Hotel Tech-in is our regular feature that takes a closer look at emerging technology in the hospitality industry.
There’s no excuse for hotels to be wishy-washy on kitchen cleanliness. Now, technology makes it simple to ensure employees wash their hands.
PathSpot Technologies offers real-time, digital kitchen hygiene management with a “handwashing validation system” for hospitality players looking to protect against the threat and spread of foodborne illness.
The New York-based company launched in 2017 but just last month partnered with Marriott International, which is integrating PathSpot technology across its global portfolio of more than 9,300 properties.
With foodborne illness being a major threat to health and safety, PathSpot has clients across industries. But for hotels, the system ensures travelers have a relaxing and enjoyable stay, not a sick getaway. The tech also drives operational efficiency at Marriott properties, helping save employees time, according to Christine Schindler, PathSpot’s CEO and co-founder.
Clean hands, safe hotels
Marriott properties are integrating PathSpot technology, including its HandScanner and SafetySuite, in back-of-house kitchen spaces as the hotel company “focuses on the health and safety of the millions of guests that our properties serve each day,” Stephen Toevs, vice president of culinary operations for Marriott, said in a statement.
Foodborne illness impacts 48 million Americans and results in thousands of deaths annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
PathSpot’s HandScanner uses fluorescent spectral imaging to identify invisible contaminants that lead to common foodborne illnesses like norovirus, E. coli and salmonella, Schindler explained.
Employees place their hands under the scanner and receive results within two seconds — a green checkmark if clean or a red “X” if contamination is detected — which prompts workers to re-wash their hands before returning to work, she said.
The scanner also displays food safety tips and trainings during the process, maximizing employees’ handwashing time, Schindler added.
According to PathSpot data, 75% of employees fail a handwashing scan in their first week of using the tech. After consistent training and monitored washes, 95% of handwashes scanned by PathSpot result in a noncontaminated reading, per Schindler.
In addition to the HandScanner, Marriott hotels have implemented PathSpot’s SafetySuite, a set of interconnected hardware and software tools that log scanning data. The tech also provides services like temperature recording in refrigerators and freezers, with alerts of any temperature-related issues that may impact food quality.
Data from PathSpot’s SafetySuite is automatically uploaded to the tech company’s cloud infrastructure, according to Schindler. This gives Marriott employees real-time access to analytics via a centralized dashboard, email reports, API integration or text alerts.
The system also tracks handwashing compliance rates and contamination trends, Schindler shared. This data “empowers managers to identify their largest sources of risk and areas for improvement as a catalyst for corrective action and audit readiness,” she said.
The SafetySuite Hub provides complete visibility into compliance rates by employee, shift or location, “making it easy for management to identify usage patterns and address issues promptly.” The function is intended to ensure employees are actually utilizing the tech and complying with its safety recommendations.
“When employees understand that the technology protects their health, customer health and business reputation, they embrace it as an essential tool rather than an inconvenient mandate,” Schindler said.
Creating operational efficiencies
PathSpot’s tech can not only keep hotel guests and employees safe from illness, but it can also create significant operational efficiencies on-property, according to Schindler.
“We support operators with significant improvements in labor optimization, audit-readiness, improved employee satisfaction and reduced food waste,” she said.
PathSpot clients across the board report an average 25% decrease in employee sick days, Schindler shared. So, the tech helps “ensure team members stay healthy while further optimizing labor efficiency,” she added.
“By digitizing traditionally manual processes like logbooks, temperature monitoring and expiration date labeling, we help businesses streamline their back-of-house operations during a time when our industry faces labor shortages and economic challenges,” Schindler said.
For Marriott specifically, hotels using PathSpot reported saving two to eight hours daily on back-of-house digital monitoring and logging activities, the company shared in a release. According to Schindler, this “frees up associates for guest-facing and culinary tasks while creating efficiencies in maintenance and engineering costs.”
While Marriott is using PathSpot solely for its food and beverage operations, the HandScanner tech could be applied to other areas of a hotel’s business, including housekeeping, Schindler noted.
