Tag Archives for housekeeping.
Housekeepers represented by the union UNITE-HERE want guests to request housekeeping every day of their stay. More work for housekeepers means more jobs for union members.
But they aren’t wrong that without daily housekeeping, trash, dirt and debris builds up in guest rooms – and that makes it harder to clean, and often rooms don’t get thoroughly cleaned as a result.
Jeff Bezos says the biggest mistake businesses make is not focusing most on what customers want. However Marriott’s CEO – who says workers make too much money and guests need to have more sympathy for hotel ownership groups – says his chain needs to modify brand standards to “consider franchisee feedback and..focus on reducing costs.”
Two hoteliers and hospitality consultants are pushing back, making the case that the hotel industry is living a big lie.
A woman dressed up as a Marriott housekeeper to convince a guest to open the door to their room. She rummaged around the room at the Four Points Sheraton Bellingham, Washington while pretending to provide ‘service’ – and stole car keys, a wallet, credit cards, and $2300 in cash.
The arresting officer told her to turn the engine of her vehicle off – but she slammed it into reverse and drove off and led police on a high speed chase at over 100 miles an hour.
It’s the next logical step, and one hotel consultants are talking about.
One major Hilton and Marriott owner wants to make lodging more like an ultra low cost airline. That’s the direction some chains are headed at the behest of short-sighted REIT investors. But it’s going to drive customers away. Charging for housekeeping services will mean less revenue for the hotel.
Hilton’s CEO was first out of the gate publicly declaring that guests should no longer receive daily housekeeping at full service hotels in the U.S. as a cost-cutting measure he believed people would accept after the pandemic. The goal is to charge people more, deliver them less, and improve margins.
A guest at the Hilton Brentwood/Nashville Suites shares what that looks like in practice.
Tiemshares generally don’t offer daily housekeeping to fractional owners, although many have historically offered the service to transient rental guests. They may offer housekeeping at a charge to owners.
Nevada requires offering daily housekeeping, and Hilton timeshares charge rental guests for it who want it – about $40 a day.
There’s a wonderful feeling returning home to a clean house. Early in my professional career I started paying a housekeeper to come, and returning home after they’d cleaned was a great feeling.
Staying at a hotel is wonderful when you get to return to your room and experience this every day. That is, at least where daily housekeeping was offered. Here’s what happens when it’s not.
Daily housekeeping at full service hotels: tired, wired, or inspired?
Eliminating housekeeping is bad for guests, but it is bad for hotels too. It eliminates part of what differentiates them from homesharing, gutting their competitive advantage. Given the role that hotels, and Hilton in particular, trumpeted in recent years playing fighting sex trafficking and mass shootings, how can they plausibly cut this from their budgets?
Hotels need to work harder to please guests when they have empty rooms. Delivering less value than before is a recipe for lower rates and more empty rooms. Moving to a no housekeeping standard where it no longer makes sense to compensate guests for no housekeeping is the wrong equilibrium for recovery.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
