 Almost Perfectly

Stay safe — especially if you’re staying somewhere that’s not your own home.

If you have to travel domestically, you’ll want to consult a new report by the NerdWallet that ranks major hotel chains on their health and social distancing policies since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides cleaning and sterilization policies, the financial site also looked at flexible booking policies; for overall scores, they ranked eight major chains on a five-point scale.

The best overall: Hilton and Hyatt both scored a 4.8/5, “thanks to consistently flexible booking policies, and clear and comprehensive safety measures,” as NerdWallet notes.

Best for health: Hyatt scored a perfect 5/5 here. The hotels were ranked across eight criteria, including social distancing, mask policy, low-contact check-in/check-out and staff health checks.

Best for flexible booking policies: Hilton had the edge here, thanks to a “continually generous change/cancellation policy,” even as travel has picked back up. Scores were based on change/cancellation fee waivers (new and existing bookings) from April and new booking policies from August.

The worst: Best Western scored a pitiful 2.5/5 overall, with a solid health rating wiped out by a low score of 1 for flexible booking policies. No other hotel chain scored below a 3.5 in health or a 3 in any category.

The good news? Apparently, safety seems to be a priority everywhere.

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Kirk Miller

Kirk Miller is InsideHook’s Senior Lifestyle Editor (and longest-serving resident). He writes a lot about whisk(e)y, cocktails, consumer goods and artificial intelligence.