STAY COVID-SECURE WITH US
Coronavirus has changed the face of the world as we know it. And to ensure we keep you and our fabulous team as safe as we can when you come to stay, and to minimise the spread of this awful virus, we've put a range of procedures in place. Please read these carefully so that you know what will have changed and what to expect when you come to stay at Imperial Hotel.
Booking your stay & pre-arrival information
We are re-opening to staying visitors from Saturday 1 August 2020. You can book your stay online or you can telephone us on 01493 842000.
Before booking your stay, we recommend that you read through all our ‘Stay Covid-Secure’ procedures to ensure you understand the processes we have put in place to keep you safe during your stay, and to minimise the risk of Covid-19 spreading.
If the government’s official Track and Trace app has been developed by the time you come to visit, we strongly recommend that you download and activate it. This will ensure we are all alerted to any guests who may pose a risk of spreading Covid-19.
In the days leading up to your stay, or on the day you're booked to stay, if you are displaying any symptoms of Covid-19 we politely ask that you call us on 01493 842000 to postpone your visit. Symptoms include: a high temperature and a new and persistent cough as well as a loss of taste and smell
If you have booked directly with us, we will contact you, by email or by telephone prior to your arrival with all the necessary information about your stay, our latest Covid-19 management processes and information about the local area. If you have not booked directly with us, you can find all the information relating to your forthcoming stay online. Alternatively, you can telephone us on 01493 842000 or email us at reservations@imperialhotel.co.uk
If you have any concerns about your stay, our team will be happy to talk to you further.
Arrival & Check-in
We must, of course, politely request that if you are displaying any symptoms of Covid-19 or are feeling unwell in any way on arrival, that you do not come into the hotel. To remind you, Covid-19 symptoms include a high temperature and a new and persistent cough as well as loss of taste and smell.
Hand sanitising stations will be provided at the hotel entrance, in Reception, in the toilets, and at the lift on all floors. Please use these on entering the hotel, whenever you use the lift, and frequently throughout your stay.
Check in is from 2pm as usual. We've streamlined check-in to make it a faster and reduced-contact experience for you and for our team. And to avoid handling cash, we will only be accepting debit and credit cards for the foreseeable future. Our preferred method of payment is Apple Pay, or the equivalent Android payment system.
To minimise contact at check-out, we will take full payment for your accommodation when you check-in. And if you did not book directly with us, we will ask for your email address to facilitate our new check-out process.
We have installed a sneeze screen at the Reception desk so we can all keep our distance, including Sammy. If you have any questions or need any help during your stay, simply dial 259 from the phone in your room to speak to Reception. When in Reception, please do your very best to ensure that you and all other guests in your party maintain the government advised social distance measures from other guests, and from our team members. To remind you, this is currently 2 metres.
During these strange times, we have been advised against handling your luggage or belongings, or showing you around the hotel or to your room. However, we are always happy to help and will do our very best to assist you, bearing both your and our safety in mind. Please do not hesitate to ask for help.
You will find new signage in place throughout the hotel detailing our new one-way system and the guidelines we have put in place to protect you and our team.
To go upstairs to the bedroom floors, please use the South Stairs by Reception. To come downstairs, we are asking all guests to use the North Stairs by the Princess Louise & Beatrice rooms.
We strongly recommend that hotel residents use the toilets in their bedrooms, rather than the public loos near Bar Fizz.
Please rest assured that all surfaces, door handles, stair rails and other touch points will be regularly cleaned and sanitised throughout the day by our fabulous ‘Clean Team’ and our new fogging machine will be used during the night to disinfect all public areas.
The stairlift
If possible, we recommend that you use the stairs. However, if you need to use the stairlift, please use the hand sanitizer before pressing the assistance button outside. A staff member will come to help you with the equipment. The stair lift will be cleaned after every use.
The lift
For your safety, we recommend you use the stairs. But if you would prefer to use the lift, please use the hand sanitizer before pressing the call button or entering the lift. Hand sanitizer stations are located by every lift door. Please do not get in the lift if it arrives and is already occupied. A maximum of 3 guests from the same household may use the lift at any one time. Otherwise, to maintain social distancing, there is only sufficient space inside the lift for one person. And it may be that government guidelines require you to use a mask whilst in such a confined space.
All these new procedures and processes have been put in place to enable us to open, so you can come and stay as safely as possible, and for our team to be able to serve you as safely as we can. It's going to take some getting used to for everyone. If you have any special requirements, please let us know well in advance of your arrival so we can make any necessary preparations with everybody’s safety in mind.
Should you feel concerned about your health during your stay, we have thermometers available at Reception. Please note, however, that we reserve the right to request that any guests displaying symptoms of Covid-19 leave the premises immediately, together with everyone in their party.
Guest bedrooms
Every guest bedroom and ensuite bathroom will be fully sanitised before each stay by Housekeeping, and locked to ensure no-one enters your room after cleaning and before your arrival.
Fabric items in your room such as the mattress, pillows, cushions, the carpet, chairs, curtains etc will have been sprayed using our new fogging machine, with an approved sanitising solution, which is effective in killing Covid-19 but otherwise harmless to humans or animals.
All surfaces and touch points in your bedroom will be thoroughly wiped down and cleaned prior to your arrival, and sanitised daily. All linen, towels and robes are professionally washed by Camplings Laundry in their brand new facility based in Great Yarmouth.
Any printed notices in your room will either be laminated and sanitised after each visit, or clearly visible under glass. Any other printed materials, pens or writing materials you may require will be available from Reception on request.
Rest assured that everyone in our hard-working housekeeping team undergoes strict sanitisation procedures prior to starting work, and will wear the appropriate PPE during cleaning.
Should you prefer, the housekeeping team can be asked not to enter your room during your stay. This does mean you will have to make your own bed! Fresh sheets can be provided. And if you have asked us not to refresh your room and you would like a change of towels at any time during your stay, please telephone 259 to arrange collection and delivery. If this is something you would like to do, please advise the Receptionist of your wishes at check-in and hang the sign on your door.
For your safety, we strongly recommend that you only use the toilet in your room during your stay, rather than popping to the public loos near Bar Fizz. We appreciate that this means coming up and down stairs using the one way system, but this is much safer for everyone.
Common Areas
Please use the hand sanitising stations that we have set up throughout the hotel on entering or exiting any common areas of the hotel such as the Victoria Suite, The Terrace, Reception or Bar Fizz.
Our Clean Team will clean shared surfaces and touch points frequently throughout the day and use our fogging machine to disinfect overnight.
We will be regularly cleaning and sanitising the toilets. There is sanitising handwash at the basins, together with contact-free hand dryers. To ensure social distancing is observed, only one person may use the Gents' toilets at any one time, unless they are from the same household. To enable this, we have fitted a lock to the exterior of teh Gent's toilet door.
In the Ladies' loos, there is enough room for a maximum of two people to use the cublicles. However we ask that you wait for the basin to become free before exiting your cubicle to wash and dry your hands.
To avoid queues in the narrow corridor near the loos, guests who are staying with us should use the toilet in their bedroom.
When walking through the hotel, please use your discretion and consideration by keeping to the government required social distancing regulations between yourself, other guests and our team.
Hotel residents should follow the signage for the one-way system we have put in place for our 2 staircases and the bedroom corridors. The South Stairs by Reception are for ascending to the bedroom floors and the North Stairs are for descending. The North Stairs provide direct access to the Victoria Suite and The Terrace.
You may of course use the lift, but please follow all hand sanitising guidance, including using hand santisier before pressing the call button. The lift should only be used by one person at a time, or a maximum of 3 persons from your family group or household. Depending on current government guidelines, you may be required to wear a mask in the lift, as it is a very confined space.
Breakfast, Drinks & Dinner
Hotel residents can choose to eat in your room or in the Victoria Suite, where tables will be spaced according to government regulations of 2metres or 1metre plus, with mitigations in place. We have extended our dining spaces to include The Terrace and the whole of the Victoria Suite, so we can easily ensure that all diners are seated at the required distance apart.
To enable us to prepare your table, to prevent queues and to ensure you can get to your seat whilst maintaining social distancing guidelines with other diners, a table reservation will be required for all meals, including breakfast. We will be offering our usual à la carte breakfast, served to your table for you to enjoy during your stay, and will agree a breakfast time with you at check in. Please be punctual to minimise queues.
If you would like to eat with us in the evening, you will need to book a table for dinner. Please confirm your table reservation time at check-in, or after breakfast at Reception. At this time, we do not anticipate re-opening Café Cru until the beginning of October 2020. Our delicious menu will be served in the Victoria Suite or on The Terrace, weather permitting.
We will also be serving lunch and afternoon tea daily. A table reservation will be required if you would like to join us. Please make your booking at Reception, or if you're out and about, feel free to use our free online booking system.
If you are staying with a larger family group, flexible table configurations for your party can be arranged dependent upon household size, and what is currently permitted by government regulation. We will telephone you prior to your arrival to discuss these options with you and answer any questions you may have. Please could we ask you to be so kind as to follow current government guidelines for groupings when reseving your table.
We have implemented a clockwise one-way system on the upper ground floor for access to the dining areas and the toilets. Please help us by following the signs. It is strongly recommended that hotel residents use the toilets in their bedrooms, rather than the public toilets on the upper ground floor.
To maintain social distancing guidelines, we will not be serving drinks from the counter in Bar Fizz. Instead, we will offer a full table service in Bar Fizz, on The Terrace and in the Victoria Suite.
We recommend that all diners download the official Track and Tracing app when it becomes available to ensure we are all alerted to any guests who may pose a risk of spreading Covid-19.
We are, as always, happy to welcome you and to serve you. Please be assured that internal measures have been introduced that require the kitchen and restaurant teams to wear the appropriate PPE during their shifts and to wash their hands even more frequently than usual. In some ways, this is a return to the Imperial Hotel’s former Victorian grandeur by serving your food whilst wearing gloves, in other ways it will be very strange to take orders and serve you whilst wearing masks. This new way of working and living is here to stay for the foreseeable future.
Check Out
Check out can be a really busy time in Reception. We're always sorry to see guests go and love to chat about your stay. However, to help everyone maintain social distancing measures, and to make check-out as contact-free as possible, we've implemented the following changes:
Your final bill will be emailed to you the night before departure. If you would prefer a printed room bill, please advise Reception. It will be slipped under your door before breakfast on the morning of departure.
To check out, all you need to do is return your room key to the box in Reception as you leave.
As we will have already taken payment for your accommodation on arrival, it should just be the case that food and drink items are outstanding. We will take payment for these items using the debit or credit card details we will hold on file for you for the duration of your stay. Please ask at Reception if you would like a the receipt to be emailed to you. Please note that if you did not book directly with us, you will need to give us your email address so we can send you a receipt.
We very much hope that staying with us, even with one-way systems, masks, gloves, table reservations for all meals and the myriad of other changes we've had to put in place to make your stay covid-secure, is a happy, relaxing experience.
Fresh sea air, and the miles of sand, sea and space we have immediately opposite and surrounding the hotel are some of the very best things to wake up to at stange and unprecedented times like these. As lockdown restrictions ease, more and more local attractions are re-opening for business, so that you can have a enjoyable holiday at Imperial Hotel in Great Yarmouth.
Our team and Covid-19
Everyone on the team has undergone comprehensive hospitality-focused safety training on how to prevent the spread of Covid-19 at Imperial Hotel.
All our fabulous staff will have their temperature taken and checked upon arrival for work. They will also be required to self-certify that they have not been in contact with anyone with Covid-19 symptoms. Any staff member who has symptoms or feels unwell in any way will be sent home to take a test and will only be allowed back to work when safe.
Internal measures have been introduced that mean team members have to wear appropriate PPE during their shifts, and everyone has to wash their hands even more frequently than usual. Waiting staff will be wearing masks and gloves whilst serving you, for their safety and yours. It is impossible to maintain a 2m distance whilst serving someone a plate of delicious food, hence masks are essential.
Back of house, hand-sanitising stations are located at all entry and exit points for the team to use.
We have a very large kitchen, and our kitchen team will be adhering to the required social distancing guidance whilst making your meals. This will mean there are some changes to our menu in the short-term as we can no longer have 3 different chefs preparing one dish, both for your safety and theirs.
Our risk assessments and the Imperial Hotel Covid-19 operating procedures are clearly displayed in all back of house areas for any team member to consult at any time, and a Duty Manager is always available to answer queries or questions.
The health, safety and well-being of our team is paramount to ensuring that all our guests have an enjoyable, safe and relaxing stay at Imperial Hotel.