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?

It’s more eco friendly not to wash towels as much, granted. But making the bed and emptying the bins don’t cost the environment anything…

Yeah but I don't really care about my bed being made, I can do that easily enough myself and rubbish - I don't generate a lot in a hotel room really so neither of those bother me at all.

I worked as housekeeping in a hotel while at University and this didn't happen. We had a big tray of clean cups and saucers and just swapped them out and stuck the old ones through a dishwasher. Whenever I've stayed in hotels, I've seen housekeeping with tubs of cups and saucers to swap. This is far easier than actually washing up in a room.

I feel the same. I'd rather not have stranger making my bed.

I’m pleased to hear it! I just said it was widely practiced. I didn’t say every hotel does it. But l assure you it does go in.

I would be ok with it but would expect the price to reflect the lack of daily servicing. Simply because it seems unusual to me in a hotel.

Yes, this. Surely it must be much quicker and more efficient to swap all the dirty crockery for clean and then pass the dirty ones onto the kitchen staff to go through the dishwasher with all the breakfast stuff?

I would be ok with it but would expect the price to reflect the lack of daily servicing

But that’s why they get you to make the choice with a bribe. The price reflects daily servicing but then YOU make the choice to opt out as opposed to them making the choice not to provide the service. I always take the bribe as I prefer a daily free cocktail at a high end establishment vs my room being made up. They do tend to have a ‘mandatory’ service after 3 or 5 days depending on the place but that means no cocktail vouchers that day🤔. I guess no loss if you don’t drink, I do have some kids that don’t and they opt for the daily servicing😁.

How much are you paying a night?

It is the way hospitality is going yeah. Labour is more expensive than it used to be, and also often less available. I wouldn't necessarily assume this is just about cost cutting, it's quite conceivable they wouldn't have sufficient staff to service all the rooms even if they wanted them. These are low paid, inflexible jobs and presumably if it's a rural area the number of people living nearby isn't massive. Might even be full of second homers/wealthy retirees/remote workers if it's particularly scenic.

Not all people can. I have a disability. It's hard enough managing at home where I have aids and have chosen suitable / easy to manage bedding. Hotels often don't have any of that, so I would expect it done for me.

I really don't understand why people can't manage to make their bed and hang their towels up themselves. How difficult is it?

Me and DH have just got back from a trip to Amsterdam. We were in the hotel for 5 days and they offered to service the room every other day but we said not to bother. We asked for clean towels on day 3 and another toilet roll on day 4.

This is happening more and more these days. Can’t stand it and hotels are loosing my custom because of it.

How would you feel if your own house keeper just decided not to make the beds or straighten up the bathroom?

I really don't understand why people can't manage to make their bed and hang their towels up themselves. How difficult is it?

Well, the poster before you has indicated it is difficult for her.

Disability aside, it’s not that customers can’t manage it, it’s that housekeeping is part of the experience of going to a hotel. I wouldn’t expect to clean my cutlery in a restaurant, or not get a separate glass for my wine after I had finished my water, etc.

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if I want air b&b with zero service that’s what I book. If I want a hotel with maid service etc that’s what I book. It’s ridiculous to say you can make your own bed, hang up towels. Well yes but then I may as well save money and book a cottage or better stay home!

This was what happened in Covid and I think lots of establishments think it’s acceptable to continue only doing half a job.
I love walking into a nicely serviced room. The cups are washed and coffee etc replaced. Fresh bedding and towels.

If I wanted to do if all myself, I could have stayed at home and not had to pay for the privilege.

Washing up liquid 🤣🤣 they are just swilled out in the bathroom sink and wiped. I was a housekeeping manager for a UK chain and caught one of my staff using a dirty towel to wipe them. After that I’ve never ever trusted any hotel when it comes to washing cups, trust me when I say you are better off doing them yourself.

I can imagine it and it's grim. The etiquette is to leave them in the bath. Not on the bed.

“Grim” . What horrors do you think are going to happen with a slightly damp towel left on a bed?

Most hotels I’ve stayed in over the last couple of decades you only leave them in the bath if you want them replacing. I tend to do that every other day.

Come on. Everyone on here has said similar. It makes the bed damp and you wouldn't do it at home. It feels disrespectful and your post about giving minimum wage staff things to do was just off. They only have a very short window to make up rooms so why make life harder for them?

I would and often do leave my towel on the bed for a few hours until I tidy up. I have never noticed it making the bed damp. If it was sopping wet I would hang straight away, I expect, but it never is.

I’m still not sure what terrors a slightly damp duvet cover would cause providing it had plenty of air after you removed the towel. It’s not like you’d be leaving it for days so it gets mildewed.

Exactly.

Some people’s standards are so low.

It is grim. What you do at home is your choice but it’s just lazy to expect someone to hang your towel up because you can’t be bothered.

Well yes. When I go on holiday being lazy is one of my prime goals.

💯 I suspect these are the same people who think if you have an unacceptably noisy neighbour you should wear earplugs or move house 🤣 I wonder if they offer to do the dishes when they go to a restaurant 🤣