HotelChatter

Comfy Beds Are a Maid's Hell

April 21, 2006 at 3:11 PM | 0 Comments

Sheraton's "Sweet Sleeper" beds are not the hotel bedding giving housekeeping nightmares.

An article in the NY Times says that several chains are alienating their housekeeping staff with the plush bedding for guests.

Dubbed the "amenities arms race" or  "the battle of the beds", the push by major hotel brands to offer nighttime comfort to guests with superthick mattresses, five pillows, and heavy duvet s is forcing housekeeping to constantly pop pain relievers.

Several new studies have found that thousands of housekeepers are suffering arm, shoulder and lower-back injuries.

"It's gotten harder," said Dolores Reyes, a 55-year-old housekeeper responsible for 16 rooms a day at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu. "I've been trying to get my body used to it, but instead I'm feeling more pain."

Housekeepers earn only $17,300 a year and end up lifting mattresses 150 to 200 times a day changing sheets and making beds. And its not just bedding that the housekeeping has to take care of but coffee mugs, robes, replacing amenities.

Naturally, the beds and amenities are being added to the arsenal for Unite Here, a hotel workers' union, when they go through major negotiations with hotel chains.

We don't get like to get too involved in union stories, but we would like to remind you to tip your maid the next time you stay at a hotel.

Related Stories:
·Hotel Rooms Get Plusher, Adding to Maids' Injuries[NY Times]
· No Beauty Sleep for Beauty Queens [HotelChatter]