Eager Housekeeping Staff to Get More Eager?

June 30, 2008 at 10:33 AM | 2 Comments

We know it's childish but every time housekeeping knocks on our hotel room door, we can't help but think of that scene is Tommy Boy where Chris Farley keeps incessantly knocking on the door pretending to be housekeeping while David Spade is trying to sleep.

Granted most housekeepers don't have such dirty suggestions as Chris Farley did but the knock of housekeeping is always inherently annoying. It always happens either when you're still sleeping, or when you're walking around with no pants on (tip: keep the robe handy!) or worse, when you're in the bathroom.

Then there's the whole exchange of what time housekeeping can come back later and clean and if you want new towels in the meantime or not.

We've just accepted this annoyance as part of our life, work and travels. However, thanks to budget squeezes housekeeping woes could get worse.

Chris Elliott reports that hotels are trying to increase the efficiency of their workforce and hopefully, save a few dollars doing so.

A manager can save thousands of dollars in labor over several months by skimming just a few seconds off the time it takes to service a room.

This means, housekeeping is going to get more aggressive in cleaning your room--almost to the point where it doesn't matter if you're there or not. Again, keep the robe handy.

Elliott has three good tips for avoiding any bad experiences with housekeeping---use the "Do Not Disturb" sign; utilize your "Guest Profile" if the hotel has one; and don't take a key to the mini-bar. The latter being to keep out the mini-bar police.

The other tips include DIY, tipping for good housekeeping and complaining about bad housekeeping.

We always use the "Do Not Disturb" sign and in fact, we hardly ever let housekeeping into our room unless we think it's really necessary. Usually, we ask for clean towels and that's about it.

Got any tips for avoiding awkward housekeeping encounters? Share them below.

Tags: Housekeeping / Tips / Hotel Maids / Hotel Staff / Hotel Services / Chris Elliott

by juliana

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