2020 Hometown Heroes

2020 Hometown HEROES Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS May 14, 2020 Page 147 Quality Inn serves essential travelers with the utmost care COMMUNITY: WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER! L INCOLN - While there are thousands of Illinoisans who are not working right now due to the state-wide Stay at Home orders, there are also thousands of Illinoisans who are working under the qualification of essential worker. Those essential workers are putting themselves out there, ultimately in harm’s way, as every day they have to do their job, not knowing if the people they are interacting with could be carriers of the coronavirus. And, because they do what they have to do, they also sometimes still have to travel from one part of the state to another. In order to do so, they need motel accommodations. Thus, motels are also considered essential right now and are permitted to remain open to accommodate those necessary travelers. Among the motels in Lincoln is the Quality Inn, owned by Paresh Patel and managed by Kenna Schafer. The motel offers 51 rooms for guests, a work out room, hot tub and pool, and offers breakfast for guests each morning. Patel purchased the motel a couple of years ago and did a nice remodel that included upgrading many areas, and taking out all the carpeting, replacing it with laminate flooring, so as to more easily accommodate pets. Now with the Covid-19 issues, those floors are playing a big part in the motels ability to assure the health and wellbeing of staff and travelers. Schafer said that with the rooms being carpet free, staff are able to sanitize the rooms “from top to bottom” when guests check out. Floors are steam cleaned and it is standard practice to use sanitizing solutions in every room when guests leave. To help assure the safety of staff, Schafer said everyone is offered personal protective gear such as gloves and masks. A new plexiglass shield has been added at the service counter to protect staff from germs and droplets passing from guests checking in. In the rooms, guests are also being asked to be sure to put all their trash in the trash containers in their rooms so that staff can remove it in the trash bag without touching it. She added that guests are asked kindly to report if they are feeling ill during their stay. CONTINUED u