A reader checked into the Hyatt Place Cincinnati Airport/Florence and was surprised by the state their assigned room was in.
Here are the bed sheets:
And notice what’s on the toilet in the bathroom:
Finally, a previous guest’s clothing was in the dresser drawer:
Housekeeping needs to be performed every day in order to invest the time and attention necessary to turn rooms regularly for guests at a standard the Hyatt brand leads guests to expect. Housekeepers need to be allotted sufficient time to clean each room. And rooms need to be inspected after cleaning, before a guest checks in.
Remember when some chains were putting stickers on the doors and co-branding their procedures with with cleaning product companies? It wasn’t that long ago. Now it seems we have the worst procedures of the pandemic – full services often not restored, but pandemic cleaning practices loosened.
This hotel is currently rudderless, searching for both a general manager and an operations manager based on current job postings, so it shouldn’t be surprising they’re having operational challenges.
At the same time, though, when readers complain of hotel properties finding new creative ways to nickel and dime them, it’s often a DiamondRock-owned hotel. When readers complain their hotel visibly skimps on maintenance, it often seems to be an Aimbridge Hospitality-managed property. The Hyatt Place Cincinnati Airport is a franchise managed by Aimbridge. I reached out to press representatives for Aimbridge Hospitality but did not hear back.
Sadly, these kind of experiences are increasingly common at all hotels across all brands since the pandemic. The walk-in showers many brands are installing at newly built or recently renovated properties are especially problematic because most of the walk-in shower concepts are poorly designed as housekeeping can’t easily clean along the sliding door, where mold and mildew build up. Bath tubs are much easier to clean.
Well, that’s a shame. Did they ask for another room?
Damn…. Just stayed at the Hyatt in Orlando that was good. Next staying at a Hyatt in Boston, hoping for the same…
Just returned from a Doubletree for a week I was told to bag my own garbage and handed plastic bags to do so daily which I did.
Housekeeping was by request except they were gone for both days when I called @ 3 PM and noon the next ;( Thankfully I know how to make a bed 😉 They said let them know next time a week before arrival .Rates are still the same (sigh) Breakfast was good and far more generous than Hyatt these past few years
Granted unusual for any Hilton to have a great breakfast included but Hyatt benefits with the cutbacks have been appalling with declining Globalist benefits even in their best hotels.Yes there are still some great Hyatts out there doing a great job too
I’m back to Marriott too where despite all the I hate Marriott elite recognition cries I had great full breakfasts with anything I wanted and suite upgrades accept at AC hotels where they don’t have suites or good breakfasts
OMG Hyatt is going downhill soooo fast. trying to expand so fast, giving out globalist status like candy, now barely keeping up on cleaning rooms. Shame on Hyatt. Shame on Hyatt!
For the first time in years, I stayed in a hotel that cleaned rooms daily (Westin Copley Place Boston). Hopefully many more will follow…
Hotels are getting away with absolute murder charging the rates they are charging and providing the (lack of) amenities they are providing. It is a shame the brands are letting franchises continue to skimp on services such as housekeeping despite record room rates. The lack of reinvestment of revenue is a giant sucker punch to all guests who continue to be let down and never know what to expect. I wish more people rightfully call this out in reviews online.
Airlines meanwhile are also seeing record revenue but they are opening new clubs, expanding services and trying to get back to pre-COVID routines.
this is happening all over. on a recent stay at the four seasons new orleans we received no housekeeping, no turndown, the minibar was never stocked and had half consumed products in it, a request for toilet paper took 2 hours, there were no washcloths at all, room service carts were left in hallways for an entire day, and public area restrooms were shamefully filthy. all this in a brand newly opened hotel, in which we payed $1100 per night!
This is going on everywhere. It’s not exactly a news bulletin.
I was at a LaQuinta several months ago and they had to call in the manager to help the housekeeping staff because they couldn’t clean the rooms. . The only place that I stayed where it wasn’t a problem was a hotel that hired an outside professional cleaning service to strip and clean the rooms floor by floor.
Then all housekeeping had to do was make the beds and put in clean towels.
No one wants to do this kind of very hard thankless work.
At a recent stay at a Radisson, it wasn’t until I was unpacked that I noticed the room had not been thoroughly cleaned. Small items under the bed, dust hanging off a wall and grout on bathroom floor not thoroughly cleaned. The sheets looked clean . . . At that point I didn’t want to repack & move. I do bring bleach wipes with me.. I did send email after my stay about how unhappy I was to pay $150 for a room that wasn’t clean. And they replied with an apology. So they are aware that they can lose customers if this continues. If they don’t have enough staff to clean all of the rooms, don’t open all the rooms.
I have stayed at a Hyatt Place where the sheets were fine, but the duvet was teeming with black mold. Hyatt Place Ontario, California. One Google reviewer posted a photo of exactly the same mold problem that I faced. And that was just one of the many problems at that dreadful hotel.
Hyatt made a branding error when they gave Place and House properties their imprimatur. I understand the business need to serve the downmarket, but the other chains can do it without diluting their more upscale brands.
And yet in Europe service seems to be back. I am at a Hilton Doubletree in Manchester England right now and at check in they proudly announced that full service is back and everything is pre-pandemic normal. And a couple of weeks ago in Copenhagen at a Scandic hotel everything was normal. Must be a USA thing.
If their cost-cutting mindset is driving them to this state of housekeeping, what must they be doing with the food they serve. I’m personally aware of a situation in which seagulls were being caught on the roof and were being served in the restaurant as chicken. Anything to save a buck. If anyone still plays the game with these hotels, one only has oneself to blame.
Before I book a stay, I ask if full housekeeping is being done. If not, I book somewhere else. Hotels that don’t employ full housekeeping don’t get my business. Same for hotels that don’t have individualized soaps/shampoos and instead have those foul common-use dispensers in the shower. Ick.
I stay at Hyatt branded hotels almost weekly. It still is very unusual to find problems with housekeeping. ALL service centered businesses are suffering from lack of employees. Before you slam an entire brand think about the problems the industry is having. Still. Otherwise most Hyatt properties reviewed get great reviews.
Stayed at the Westin Grand Central in NYC and the housekeeping was superb. Housekeeper noticed what products I used and left extra. It was super clean and the staff, if I saw them in the hallway were very friendly. A little more expensive than the nearby Hyatt but miles ahead in every way possible.
If you think the lack of housekeeping is a choice you have your head in the sand. Despite offering record high hourly wages, there’s not enough people out there willing to do the work. The cost of operating hotels is also higher, so that’s why hotels are trying to hold rates. Now, that’s no excuse for a dirty room, those should never be sold. But daily ro cleaning won’t be back for awhile.
@Antonio Pirelli – hold rates? US hotel rates are above then *record* 2019 levels. My heart bleeds.
I stayed at THIS Hyatt Place in 2017/2018.
It was not like this at the moment. Business was pretty good before pandemic. Receptionists were extremely friendly, definitely good folks.
But I might understand what happened there. Since it’s Kentucky, not Cincinnati, Ohio, they underpaid good folks so they left.
We need a good recession to get good service again. When people are afraid of losing their job they will work harder.
@Steve I am in TOTAL agreement. I’ve traveled for over four decades and service is almost always better in recessionary times. Companies are hungry to earn business and people work harder when jobs are scarce.