The negative housekeeping effect thanks to Corona
We have already written several times about the cleanliness and problems in housekeeping here, but unfortunately it seems as if many hotels want to save even more on cleanliness, hygiene and maintenance with the Corona excuse.
On the other hand, there are of course - luckily - hotels and cruise companies that simply invest more in the protection of guests and staff and do more, better cleaning than they have already done before. That is of course more expensive and more staff intensive but actually the only thing that makes sense and what the guest expects from us.
The announcement by Hilton in the USA (the rest of the Hilton world will definitely follow) that they will only clean rooms when the guest insists on it is another high point of neglect and a cheap excuse to just carry on like in the lockdown times for money to save at the expense of the guest, but also the owner of the property, which is slowly but surely getting worse. And of course on the back of the employees who then have to clean these rooms - deeper, longer and more distgusting.
“Hilton does away with daily housekeeping for most U.S. hotels”
Jul 07, 2021Hilton
And who checks every day whether the lightbulbs are burned out and the toilet lids are not broken? The dripping heating pipe is only discovered when it has dripped onto the carpet for as long as the carpet has to be changed and the garbage collected from days spreads nice aromas so that it is no longer enough to ventilate once. Add to this that guest were forced to order roomservice or buy take out food and had to consume it in the room the amount of garbage increased tremendously.
“Hilton recently changed its housekeeping policy to an opt-in model, which meant that for the latter part of his stay Pulliam would return to a room with no clean towels, a disheveled bed and sandy floors. He had requested housekeeping the second day of the trip but canceled the request later that day so his son could take a nap undisturbed.
"(It) was just kind of a bummer," Pulliam said. "When little things like that don’t happen, it takes away from that experience. It was something I had to be concerned about – do we have enough towels? – versus where do we go and have more fun on the trip.”
In addition, there is a plastic sticker on each door that promises that it has been cleaned. The stickers alone are a huge amount of garbage after use and absolutely pointless because you only notice when entering the room whether it has been cleaned or only a sticker has been stuck on the door.
“For Hotels, Cleaning Is Key. But Cleaners Say Their Jobs Are Under Assault.
The hotel industry says doing away with daily room cleanings keeps guests and staff safe. But housekeepers say it is a step toward cutting earnings and job security.
Companies, housekeepers say, want to save money, so they’ve created programs that discourage guests from requesting housekeeping, but have framed them as environmental initiatives and offered guests rewards points for skipping cleanings.”
New York times September 2020
Many of the hotel advertisements now focus on how safe, hygienic and disinfected everything is now that you have to ask yourself what it was like before Corona? Marketing departments, especially those with good budgets, should think a little more - hotel companies should just honestly offer guests what they expect and good hotels have always offered - hygienic, clean service that real hotels have always been - and are - proud of.
Chain hotels like Hilton seems to have lost pride years ago.
Author: Stephan Busch, for many years Academic Director at the State University for the Humanities Moscow RGGU, Faculty of Tourism & Hospitality and the Swiss International University earned his Master Certificate in Hospitality Management from Cornell University, USA. He has a diverse experience in launching operations, business development and service training- for hotel and cruise companies in Asia, Europe, Canada and Russia.
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