Hotel room won’t be serviced…

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I’ve booked a short stay away next week for DH’s birthday. Beautiful country area that we have visited many times before and we have stayed at this hotel before but it changed hands a little while ago.
I’ve just received a confirmation of booking email:

ROOM KEYS and SERVICING

A member of staff will be here to check you in from 3.30pm to 11pm. Your key will be placed in your room on arrival and you should keep it with you until your departure, the key will get you through the front door and into your room whilst the hotel is closed.
*please note the hotel will be closed during the day after breakfast and re-open at 3.30pm. We close at 11pm each night. Take your key with you during your stay as it will give you access to the front door and your room.

The rooms will NOT be serviced during your stay unless you are staying for 5 nights or more, in which case we will offer to service the room halfway through your stay. If you require a top up or replacement of any items, ie towels, tea, coffee, etc inform a member of staff at breakfast and they will be left outside your room.

It sounds like they are on the bones of economising on staff costs. The room won’t be serviced - so not even making the bed and tidying the bathroom then. And no one around all day - it’s reminiscent of those old fashioned B&Bs where you were kicked out after breakfast and not allowed back until the evening.

It’s not that we leave things in a terrible mess but one of the joys of a hotel stay is coming back to a nice tidy room and bathroom.

I’m not sharing the email with DH - he’ll go off the idea of staying there and be on the look out for things to moan about from the minute we arrive and I don’t want to cancel and try to find something else. It’s a lovely location and we have plans for the walks we will be doing each day.

Is this the way the hospitality industry is going now?

We very much live in a society where “extras cost extra”. I travel a lot for work and personally, as a woman travelling solo, l don’t want a stranger touching my things or my bed. I’ve had housekeeping staff walk in without knocking and service rooms around 5:00pm.

But not everybody feels like me, and l think this should clearly be shown upfront when booking.

Completely depends on cost. How much is it a night?

I’m with you, OP!

The room obviously has tea/coffee facilities - but OP is supposed to wash mugs in the bathroom sink and just ask for extra teabags?

I think it’s fine not to change the sheets or have fresh towels, but not to go into the room at all with clean mugs and glasses or to empty the bin? Nope.

I stay in Marriot hotels from time to time as husband gets a work deal. They service the room every day, often by the time one returns from breakfast the bed has been made and bathroom tidied. DH is hairy (I know..😅) and towels are always quite wet by the time he is finished plus he always makes the bathmat sopping. So in a serviced room I'd just leave his towel and the bathmat on the floor or in the bath and there are nice new ones provided. Especially if you are staying somewhere where the towels are a bit small and thin.
I was just a bit taken aback by the message with all the bold type - it suggests other people expect more too, I bet they've had complaints, so setting out the rules clearly. It's definitely not going to be how it was when we stayed in the past under different ownership.

You are kidding yourself if you think that in a lot of hotels the cleaners don’t clean mugs and glasses in the bathroom sink. It might not be great but it is quite widely practiced.

Also stayed in a hotel in Cornwall recently, (4 1/2 * trip advisor ) room was serviced there.

I don’t have an issue with that - presumably they do so with washing up liquid, which OP won’t be carrying with her? More to the point, it isn’t the guest doing it, part of the hotel experience is not doing domestic chores.

;It would seem to be more efficient to swap in clean ones and wash the whole hotel’s set together, ready for the next day, though)

Should have been clear on booking, however these are services that cost money to provide, and now they cost more money to provide because the cost of everything used to provide them has gone up, and people do seem to have a bit of a mental block over that, the cost of everything used to provide a hotel stay has skyrocketed, yet when prices in places like hotels and restaurants increase to keep quality and service at the same level it's all muttering about profiteering and being ripped off. When services reduce to keep prices lower it's all muttering about shit service. Can't have it both ways.

The cost of having a member of staff sitting around all day doing nothing just so there's someone there in case a guest wants to leave a bag or just because then they feel looked after, and daily housekeeping would easily add another £100 on to the cost of a 3 night stay, yet everything is too expensive already, but to not provide it is shit service - who exactly should cover the cost if not the people wanting and using the service? Do the workers providing it not get paid then? Does the business just ignore the price increases to them and not pay the increases from the suppliers until the bailiffs turn up?

I'm genuinely interested how people come to the conclusion they shouldn't have to pay the cost of a service they're using, or accept that if they don't pay that, they'll get less.

This is exactly the way hospitality is going. More and more of the bigger companies are making changes like this. It’s all about the bottom line.

I personally would feel disappointed although it would depend on the rating of the hotel for me. In an 5* for example, I would expect the room to be hoovered and for the bins to be changed daily. I would also expect a top up and refresh of the cups and coffee making facilities. I’m not fussed on towels or bedding being changed but the beds should be made each morning. I always straighten the covers but I like the tight, fresh folds that housekeeping always do.

It’s a shame OP that this is the new standard in a place you have previously enjoyed. There may be other places nearby that offer a better service?

It's not uncommon but of you have free cancellation and it's important to you then maybe swap hotels

I've been to a lot of hotels over the last few years, spanning the scale of 2 -5* (travel for work and also go away quite often) and the majority have had something similar saying they won't clean the rooms every day unless you pay more. Seems to have come in during covid and not left due to cost cutting.

However 5 days is one of the longest I've seen - most say every other day or every 3 days or they will only refresh once per stay or similar. I would expect more from a nice hotel too -conversely I've been to more basic hotels than do still do daily turn down.

As you say, washing out cups in the sink and having to go to reception every day to ask for more milk isn't a luxury experience.

Might as well stay at home then. What are you paying for exactly? The very minimum should be replenishing bog rolls and tea/coffee. Or do you take your own along too?

It’s just an annoying way of cutting corners and saving money. One hotel I stayed in recently said they didn’t provide tea and coffee and more to save the planet. How that works I don’t know!!! I took pleasure in leaving a crappy review.

This is the procedure in travelodge and premier inn now. I prefer it this way but can understand it would not be everyone’s choice.
Hope you have a lovely stay though and see lots of Kingfishers.

Provided the bed has a duvet so "making it" is the work of moments, I'd have no problem with this.

It's a few years since we stayed in a nice looking, independent hotel, for a specific advertised short break in winter. On arrival the room and particularly the bathroom were so incredibly cold we went to reception to complain and were simply told the heating was on a timer and it'd come on when it came on.

Wet towels left on the radiator or towel rail after a morning shower wouldn't be dry in time for a pre dinner bath, shower or freshen up.

I know how easily the money goes in business, but I don't cost cut to that extent at home, so have no interest in paying to stay somewhere that does. Part of a hotel stay is having staffed facilities and little touches that you don't enjoy every day. I don't want to be somewhere that I feel more of an inconvenience or drain on resources, than a welcome guest. If I want basics I'd choose a hostel, budget chain or simple B and B, but I do feel a hotel should have minimum standards.

We've had this at a couple of Premier Inns over the last few years.

I agree with you, they have gone too far with this. I do want the rooms cleaned and serviced every day, with stuff like toilet paper topped up, tea, coffee and milk replaced, bins emptied, room swept/vacuumed and beds made.

Bedding and towels don't have to be changed until the end of my stay usually, but beds made is very basic.

The rooms, although an acceptable price, are not particularly cheap so the service should be provided.

I think this is fairly standard these days. I don’t know about the hotel ‘being closed during the day’ but we stayed at a good country house hotel the other week and they said they would only go into our room if requested.

I’m assuming when it is closed during the day you can still let yourselves in and out to use the room, as they say take the key with you?

I stayed at a hotel with my sister recently and we were offered either the room serviced daily or drink vouchers for the bar. We chose the drink vouchers, I thought it was a great idea. I never like my room being faffed with.

I think it depends. If Im away for a few nights in a premier inn Id rather have cheaper prices and collect my own tea & coffee supplies. It is clear when you book this is what will happen. But if Im away in a posh hotel for a treat Id be very cross to find out this late that it wasnt happening, especially for 5 days.

Ive never stayed anywhere it wasnt offered, even Premier Inn. But it sounds like this plave isnt even offering that

No…I leave them in the bath and we get clean towels in their place. There is usually a notice asking you to do this if you require fresh towels.

You just leave your bags and go out though. You don’t have to hang around.

At this hotel, though, it's explicitly not manned between breakfast and 1530. So don't think leaving bags is an option.

Same. Last time I went away for work I was offered drinks vouchers for each day I didn't have my room serviced so I took them instead. It's more eco-friendly to less servicing, not all about staffing.