We need to fix hotel housekeeping. Let's brainstorm.
 

I've been on a long business trip, and am reminded of a longstanding problem in hotels. We need a solution to this problem.

When I'm in a hotel, I'm generally working. Mornings are great for that. Checkout is at 11 or 12, and I check out on time. But from 9 to 11 I'm on my computer or in meetings or something.

But I consistently have a housekeeper knocking on my door before I check out. Then they never hear me telling them that I'm still in the room and after several knocks and me telling them at increasingly louder volumes to go away, they then open the door and I have to repeat again that the room is still mine. On this recent trip, I've had it happen as early as 8:30, and in one case they tried to come in three times while I was on business calls. I finally had to get curt with them and tell them not to come back.

I understand that it's in the hotel's best interest to get rooms cleaned early. But I also figure a lot of people check out early. It seems like there should be plenty of rooms to clean without knocking on the doors of guests who are still in their rooms. Does housekeeping not know who's checked out and who hasn't? Right now, the operations model is based on disturbing people who still have a right to be in the room, and it's also probably not pleasant for the housekeeping staff who get scowled at by half-naked guests. Nobody likes this system.

So how do we fix it?

An easy solution is the old "make up this room/do not disturb" sign, but I've seen more hotels recently that don't offer those signs. If such a sign is available, I always put it on the door immediately and leave it there until I depart.

There should be a sign that says, "checked out/still in room". But I recognize that half of guests wouldn't switch the sign out when they leave, and we have to plan for all scenarios.

Maybe we have a little LED light near the door that glows red when the guest is still checked in and green when they've checked out. There's a slot in the room where you put the key when you check out that activates it. Also, do most people tell the front desk when they check out? With modern keys you don't have to return the keys, so maybe not. I always tell the front desk, but maybe this isn't universal.

I've half-pondered getting my own magnetic sign that says, "When this sign is up, I'm still in the room and don't need housekeeping." But it'll cost me ten bucks to make and I figure I'll forget it at some point.

So let's put our collective minds to this task. How do we solve this major first-world problem?

Not an industry-wide fix, and I have no experience, but have you tried any of these?

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=hotel+doo...s_ts-doa-p_1_9

I leave my DND sign in place and supplement it with a sticky note saying I'll be out by deadline.

Well considering that check in is at 4, put up your do not disturb sign until you're ready to leave. If that doesn't work learn the Spanish term for "pound rocks"

They should know that when there's semen on the door handle you've departed!

I worked in a hotel at one time-maintenance

1. Training-all should be trained better.

2. Instructions of what the resident wants for that day. Unless it is a checkout.

3. Ipads for each housekeeper-up to date info about each room-done, not done, requests, etc.

BTW-with the trip--I stayed in 5 different hotels in 7 nights. Does any hotel know how to fix a wiggly toilet??? 3/5 were. I never let that happen in my hotel.

They just need a button in the room you smash when you leave. It signals the front desk and they can relay to housecleaning. I know probably 25% won't mash the button but they can save those rooms for 11 oclock cleaning.

I’ve stayed at a lot of hotels when I flew for a living.

All you have to do is call or talk to the front desk and request a later checkout time. It’s always been free, and I’ve never been turned down.

You will also be placed on their list of “Do Not Disturb” until you check out.

Have you considered an RV? You can save money on a house and get new Walmart parking lot nieghbors every few minutes. When it’s time to make a grumpy you can do it at Walmart.

Make the signs in Spanish and learn to say go away in that language as well.

Sticky Note

Pretty much this. I used to work at a Hilton. The front desk keeps active tabs on this information for the housekeepers. It's all done through the computer. So yeah... there would be times when the housekeeping staff was idle while waiting for more rooms to be checked out, but usually not for long.

I don't know what Rain Man's issue is, but we never had this problem at the hotel I worked at.

Late check out every time. May not get it; but always ask.

My wife had to work housekeeping for 3 months after college as a part of a hotel management program with her new corporation (she spent 3 months in major service areas learning the ropes).

She observed one of two universal housekeeping problems at every hotel she worked at that leads to your/our problem RainMan:

1. At hotels with good housekeeping staff levels, they are paid for the hours scheduled regardless and get to go home early if they finish their list of rooms early without losing hours/pay. If you're scheduled 8am-2pm but finish at 11am... You just effectively doubled your hourly pay since you get paid for 6 hours while only doing 3 hours of work. That was far more valuable to them then going slow and getting an hour or two of over time. In her experience, these individuals either had children and wanted to get home quicker to take care of them OR used the regularity of finishing early to commit to a second job in the afternoon whose officially scheduled hours may overlap with the housekeeping job. This was achievable because they pretty consistently could get done early by rushing us out of our rooms.

2. Equally common, hotels are understaffed with housekeeping. This is especially true with the current labor shortage. At those properties, you might only have 2 housekeepers to clean 60-80 rooms during a busy turnover day. To clean a room properly (vacuum, sheets, trash can, deep clean bathroom, etc.), it takes 15-20 minutes. If you have 30-40 rooms, that works out to 10-14 hours of work on a 6-8 hour shift... And that doesn't even include the additional time after turning rooms to run the washing machine for sheets and towels (depends on the size of the property, some outsource that) and restock your cleaning supplies. They do get paid over time, but working 20-30 hours of physical labor over time every week is a great way to get burnt out. These properties are very high turnover. When understaffed, starting as early as 6-7am cleaning rooms is the only way these ladies can get done in time to pick up their children from school or eat dinner with their families. Thus, they can be pretty aggressive in trying to clean the rooms on their list. The problem is most hotels don't have sophisticated inventory/live occupancy tracking in rooms available to housekeepers. They get a printed list at the start of the day of which rooms are expected to check out and need cleaned, but unlike the front desk, they don't have technology that lets them know when someone has actually checked out. At some properties, the housekeeping manager will jump in and help out (acting as additional staff), at others they sit on their ass and manage... Happy to collect over time pay themselves for playing candy crush on their phone all day.

So in summary: I don't know what the fix is.ore staffing is good. Too much staffing is bad. Technology would help. The door hangers described in OP are probably the easiest and cheapest fix.