Wednesday 17th February 2021
Update
Rooms free, nobody checks in
Berlin quarantine hotel is waiting for guests
By Diana Dittmer
While British travelers are being forced to spend ten days in expensive isolation in hotels at their own expense, free Corona rooms are empty in Berlin. Apparently nobody wants to give away the camp fever. And who pays the bill?
Travelers returning to Great Britain can only dream of the Berlin offer to isolate themselves voluntarily and free of charge in a hotel if necessary. London cracks down hard. British and Irish citizens and residents of the United Kingdom who are traveling from one of 33 risk countries have had to register in advance this week and book a ten-day package for a so-called quarantine hotel. Cost point: the equivalent of a good 2000 euros per person.
The government now wants to play it safe in view of the more contagious corona mutations. Almost 5,000 rooms have already been reserved in 16 hotels near the airports in London, Gatwick, Birmingham and Farnborough. Another 58,000 rooms should be available, it is said. Violation threatens draconian penalties: anyone who does not check into one of the prescribed hotels has to pay the equivalent of 11,450 euros.
The returnees are "not amused" about the circumstances of their re-entry. Although the room is "not bad", the cost of the stay is "too high" and "crazy for ten days," the BBC quotes a man from the first group who was stranded in a quarantine hotel on Monday. Others complain that they did not bring any books or things to keep themselves busy during the time.
Johnson: Those who travel "should bear the costs"
Prime Minister Boris Johnson justified the crackdown on people who would now be quarantined because they were vacationing abroad, even though it was forbidden, should also be able to "bear the costs" for this. In a European comparison, Great Britain is one of the countries most severely affected by Corona. In view of weeks of strict restrictions, the curve is now clearly coming back.
Germany is also currently sealing itself off against the new corona mutations in order to interrupt the chains of infection. Quarantine rooms can also be booked in hotels in this country. However, the offer is comparatively manageable on the one hand and absolutely voluntary on the other. As long as there is no violation of quarantine requirements, each individual can decide for himself where to go to quarantine.
At the end of 2020, the red-red government in Berlin thought it sensible to have free isolation rooms in the fight against Corona. This is why there has been a corresponding offer in a hotel in Jahnstrasse in the Neukölln district since November. It is aimed primarily at those who live in large families and in apartments that are too small or who have no apartment at all. The Marburger Bund doctors' union welcomes this idea. Cramped living conditions "endanger the success of the quarantine," it says. However, the doctors also emphasize that it is essential that people voluntarily want to go to a hotel.
3135 euros per day for mostly empty rooms
The doctors do not know how many quarantine options there are in Germany and how they are accepted. However, the interest should not be great. Because even the free offer in Berlin is only in sparse demand. At the end of 2020 it was still said that the city would rent 500 rooms in hotels to give people the opportunity to withdraw there. That turned out to be a mere 57. The quarantine room is allocated by the health department. Only five people were accommodated in Neukölln between November 21 and the end of 2020, says District Health Councilor Falko Liecke ntv.de. This year there were 22 people.
"In principle, accommodation in a hotel is only voluntary and generally subordinate. Despite the provision of supplies in the hotel, it is usually more appropriate and simply more convenient to carry out the necessary isolation in your own rooms. In addition, separation from the family is usually rejected." will be communicated in writing.
The cost per day is 55 euros per room – regardless of whether the room is occupied or not. It was actually intended that the federal government would bear the costs for this. Now the city pays a total of 3,135 per day Euros, plus costs for breakfast, lunch and dinner, for mostly empty rooms. The concept of the quarantine hotel had "failed", judged the CDU member Emine Demirbüken-Wegner in January, the costs and benefits were "out of proportion". Nevertheless, the offer was extended until the end of March.
"Quarantine hotel" can damage the reputation
The Berlin example has not caught on in other cities. In Bremen, the authorities were initially very interested because they saw a clear connection between cramped living space and high numbers of infections. But in the end it didn't go beyond an interest. The city does not cover the costs of the quarantine – not even in emergencies. The isolation rooms in his hotel "Munte" in Bremen are mostly booked and paid for by companies, Detlef Pauls tells ntv.de. Pauls is also chairman of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association for Bremen. For the most part, it is employees of the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg who have come from a risk area who spend their quarantine time with him. His hotel separated a hallway for it.
For hotels, corona rooms mean special income that they would not otherwise have. Nevertheless, Pauls sees it as just a nice "basic idea", even if they are booked and paid for on a permanent basis. He'd rather get back to normal quickly. "We'd rather work than be fed." He also has a specific concern about the concept: The mix of Corona and normal guests could be a deterrent, he says. He also has to think about his healthy customers. "Would you go to a hotel that also accommodates guests who are in quarantine?"
The hoteliers in Great Britain are now also considering what it means for their reputation if they pull out the quarantine ticket. London has made it a condition that they have to decide who they want to accommodate: people in Corona quarantine or "normal" guests. Both are not possible. There is a risk that the reputation of the "Corona Hotel" will stick to the house, the British newspaper "The Guardian" quotes an industry representative. "Hotels may not want to be known as quarantine hotels."
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