Make your own darn bed: Hotels ditch daily housekeeping services

Whether it’s out of necessity due to staff shortages, out of respect for social distancing, or perhaps just to save money, one of the main amenities that differentiates a hotel from your home, daily cleaning, is disappearing.

The days of returning to a wrinkle-free duvet are likely gone. Forget about fresh towels and accept that the rubbish in your room is never taken out during your stay.

The trend of no more daily cleaning, meanwhile initiated largely by COVID-19 – has become the norm in many hotels. During the early days of the pandemic, when transmission was more of a mystery, many hotels cut off cleaning services to reduce contact between strangers. But more than two years later, the cleanup has not yet returned.

Marriott policies vary by property, but cleaning is usually only available on request, and all rooms are automatically cleaned every sixth night. Hilton’s default value is that there are no more daily cleanups on most properties unless requested. Walt Disney World reduces the light cleaning service every two days. This involves replacing towels and removing rubbish, but does not necessarily include services you might expect, such as making the bed.

Other hotels have schedules, such as the Solares Hotel in Santa Cruz, California: stays of three nights or less, no service, while stays of six nights or less are cleaned once. The hotel recommends that you leave your rubbish outside your door.

These service reductions are not always welcome.

“Guests don’t want to have to ask every time they need to empty their trash or replace dirty towels,” said D. Taylor, international president of Unit Here, a U.S. and Canadian hospitality workers’ union. in a prepared statement. “Without cleaning, what’s stopping a hotel from being just a more expensive Airbnb?”

Why delete cleaning?

In many cases, the cuts may be more for money than security. In some hotels, there is not enough money to cover the cost. For others, it is an opportunity to do more.

The shortage of manpower and materials across the country has especially affected hotels. For example, the leisure and hospitality industry lost 8.2 million jobs in March and April 2020, a 49% drop in employment, according to the Office. of U.S. Labor Statistics. While there has certainly been hope for outsourcing (travel-related jobs are now among the fastest growing sectors lately), the industry still has about 1.5 million jobs below their pre-employment levels. the pandemic.

Meanwhile, supply chain problems and inflation continue. Hotels reported a 79% increase in the cost of cleaning and cleaning supplies, according to a November 2021 American Hotel & Lodging Association survey of some 500 hotel operators.

Other hotel operators have explicitly stated that this is money.

“The work we’re doing right now in each of our brands … is to make them more profitable and create more work efficiency,” Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta said during a call on earnings. of investors in February 2021. “When we emerge from the crisis, these companies will have a higher margin and require less labor than before COVID.”

How to keep cleaning up on your vacation

RESEARCH BEFORE BOOKING: Hotels usually post cleaning procedures online. Search for individual hotel websites labeled “equipment” or “COVID-19 security”. If the cleaning schedule is not up to par, consider booking elsewhere.

BOOKING HIGH-END HOTELS: Most high-end hotels are noticeably absent from this trend. Some Hilton brands, such as Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, LXR Hotels & Resorts and Conrad Hotels & Resorts, still offer daily maid service. Most Four Seasons clean twice a day.

But this is not always true. Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, often considered the most opulent resort in Walt Disney World, only offers a cleaning service every two days, like all Disney resorts. Nightly rates range from $ 757 to $ 4,428, according to the TouringPlans.com theme park data site.

REQUESTING SERVICE: Of course, booking high-end hotels can be an unrealistic solution. But here’s another trick that can work even in budget hotels: ask well.

Be polite, and the staff might feel sorry for your mess. After all, they don’t want the stinking smells of seafood to take away from your room. And the beach sand you tracked could easily spread if not vacuumed quickly.

For hotels where cleaning service is available on request, you can usually request it at the entrance. Other hotels require you to request it daily.

The bottom line

Some economists have linked a new word to this phenomenon where, instead of raising prices, companies reduce the services provided previously: skimpflation. Skimpflation could mean a reduction in staff, therefore, longer lines or telephone waiting times. It may mean the end of free headphones on airplanes or restaurant bread service.

And for many travelers, low inflation in the form of no more daily cleaning has become a particularly unpleasant and literally messy trend.