Covid Has Raised Consumer Hygiene Standards For Restrooms

60% of Americans are more likely to shop at businesses that have clean, well-maintained restrooms, according to Bradley Corporation’s annual Healthy Handwashing Survey™. These survey data also reveal key differences in consumer hygiene standards post-covid, and point to easy ways to improve guest services using this information.

Coronavirus Concerns

78% of Americans have been more aware of germs since the beginning of Covid. The primary areas of concern are stores, medical facilities, restaurants, and gas stations. With increased consciousness of infectious diseases after Covid-19, customers are much more attentive to the sanitation practices in the establishments they visit.

Increased Appreciation of Restroom Maintenance

Establishments with messy restrooms rate poorly among customers. According to survey data, 51% of consumers believe a dirty restroom shows poor management, 43% said that poorly-maintained restrooms lowered their opinion of the establishment as a whole, and 38% said that it indicated that the business does not care about its customer experience.

How Businesses Can Adapt to Higher Cleaning Standards

A clean restroom is an excellent way for business owners to tell patrons that their establishment is covid-conscious and values guest experience. Here are some options for those looking to improve their guest hygiene experience:

1. Reducing Hand-Surface Contact

Another study conducted by Bradley Corporation, it was found that a whopping 84% of Americans were wary of germs on surfaces. A further 63% said they were more likely to return to a business if its bathrooms were designed with reduced germ contact in mind. This can be done in many ways, such as touchless fixtures and antimicrobial surfaces.

2. Installing Cleana Mess Prevention Toilets Seats

Recent research by Cleana has found that 75% of patrons won’t lift the toilet seat before urinating, creating most commercial toilet seat messes. To solve this problem, Cleana has created a self-lifting toilet seat that automatically raises into the vertical position when not in use. When someone needs the seat to be down, they can set it down using Cleana’s specially-designed antimicrobial handles. After standing up and walking away, the self-lifting toilet seat gently lifts itself back into the raised position, thus distancing the seat from any possible contaminants. With this technology, the Cleana self-lifting toilet seat prevents dirty toilet seats from ruining the guest experience.

This commercial self-lifting toilet seat preventatively, rather than reactively, keeps experience-ruining messes from occurring.

3. Posting a Regular Cleaning Schedule

Patrons want to know how often a public bathroom is cleaned. 79% of Americans surveyed reported that easily-accessible signage describing how often the bathroom is cleaned is vital. This is a way for business owners that care about the guest experience to communicate that value directly to their customers.