50 points. That’s not a typo. Marriott’s Garamond Tribute Portfolio Hotel in Krakow, which promises daily housekeeping, tries to bribe guests to skip it. But instead of a more traditional 500 or 1,000 points, the offer is a mere 50 points. 50 Marriott points are worth, at best, 30 cents.
That’s been their long-standing offer, it appears. I found a May 2023 review with the same choices: prosecco, 10% off at the restaurant (which is really just an encouragement to spend extra money at the restaurant), or 50 points.
Insultingly low points offered for opting out of daily cleaning at this hotel!
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- Starwood’s original 2009 pilot offered $5 or 500 Starpoints—equivalent to 1,500 Bonvoy points based on Marriott’s own conversion rate into the Bonvoy program.
- According to Green Lodging News, that was said to translate 188 skipped rooms into saving 12.5 room attendant workloads at the Sheraton Seattle.
- Marriott eventually offered just 250 – 500 Bonvoy points at participating properties, then retired the corporate program in 2020 once little or no housekeeping became normal during the pandemic.
Even if the hotel were sincere in seeking an environmental benefit, that woulnd’t require eliminating trash removal, skipping cleaning the bathroom, etc. The claim was always about water and detergent. It turns out that hotels base their environmental pitch on studies of human behavior that find pitching guilt causes guests to reuse towels by about 50% (37.2% baseline up to 49.3%).
- Hilton and Hyatt do not have chain-wide inducement programs for skipping housekeeping, with hotels generally leaning into guilt.
- Some IHG properties give 500 points (~ $3) per night like the Singapore Holiday Inn.
- Accor has a formalized program to offer 100 points (€2) per skipped day with cleaning at least every third day.
- Drury Hotels offers 250 points per day of housekeeping a guest declines.
Paid or solicited opt-outs are generally prohibited by law in New York City and Los Angeles, because unionized housekeepers have lobbied to protect their jobs. Los Angeles does allow unions to contract around this.
In New York City, a housekeeper covered by the major union agreement is paid a base of ~ $42.37 per hour and benefits bring the cost to $55.19 plus pension.
In Los Angeles, hotels with at least 60 rooms (50 in the airport zone) are required to pay a $25 minimum wage plus $4.25 in health benefits (or paid in cash without those benefits).
Housekeeping may be required in heavily unionized locations, but even there it’s generally not as extensive as it used to be. At many hotels ‘daily housekeeping’ now means a light refresh making the bed, taking out trash and replacing towels on the floor – not actual cleaning.
- Hilton promises complimentary daily housekeeping at Luxury, Full Service, Lifestyle and Embassy Suites. It’s every other day at Focused Service, Homewood and Home2 in the U.S. and Canada. LivSmart is weekly.
- Marriott only tells guests to check with the individual hotel. Previously they promised full daily cleaning at luxury brands, a daily light refresh at premium brands, and every other day tidying at several select-service brands. I do not see where that is still live.
- Hyatt appears to be property-specific. Many Hyatt Place/House hotels advertise lighter Express Housekeeping, but schedules range from every other day to every third day or on request.
- IHG has no dependable current portfolio-wide matrix. Its published “Daily Room Refresh” framework meant trash, towels, existing linen bed straightening, amenities and odor spray but not surface or bathroom cleaning.
Nationally, housekeeping wages rose 4.3% in the first quarter of 2026 while minutes cleaning per occupied room fell 4.3%. The average cost to clean a room is $7.26, out of total hotel labor cost per occupied room of $46.79.
Corporations continuously abusing consumers and workers, and getting away with it? Oh, yeah, almost forget what year it is, and who’s President. Second Gilded Age. *grunts*
I normally skip housekeeping because I don’t like having someone around my belongings, but I might have them do it at this hotel just to spite them.
@Aaron — If you’re going the spite route, why not purposely pick up that ‘explosive diarrhea’ and leave a nice big ‘surprise’ for them! /s
The kicker is how insultingly low the points offer is. I’d often take the Starwood points, but if a property offered me that little value for the skip I’d probably be unusually insistent about getting housekeeping.
In all fairness, if I’m eating at the restaurant anyway I might take *that*. But in that respect the points and the discount are misaligned and they might as well just do the discount.
The whole points and loyalty thing has gotten absurd.
Both hotels and airlines are passively abusing their best customers.
The only answer to this one is to tell Marriott to shove their measly 50 points up their A$$.
They should be embarrassed.
Yes! I agree with Raif. And I’d add I’m disgusted with Bonvoy.
better than nothing, I’d take it
Whenever I stay at a hotel that’s more that $150 a night and they surprise me with every-other-day or worse, I enter a tripadvisor review deducting the pips of the days skipped, and explain why. It’s fine if voluntary or reasonably recompensed, its pigs-at-the-trough otherwise.
In other news bonvoid has announced a new lower benefit 25 points a day for refusing housekeeping however valued BONVOID Ambassador’s will still get the full 50 points a day
Shareholders rejoiced
Even some U.S.-based Hyatt Regencies do NOT offer daily housekeeping.
I haven’t stayed in a hotel with daily cleaning for more than one night post-COVID. The exception is Staybridge, which offers daily lesser attention (that I decline). I’m quite happy with my once-a-week-housekeeping, serviced-apartment (extended-stay) lifestyle. BTW, if you saw my hotel room, you’d think I’m a neat freak. If you saw my residence, you’d not have that opinion.
I get so sick of hotels playing the “environment” game to “pretend” they care in order to NOT do housekeeping. I like at least a touch up and for them to replenish things like Coffee.