US: Synergy Global Housing has announced the worldwide verification by Bureau Veritas of its nine-step health and safety program, SynergyCares.
“Covering every guest and client touchpoint, SynergyCares was developed against the backdrop of COVID-19 to deliver peace of mind that every Synergy apartment, whether in San Francisco, London, Singapore, or Korat, Thailand, is held to the same high standards of sanitixation and duty of care,” said Joan McCarthy Mack, VP of supply chain at Synergy. “With Bureau Veritas’ verification, we have third-party objective assurance that our apartments benchmark the industry’s highest standards for health, safety, and security.”
SynergyCares, as well as the program’s training curriculum, is the first health and safety program from a corporate housing provider to earn the excellence verification from Bureau Veritas.
“Synergy is committed to elevating the serviced apartments industry standard to be on par with the larger and more regulated hotel industry—a necessary step forward as remote work trends introduce a wider audience to the serviced apartment and aparthotel lodging concept,” said David Vigil, senior director of product and business development for Bureau Veritas. “We applaud Synergy for taking the necessary steps to ensure SynergyCares meets the most comprehensive duty of care standards in the hospitality industry.”
To obtain Bureau Veritas accreditation, the SynergyCares program needed to meet the following rigorous criteria:
• Deliver sustainable results (the program’s standards must sustain continuity through natural disasters, global pandemics, acts of terror);
• Raise the existing standard (the program needed to elevate or evolve pre-existing practices)
• Be accompanied by robust training and testing (maintain an 80 per cent fail threshold)
• Contain measurable outcomes to demonstrate success
• Show proof of benefit to internal Synergy staff
“SynergyCares is an enduring, holistic approach to how we care for our guests, clients, staff, and the environment; and in doing so acts as a model for the industry to follow,” said Stephen Hanton, president international, Synergy. “Everything from our internal training programs to the way we enter apartments to lift protocols to contactless entry to mid-stay check-ins—down to the selection and alignment criteria we use to partner with global supply chain providers—every last detail has been thoroughly thought through and is now fully vetted and verified by the hospitality industry’s most reputable accreditation body.”
“Everything we do is about ensuring the highest quality guest experience possible,” said Hanton. “With the backing of Bureau Veritas, we believe we’ve laid the groundwork to give buyers and guests alike the confidence they need to get back on the road and ultimately help restore business travel and relocation commerce to pre-pandemic levels.”
