HotelChatter

Tags: Hotel Hell / Hotel Emergencies / Seattle Hotel / Hotel Housekeeping / → All Tags

Pepper Spray Goes Off at The Hotel Andra

If you travel with pepper spray, it goes without saying that you should be careful with how you use it but we bet you never thought the hotel housekeeper would accidentally set it off. That's what happened last night at the Hotel Andra in Seattle.

According to the KOMO-TV, a housekeeper accidentally tipped over a can of pepper spray while servicing a guest room and it went off. The entire fifth floor was evacuated and five people had to be treated at the scene for their symptoms.

The hotel, which belongs to the Small Luxury Hotels of the World collection, released a statement explaining the pepper spray mishap and said that once the hotel was all aired out, guests could return to their rooms. There were no injuries and no guests had to be relocated.

In case you were wondering, About.com says "Milk or sour cream, a baking soda paste or honey are decent pepper spray antidotes."

Tags: Hotel Housekeeping / Hotel Staff / Hyatt Hotels / Hotel News / Boston Hotels / → All Tags

Hyatt's Boston Hotels Create a 'Task Force' for Fired Housekeepers

Perhaps sensing that the outrage from the Boston community over the recent firing of longtime housekeepers would not die down, Hyatt Hotels has announced that they are putting together a "support plan" to help their former employees. The official statement from Hyatt:

We are announcing today the formation of a task force to provide additional support to the 98 Boston-area Hyatt employees affected by the recent restructionf of the hotels'housekeeping services. In support of their transition to new jobs, the program will include extended healthcare coverage and retraining assistance tailored to the situation of each individual.

Management and HR directors from each of the Boston Hyatt hotels will create and administer the program. Retraining is the main focus and health coverage will be extended through the end of this year (which is only three and a half more months). It was previously set to end this month.

more ›

Tags: Hotel Housekeeping / Hyatt Hotels / Boston Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Woes / → All Tags

Boston's Hyatt Hotels Have No Love for Housekeepers

This bathroom will now be cleaned by outsourced housekeepers.

It's never easy for the hotel housekeeping staff. The things they have to put up with from us guests! But whether or not you agree that they should receive an extra tip for their work, you have to admit the latest news from the Hyatt Hotels in Boston is unfair. The Boston Globe reports:

Hyatt Hotels Corp. laid off the entire housekeeping staffs at the Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and Hyatt Harborside Hotel after the morning shift had ended on Aug. 31, citing challenging economic conditions, and immediately replaced them with workers from an out-of-state staffing firm. The housekeepers had been training those very workers, from Georgia’s Hospitality Staffing Solutions, who they were told would be filling in for vacations.

So basically, these housekeepers--some who have worked at the hotels for years--were asked to train their replacements without even knowing it. Not cool.

more ›

Tags: OpenThread / Tips / Hotel Housekeeping / → All Tags

Honestly: Do You Tip Your Housekeeper?

Alright. It's truth time.

We've all heard, at some point, that we should always be tipping our hotel housekeepers. Anyone who has ever cleaned a hotel room can tell you that it's hard, hard, hard work (hell, even TLC's T-Boz would probably tell you that) — and, you know, if you're tipping the roomservice dude for pressing the elevator button and wheeling a cart of food to your room, shouldn't you be tipping the staffer who is on his or her hands and knees scrubbing your hotel room's toilet?

Travel + Leisure advises you to do so. Always. In the T+L Hotel Tipping Guide, they write:

Recommended amount: $3–$5 a day. Leaving cash on the bedside table is fine for a one-night stay, but it’s likely that several housekeepers will service your room if you stay longer than three days. In that case, put your tip in an envelope and drop it off with the front desk manager at checkout—he or she will be sure to distribute it equally.

So, here we go: how many of you regularly tip your housekeeper and, if so, where do you leave the tip and how much. If not, why not? Be honest!

[HotelChatter OpenThreads are a place for readers to get in here and talk about hot stories and issues of the day in an open forum. If you are already a HotelChatter member log in to comment, if not become a member for free and comment away.]

[Photo: PDR]

Tags: Hotel News Briefs / Hotel Woes / Hotel Cookies / Thompson Hotels / Hotel Housekeeping / Hotel Hell / → All Tags

"If You Are Used to a Free Cookie, You Might Not Get It"

There's tons of hotel news flying around this week and we don't have time to give each and every story the love and attention it may deserve, so you will have to settle for some news briefs.

· Hotels Are Cutting Back Severely On the Complimentary Stuff: Amenities, bath towels, free coffee, spa times, hand lotion and breakfast fruits are all being cut back as hotels look to save some money. And btw, hat quote above came from a Courtyard by Marriott manager. [WSJ]

· Above Allen: Thompson LES's Above Allen rooftop bar will open this Friday. Yes, it's freezing in NYC but this place is covered. In the summer, the retractable roof will roll back to shine on the hipster sun gods and goddesses. [Grub Street]

· W Scottsdale Still Has Steep Rates: With all the hubbub over the W Scottdale's foreclosure status, we thought maybe room rates would drop a little. Nope. This weekend rates on the website were $299 for a king bedroom. [Official Site]

· More Hotel Housekeeping Horrors: A hotel maid details the dirty secrets, literally, of her job. Or the lack of job that she did. Gross. [Budget Travel]

[Cookie Photo: SchneeLocke]