In some places, the valet parkers park cars in and then juggle them around when someone wants their car, so it can be many valets over several days, not just one on arrival and another one for departure (assuming that the guest doesn't use the car during the stay, for example). In some luxury hotels, the valets seem to actively try to park the most impressive guest cars on display near the front entrance and viewable from the street, while the less impressive cars are hidden as soon as possible. This can result in more "unnecessary" movement of vehicles.

A sick or asymptomatic valet doesn't need to sneeze or cough on the steering wheel, just breath in the enclosed space. Plus, there are many places on a car that the valet could touch, so I wouldn't be confident that trying to wipe down surfaces before getting into the car would necessarily get everything.

BTW, can we assume that the guest has made clear to the hotel and any valet parking employees that he/she is simply trying to avoid having random strangers enter the car and not trying to avoid paying the *fee* for valet parking?

I agree with a previous poster that if someone is concerned about a stranger breathing in their car, that they are better off not traveling right now. While we all have different degrees of risk tolerance when it comes to coronavirus (like anything else), it would seem that stressing about mandatory valet is a sign that all kinds of other unavoidable things are also going to cause stress.

There might be insurance restrictions on the general public entering the "secured" parking area.
There may be issues regarding the physical location of the parking lot (i.e., not ADA-compliant, double or triple parked cars, etc.)
This may be a "this is how we do it, take it or leave it" situation.

If it is the first two, there's really no other remedy other than parking off-site or staying elsewhere, and arguing with the hotel and "threatening" to stay elsewhere isn't really productive. Informing the hotel why one needs to stay elsewhere is different.

I agree with the OP on this one. In general I don't like valets in my personal vehicles and avoid them wherever possible, but now I would never use a valet service. I'm not really skittish or turned off about traveling right now, but that would definitely bother me.

Are you planning to stay on property the entire time or are you planning to need your vehicle during your stay? If you plan to just stay on property, there appears to be a Hertz at the hotel, you could always rent a car and just return it when you arrive and then rent another to go back.

I suspect that the property has made its decision and nothing will change. Either OP changes locations, accepts that he parks off site and thus does not have evening access to his vehicle, or lumps it.

Ahhh...thanks for clarifying....i misunderstood your point

Do you really think most properties are sanitizing rooms and initiating the new cleaning protocols for rooms??

Possibly, possibly not. However in a room there is A LOT more air volume and time between others being in the room and you arriving there. Upon arriving at a room it's not difficult to take a few minutes and surface clean the touch points and spray some Lysol around the place on anything you plan to come in contact with. Do that one time and you're done for the stay as long as you don't have anyone else come in the room for the rest of the time.

In a car with a valet you're going to enter the vehicle immediately upon the valet exiting, you're not going to realistically be able to sanitize the car fully and every time you hand it off you'll have to do the same over again. It's a major inconvenience at a brand who's entire purpose is guest convenience and satisfaction.

I don't get this comment at all (and I've worked in the hospitality industry longer than any other). Management worth anything will want to hear why customers have chosen not to stay especially when it is one single issue that has caused the loss. Management can't fix (or at a minimum, take into consideration) what they don't know, and OP has a concern that's likely shared by many potential guests.

Exactly. If any competent manager sees they're losing business due to their own inability to fulfill the guest's needs at a time when hotels are struggling, they'd want to do something about it.

Especially with a request that's very reasonable. OP isn't asking that they be upgraded to the presidential suite in advance as a silver or anything like that.

Or maybe the hotel management thinks they are doing their valet employees a favor by ensuring that they have tips from the few hotel guests they have by requiring valet parking. That's another riff on the employee angle.

Ugh. I hated when our valets did that. "Unnecessary" is the perfect description for that entire process.

Insurance did cross my mind, too. I could understand there being insurance issues with the the hotel garage (a portion can be seen on the right side of the image). But, there's a huge "regular" parking lot right off the main driveway.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b257a84e30.jpg
Source: https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=a156f...=2&form=S00027

That fact leads me to believe that the hotel could easily accommodate this reasonable request. They just don't want to. As you say: take it or leave it.

If the business gets a reputation for poor customer service that may negatively affect the business. A good business will consider carefully whether the customer is reasonable and whether the business wants to keep that customer. Further, the business doesn't know who that customer is (might be a tech CEO), who the customer knows (social media, journalist), what's the customer's job, etc.

That would be the clincher for me. Whatever the property's excuse, it is an inappropriate policy, particularly given the COVID surge in Florida, and I would take my business elsewhere.

Negative online reviews (e.g., T/A) can have a significant impact on business these days. Often, the most effective thing you can do following a bad stay is leave an (honest) negative review on T/A.

telling management about something is wrong on-site is different than telling management about something you know beforehand that you don’t like is two separate things. Does one make a reservation at a resort and then call the hotel and say, “I don’t like your resort fees, please remove or else I take my business elsewhere.” I’m sure people have done this but where has that gone.

telling management about something you know beforehand that you don’t like and saying you will take business elsewhere is too DYKWIA mentality in my mind... I take my business elsewhere and choose a property. It’s not my job to school the property/management.

I guess that's why you don't manage a hotel then.