Hoteliers' dirty little secret

According to Amancorp CEO Mihir Patel, many Middle Eastern hotels share a perennial problem that is feared and foul, yet too often forgotten. Here he reveals the mould infestation issue, which has the potential to tarnish more than just physical property

Dubai hoteliers have a dirty little secret — indoor mould! This especially affects beachfront and marina hotels, and any property which is near to a large body of water. These, of course, make up the significant proportion of hotel room inventory in Dubai and the wider Gulf. The problem of mould infestation is perennial.

Most obvious in the hot and humid summer months, with a reprieve in the cooler four to six months of the year, mould is the subject of muted conversations and whispers among housekeepers and engineers. Mould is something that is greatly feared, never publicly acknowledged and often ignored internally, yet mould remediation is big business in our part of the world.

Despite being a recurrent annual problem, the solutions being employed currently are at best quick, temporary fixes and at worst, a waste of resources and money. The current economic downturn has further exacerbated the situation, as even those rare enlightened souls who acknowledge and understand the problem are restricted by owner’s representatives from taking the necessary action for a long term solution.

The result is many thousands of wasted man hours in cleaning — good old fashioned scrubbing of mould patches on walls and ceilings, deep cleaning of soft furnishings and for the more adventurous, duct cleaning. However, all this achieves is enrichment of the cleaning supplies, soft furnishing and duct cleaning companies.

In the equation, guests and employees alike continue to be exposed to the health risks that mould presents, whether visibly manifested or airborne spores, invisible to the naked eye. In the US, mould related lawsuits are now the new asbestos, providing lawyers with a rich vein of class action and consumer billing.

And in a region where we already suffer from some of the highest rates of asthma and breathing-related allergies in the world (according to the World Health Organisation), and where allergies are set to rise by as much as 70% over the next 25 years, mould — specifically airborne mould spores — present a real danger to general public health. At the first Middle East Asia Allergy Asthma Immunology Congress held last year in Dubai, the world’s leading allergy experts and doctors from around the region got together to discuss the extent of the health problem in the MENA region.

They estimated asthma and allergies cost the MENA region approximately $4.5 billion per year in direct financial costs and more alarmingly, numbers are expected to increase dramatically in the near future as a result of the region’s unique combination of rapid industrialisation (read construction), climatic conditions (heat and high humidity), year round dependence on central air conditioning, and ‘greenification’ (planting), as well as inherent genetic factors in the Arab population.

It was also noted that the availability of specialists treating these illnesses is currently decreasing by 15% per annum and there is common misdiagnosis of allergies — most people who have allergies don’t even know it! Yet airborne mould is one of the key asthma and allergy triggers in the GCC.

Mould is also the number one cause of ‘Sick Building Syndrome’ (SBS) and its lesser sister, ‘Building related illness’ (BRI). Its manifestation in hotels means:

• Visible mould and fungus in guest rooms, bathrooms, and also in the back-of-house areas such as kitchens and stores
• Unpleasant damp, musty smells
• Guest and staff complaints of watery/itchy eyes, headaches, throat and nasal irritation, and diminished ability to concentrate
• Potential damage to guest belongings (especially in long-stay hotel apartments) and soft furnishings, similar to water ingress
• Lost productivity in terms of staff as a result of health issues and time spent on remediation
• Millions of dirhams spent on ineffective remediation
• Unhappy guests

So what’s the solution?

The solution has to be multi-fold to tackle the many causes of mould and aggravating factors. But first, hoteliers need to acknowledge the problem exists. Once the fundamental ignorance, perpetuated by the current shroud of secrecy is dispelled, only then can an effective solution be sought.

Thereafter, housekeepers need to be weaned off the mistaken belief that the solution is to place an air cleaning device in guest rooms after check out and before the next guest checks in. This doesn’t work, judging from continued guest complaints and the universal experience of housekeepers in the region.

Equally, as mould is a permanent threat, any solution must in turn be permanent, not temporary. Indeed, most devices generally being sold which offer such a solution pose a health risk in themselves — the ubiquitous ozone generators.

The US Government Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the big daddy of all issues related to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), took the bold step of saying that “no federal agency of the US Government advocates the use of ozone generators in occupied areas, either human or animal”, as ozone in the concentrations required to be effective as a fungicide, bactericide or deodorizing agent are way in excess of the prescribed safe limits.

The State of California went one step further and has legislated to make illegal any device as of October 2008 that emits more than five parts per billion of ozone in an eight-hour period. This therefore includes most air purifiers that use ionisation, electrostatic precipitation or UV light.

Equally, de-humidifiers pose a health risk if they are not properly sanitised and regularly maintained, and they potentially increase guest complaints as a result of removing essential moisture which we all need for basic skin comfort. Furthermore, de-humidifiers again at best can only offer a quick fix as opposed to tackling the root cause of the problem.

Secondly, the responsibility lies equally with housekeeping, engineering and operations departments as all need to be involved to identify and tackle the root causes of the problem for an effective long term solution. All too often currently, each department takes unilateral action without consulting the others and therefore the problem persists, yet sucking in further resources from each budget.

Lastly, the multi-fold solution needs to look at the root causes — these are generally complicated as they cover multiple areas of operation and have overlaps in terms of time and departments, including:

• HVAC design, build quality and maintenance
• Air purification — specifically localised in-room where the problem is
• Non-water based paints on affected surfaces
• General maintenance
• Hotel design

As green building guru and managing director of Green Technologies FZCO Mario Seneviratne says: “The problem stems from poor HVAC design, over sizing of cooling loads, the over estimation of the sensible heat in the rooms and the lack of treated fresh air supply to the room. This is further compounded by setting the thermostat too cold in the rooms”.

Seneviratne was involved in the world’s first LEED certified Green Hotel and Dubai’s first LEED Green building.

The good news is that mould is a very common problem, so you’re not alone, and there are simple, cost effective solutions which can be easily implemented at any stage of the life of a hotel.

Why hoteliers’ can’t ignore mould

• The Government imperative — Dubai Municipality (DM) inspections including DM’s IAQ drive since 2007 following Local order no. 11 of 2003, the UAE National Strategy &
• Action Plan for Environmental Health 2010, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed’s Strategic Vision for Dubai 2015, which stipulates health as one of its seven key objectives.
• The cost imperative — millions spent in terms of staff costs for housekeeping and engineering, remedial action, equipment and supplies, duct cleaning and the reduced lifespan of soft furnishings.
• The guest imperative — 30% of the world population suffers from Asthma and/or breathing allergies, which are aggravated by mould, not to mention guest complaints as a result of unsightly visible mould, smells and irritation.