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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is not standard in a hotel?

184 replies

sniffle12 · 14/02/2017 08:44

Staying in quite a nice hotel and housekeeping have knocked on once at 8am and once at 8.20am even though I said not yet thank you the first time. AIBU to think that's a bit intense? What if I'd been asleep still or in the shower, would they just have walked in on me?

I would always put my do not disturb card on if I was intending to sleep in, but I presumed that before 9am was pretty safe as people are still getting up, getting ready for work, etc?

Will just put do not disturb on tomorrow but wanted opinions!

OP posts:
MiddleAgedMother · 14/02/2017 10:50

I always put the DND sign on when I go to bed and leave it on when at breakfast so no one comes in!
Never been disturbed.

DesolateWaist · 14/02/2017 10:53

I can't believe all the people saying the op should have put a DND on her door.
In my opinion DND is if you are sleeping in or are staying in the room during the day.
It is perfectly reasonable to assume that guests are in their rooms until the end of breakfast service.

However I generally travel for holidays rather than business.

Astoria7974 · 14/02/2017 10:54

I dont like housekeeping to come in at all when I stay. So will usually just stick on a dnd sign and ask for extra towels and toilteries as required.

Basicbrown · 14/02/2017 10:54

If check-out is 10am, cleaning should not be done until after the guest has checked out - it would be a complete waste of time to go in and clean at 8am when the guest is having breakfast and might come back upstairs for a shower, brush teeth, use the toilet and to pack. The room would have to be cleaned twice.

It's pretty obvious if someone has gone or not. The room will be empty of all possessions, no bags. In fact if a room was flagged as a stay and all of their stuff was gone we had to service it as a depart. And check out in hotels is usually 12, 10 is for holiday lets. They simply can't wait until 12 to start servicing rooms.

Butkin1 · 14/02/2017 11:21

I stay in hotels about 20 times a year and I've never heard of this. As people have said DND signs are for when you're in the room at unusual hours not at 8am ! That is when people are sleeping, getting ready, going for breakfast or preparing to check out.

The hotel will know who has checked out early and they can start on those rooms first.

I would not expect to put a DND sign out before 10am.

KidLorneRoll · 14/02/2017 11:34

Housekeeping staff do not know who has checked out in a lot of hotels.

They get a list of rooms early in the morning or indeed will have a block/floor assigned to them with no particular details other than that. Reception will not be calling housekeeping every time a guest checks out, because they are busy enough as it is. A lot of the time housekeeping will not even know if a guest is due to check out that day or not.

If you don't want to be disturbed by housekeeping - then stick the sign on the door the night before. It's not hard.

TheHodgeoftheHedge · 14/02/2017 11:46

Those of you who are outraged by this, what do you think the DND is there for?!

Roomster101 · 14/02/2017 12:16

Housekeeping staff do not know who has checked out in a lot of hotels.

With modern technology it should be possible to know whether someone is has checked out and it is in their interests to know. If they don't they could end up cleaning a room before the person has checked out (they won't be in the room if having breakfast) only to have to clean it again once they have actually check out.

DesolateWaist · 14/02/2017 12:55

Those of you who are outraged by this, what do you think the DND is there for?!

I always understood that it was there for when you are in the room outside of normal hours. For example between the end of breakfast and check in.

NapQueen · 14/02/2017 12:55

room dont be daft! If a housekeeper goes into a departing room she wont clean it unless it is actually vacant. The lack of guests belongings would indicate this.

No way would a housekeeper service a depart if there was still a toothbrush in the bathroom and a suitcase in the corner or whatever.

KidLorneRoll · 14/02/2017 12:56

Yes, but very few hotels have a fully integrated system like that - because they cost money and by and large the system works fine as it is.

The fact still remains though, you cannot expect to not be disturbed by housekeeping in the morning if you don't stick the sign on your door. The cleaners aren't mind readers.

MiddleClassProblem · 14/02/2017 12:59

It's probably been said but many try and get it done when the guests are at breakfast

Pemba · 14/02/2017 13:04

No, the signs are for when you will still be using the room into the late morning. Never had housekeeping knock before 10.30 at the earliest. 8 am is ridiculous, you could still be asleep, I would be very annoyed.

Like a pp said, could be a sign that the cleaners are under too much pressure. In my experience, even when you arrange (and often pay extra for) a late check-out, you still get cleaners knocking, even with the sign on the door.

DesolateWaist · 14/02/2017 13:04

I have yet to stay in a hotel where the room is serviced while I'm having breakfast.
Chances are that the customer will come back to pick up stuff, brush their teeth use the loo etc.

MiddleClassProblem · 14/02/2017 13:08

Well I've stayed in some that have. Maybe it depends on the country too

Dothehokeykokey · 14/02/2017 13:15

Erm. Put the sign up anytime you are in the room, or expecting to only be gone for a short time (e.g. Breakfast) and take it down if and when you are out for the day.

If it says do not disturb on the door you won't be disturbed. It's not that complicated.

And when you close the door make sure the edge of the dangly sign is caught in the door frame so it can't fall
Off and some joker can't turn it round.

Jesus, you have to wonder how the world functions sometimes when people can't work a cardboard sign!

(Having said that, why it isn't a permanent sign built into the door operated from inside I don't know)

Roomster101 · 14/02/2017 13:16

room dont be daft! If a housekeeper goes into a departing room she wont clean it unless it is actually vacant. The lack of guests belongings would indicate this.

I pack before breakfast so there isn't anything more than a suitcase and if I am driving there may not even be that (I would have put it in the car). Despite this noone has ever cleaned it before I checked out. I presume the hotels I stay in know who is checking out and clean those rooms last i.e. not at 8 a.m.

meganorks · 14/02/2017 13:20

Never used a DND sign before. Never had cleaners come that early. YANBU. Although if they've been once probably wise to put the sign up

Roomster101 · 14/02/2017 13:23

Yes, but very few hotels have a fully integrated system like that - because they cost money and by and large the system works fine as it is.

I have said in quite a few hotel with an integrated system. I've also stayed in hotels that don't use a cardboard sign anymore so it isn't universal. It's not working fine if it results in guests being disturbed at 8 a.m. If they don't have a system for knowing who is checking out then they need to make sure that guest know that if they do not put a "do not disturb" sign on the door then they may be disturbed as early as 8 a.m.

Roomster101 · 14/02/2017 13:24

said stayed

DesolateWaist · 14/02/2017 13:24

Jesus, you have to wonder how the world functions sometimes when people can't work a cardboard sign!

I can work a cardboard sign thanks. However I also thought that people had enough sense to figure that people staying in a hotel might well be in their rooms at perfectly normal times to be in your room.

Dothehokeykokey · 14/02/2017 13:29

"I can work a cardboard sign thanks"

Not if you don't put it out when you don't want to be disturbed, and then complain that you get disturbed you can't.

NapQueen · 14/02/2017 13:30

Grin the sign doesnt mean "someone is in here" - it means "someone is in here and doesnt wish to be disturbed "

Doesnt matter what tine you are in the room - use the sign!

JaniceBattersby · 14/02/2017 13:31

I've been a chambermaid in lots of fancy hotels. Always started at 8am (9am on Sundays) and on weekday mornings there are usually around half the guests gone by 8am so that's when we start knocking. If you don't want to be disturbed then simply put the DND on your door the night before. I very, very rarely walked in on people.

I'm not sure if all chambermaids get this, but after a while you get this weird sixth sense where you just know if there's someone in the room or not

MiddleClassProblem · 14/02/2017 13:33

Or that no one is in the room but they don't want you to go in 👀