To think this is not standard in a hotel?

[sniffle12]

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!

But common sense dictates that if you dont wsnt to be disturbed at any time throughout your stay you use the soecially designed;free little sign.

Common sense should dictate that not everyone will understand the workings of hotels and won't therefore know that housekeeping staff don't communicate with reception and haven't a clue about whether or not someone has checked out.

Its even on the door already so you dont need to hunt for it.

They're not always on the door actually. I frequently have had to hunt for it. The last hotel I stayed in didn't have them at all. Guests were supposed to press a button by the door.

I'm baffled that some people on this thread don't seem to understand what DNDs are for.

My understanding is that you use them if you are in your room outside normal hours.

I assume when handing in a key for early checkout that it gets flagged on this new fangled thing called a computer and therefore the room in vacant and can be cleaned.

And what magic computer allows Housekeeping to see into the innermost hearts of the people who are staying over?

Yabu Same happened to me this morning

My fault as forgot my DND

But surely anyone who's ever stayed in a hotel knows this?

Clearly they don't, judging by this thread. It is ironic that you comment that housekeeping staff aren't psychic but you expect guests to be and to know that reception and housekeeping don't communicate with each other. If I am staying in a hotel for several days then I would expect staff to knock on the door at any time after 8 for cleaning. However, if I was checking out that day I would expect them to know that and to not enter until after I had checked out.

Put up a DND sign and they won't knock, how hard is that?! When I was 16 I had a weekend housekeeping job in Newcastle and we started at 8 and worked until. We'd have a whole corridor of 20 or more rooms to do each and I could have cried most days with the amount of hungover hens and stags not leaving until about 12.30 and I had to do so much in the last 2 hours or be working over my time. So around 8-9am I was desperately patrolling and waiting for any rooms without the sign on so I could do something to help my workload. They just want to get some rooms cleaned OP, because it's their job. Do them a favour and use a sign instead of whinging.

My understanding is that you use them if you are in your room outside normal hours.

But people's understanding of 'normal hours' varies wildly. A big, say, London hotel that will include people on holiday, people in town on business, people stopping over on their way to an early flight etc etc, will have completely different sets of expectations of normal. The St Pancras Hotel in Kings Cross serves weekday breakfast from 6.30 am to 11 am to cater for different 'normals'.

Worked until 3pm that was!

This isn't about rooms that are checking out! They clean those after check out time (still knocking just in case). They have to clean every room bar any that put the sign saying don't clean my room or ask for it to be left with extra cleaning in check out rooms.
If you've not been knocked early it doesn't mean it doesn't happen it's just you've been lucky to be in a room lower in the order.

If you don't put the DND sign on (or press the button!) you are likely to get disturbed. I can't believe people are getting confused. Ive even been known to make a DND sign if it's not there. I'm in different hotels every week and they all clean rooms all day, you can get disturbed at any time without a sign. Most hotels won't disturb you on the day you check out though, they usually know who's checking out and clean after checkout, although busy hotels sometimes knock an hour before you should check out in case you've gone early to try and clean.

Most hotels won't disturb you on the day you check out though, they usually know who's checking out and clean after checkout, although busy hotels sometimes knock an hour before you should check out in case you've gone early to try and clean.

Very often every single room in my list would be checking out that day. They are cleaned when the people have gone, quite simply not at check out time.

honeyroar If you are in a different hotel every week then you will obviously know how hotels work as will those who work in hotels. It is clear from this thread that some people (presumably people who don't stay in hotels often) do not know though so clearly hotels are not communicating the fact that if guests do not use the "do not disturb" sign or button the could get disturbed as early as 8 a.m.

Do some people actually think that housekeeping are able to wait until everyone has checked out before they start cleaning the rooms? Maybe at a small hotel but it's not possible in medium or large hotels. If you don't want to get woken up put the DTD on the door - not exactly a hardship!

A whole floor checking out the same day doesn't sound like sensible management unless it was a group or exclusive hire.

Sounds like a Friday in a hotel full of business travellers.

Maybe at a small hotel but it's not possible in medium or large hotels. If you don't want to get woken up put the DTD on the door - not exactly a hardship!

And how are people supposed to know that? People who haven't worked in hotels or stayed in large hotels aren't going to know the timetable of housekeeping staff Perhaps they think cleaning happens between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m (i.e. the time between check out and check in).

If you don't want to get woken up put the DTD on the door - not exactly a hardship!

I'm not saying it is a hardship. I don't think anyone is bitching that they have to do it, I just thought it wasn't required unless you are likely to be in the room in the middle of the day. Now I know that I need to do it all the time.

A whole floor checking out the same day doesn't sound like sensible management unless it was a group or exclusive hire.

A lot of hotels have mainly 1 day stays. It was hardly somewhere you'd have gone on holiday.

Sundays you have majority of rooms checking out from weekend stays.

Sorry I stand corrected. It's a brain fart day.

This thread is getting a bit silly now, with people complaining that nobody explained to them that they should use the 'do not disturb' sign if they want to make sure they are not disturbed.

YABU. Housekeeping staff have to get started somewhere, and yes sometimes if they've had a conference or other block booking it can mean nearly all the rooms need doing. They can't wait around until checkout time for every room or they'd never be done in time for check in. DND stays on the door until you're ready to leave the room, it's not just for if you're sleeping.

This thread is getting a bit silly now, with people complaining that nobody explained to them that they should use the 'do not disturb' sign if they want to make sure they are not disturbed.

But surely I shouldn't need to leave it there all the time I am in the room. Surely the fact that the room is let out be enough most of the time.
Just like you might put a note on your front door to ask the postman etc not to knock during the day as you work nights/the baby is sleeping but you don't do that every single night because the fact that it is 3am is enough.

I assumed that housekeeping didn't start until after breakfast ended, it now seems that I am wrong, despite it never having been a problem.

The extreme 3am example was already addressed earlier in the thread. Nobody was suggesting that housekeeping would come at 3am. But it's pretty obvious that they wouldn't be able to wait until after breakfast service has finished at 10 or even 11am to start their work in a busy hotel with lots of rooms that need turning around in just a few hours before check in commences, not to mention requests for early check in.

The sign is self-explanatory. If you are concerned about being disturbed and have been provided with a 'do not disturb' sign, why on Earth wouldn't you hang it up? And if you choose not to, to then complain if you do happen to be disturbed is bizarre. The thread itself is becoming rather disturbing, in terms of the level of handholding that some people seem to expect over such a straightforward and minor issue!

But surely I shouldn't need to leave it there all the time I am in the room. Surely the fact that the room is let out be enough most of the time.

Well, you don't in fact need to leave it there 'all the time I am in the room'. Housekeeping has no interest in whether you are in your room or not. No one's going to bob in at 3 am unless you've ordered room service. If you are not checking out in which case you are highly unlikely to be disturbed ahead of check out time your room cleaner is only interested in one thing, and that's in getting in to your room to clean it. Once it's cleaned, it will be ticked off his/her list as done, so no need for the sign after that, they won't be trying to re-enter. If you don't need your room cleaned, just tell the staff, and they can cross you off/leave you some towels etc.

Given that it's a poorly-paid, tiring and often quite pressurised job if your check outs don't leave till bang on 11, and your stay overs all sleep late, you can easily end up spending hours trying to get into rooms and then cleaning 14 disgusting rooms (badly soiled bathroom, sheets and mattress cover need replacing because someone spilled red wine on them, grass and golf course mud ground into the carpet, some hen do not only pebbledashed the entire bathroom with vomit but also thought it was hilarious to scrawl CONGRATS HUN!!! on the mirror in lipstick) in three hours, while your manager is screaming at you for the rooms for early check-ins it's easier for everyone if people use the 'DND/Please service my room' signs and communicate.