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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:
Redactio · 14/02/2017 20:50

This is really a thread about nothing. When you go to bed in an hotel put up the DND.
Then remove it when it's time to go.
Simples.

NapQueen · 14/02/2017 20:54

We have 180 bedrooms. We have a team of maids who are given 25 (yes 20 fucking five damn you, private housekeeping company!!) rooms to do between 8am and 4pm.

Check out is 12noon. Breakfast runs til 10.30 at the very earliest. Check in is 3pm. We run a loyalty scheme so anyone on the highest ranks of that is allowed to stay til 4pm if they want. We have one maid available to us from 4pm to 9pm.

Use. The. Sign.

DesolateWaist · 14/02/2017 21:05

OK, now I know I will use the damn sign.
However I doubt that I am the only person in the world, clearly not judging by this thread, who thought it was only required if you were in the room during the day.

There is no need for people to get quite so shitty about it.

NapQueen · 14/02/2017 21:24

Grin but 8am is that day.

FairyDogMother11 · 14/02/2017 21:27

When we were on holiday our next door neighbour stole our DND! We put it out one evening before we went to bed and it was taken. We discovered this when the maid walked in on us having sex Blush

ComicSans · 14/02/2017 21:33

That's why you stick the edge of the DND into the door, and also lock the door from the inside. Grin

I'm sure it was educational, Fairy.Grin

Dothehokeykokey · 14/02/2017 21:54

Hi

I signed up for a website recently but couldn't be arsed ticking the box saying I didn't want spam mail, but now I keep getting spam mail!!!

Isn't that a bit intense?

Pemba · 14/02/2017 22:23

I am sure I have seen many times in hotels rooms in the welcome literature telling you how to order room service, etc. etc, words to the effect that the Do Not Disturb sign should be used for when you want to lie-in. 8 AM IS NOT A BLOODY LIE-IN!

So no, it's not obvious at all that you should routinely put the DND sign up before you go to sleep, unless you are leaving very early .

Roomster101 · 14/02/2017 23:21

I agree that it is not obvious that if you don't put a DND sign on the door housekeeping may knock at 8 a.m. Why would people even assume that they start that early? It would make more sense to start later e.g. 9 a.m. and employ more people so that they have fewer rooms to do each.

Roomster101 · 14/02/2017 23:26

I signed up for a website recently but couldn't be arsed ticking the box saying I didn't want spam mail, but now I keep getting spam mail!!!

That difference is that you were told you would get spam mail if you didn't tick the box. In contrast, guests aren't told that if they do not put a DND sign on the door they may be disturbed as early as 8 a.m. You may think it is obvious but in fact you only know things work that way in hotels because of your experience. It has nothing to do with "common sense"

honeyroar · 14/02/2017 23:40

I've always put the DND sign on, it's not because I've lots of hotel experience, it's because I wanted to make sure I wasn't disturbed. There have been many occasions that I've forgotten and been disturbed, but I always thought that's my fault for forgetting!

I always keep the chain on too, my firm pays for different checkouts to regular guests, and hotel staff sometimes don't realise and just open the door, thinking I've checked out like a regular guest.

As an aside, hotels often double allocate rooms by accident, so a DND and chain help prevent another guest walking into your room too, which has happened to many of my colleagues! 😮

Oneiroi · 14/02/2017 23:56

In contrast, guests aren't told that if they do not put a DND sign on the door they may be disturbed as early as 8 a.m.

Most guests would probably complain that staff were being patronising if the staff insisted on explaining to them that they should use the 'do not disturb' sign if they want to ensure that they are not disturbed. Confused

Roomster101 · 15/02/2017 08:41

Most guests would probably complain that staff were being patronising if the staff insisted on explaining to them that they should use the 'do not disturb' sign if they want to ensure that they are not disturbed.

Staff do not have to "tell them". It should be in writing that they may be disturbed as early as 8 a.m. if they do not put the "DND" sign on the door.

Roomster101 · 15/02/2017 08:51

I've always put the DND sign on, it's not because I've lots of hotel experience, it's because I wanted to make sure I wasn't disturbed. There have been many occasions that I've forgotten and been disturbed, but I always thought that's my fault for forgetting!

You can't possibly know what you would and wouldn't do if you had never stayed in a hotel before you stay in them frequently. You may think it is obvious that you may be disturbed as early as 8 a.m. but that could be because you have seen housekeeping staff that early in the morning. If you had never stayed in a hotel before, why would you think that anyone would need to disturb you that early in the first place?

As an aside this thread makes me wonder - why do housekeeping staff start that early. Hotels could employ people from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. I am sure there are plenty of people who would be interested in working those hours judging by the number of people on here looking for part-time jobs that fit in school hours....

MyWineTime · 15/02/2017 09:02

NapQueen you make a strong case for using the DND sign, but surely the information in the hotel room should make that abundantly clear to the guests! It's not obvious and vast numbers of people wouldn't know that.

myfavouritecolourispurple · 15/02/2017 09:03

Given that most times I am in a hotel in a corridor with say 20 rooms, and only about 3 will have a DND sign on the door, I think most people think like I do, and think the DND sign is for lie-ins/later in the morning eg if you have popped down the pool after breakfast and don't want to be disturbed while say having a shower.

This is a bit like the threads about self-service cafes (ie is it ok to reserve a table while you order your food at the counter). It's instructive to realise that so many people have a very different view to me but I agree with the post above - there is really no need for so many people to be stupidly rude about it.

Some hotels have a turndown service by the way, so that means you have to remember the DND sign in the evening, too. I have used it then as I didn't want them to bother with it.

NapQueen · 15/02/2017 09:07

We put an abundance of info into the little welcome booklet in the room. Roughly 5% of our guests read it.

We explain on check in how to access the internet. Roughly 80% of those guests ring down to ask how to connect to the wifi.

We detail on check in what time breakfast is. I get about 20 calls on a saturday morning asking what time breakfast is.

All of the above is also in the booklet in addition to veing explained on check in. Still doesnt mean that info actually gets into someones head.

Roomster101 · 15/02/2017 09:21

We put an abundance of info into the little welcome booklet in the room. Roughly 5% of our guests read it.

How do you know. Have you got some sort of special detection system fo knowing whether or not someone has read something?

All of the above is also in the booklet in addition to veing explained on check in. Still doesnt mean that info actually gets into someones head.

So your point is that because not everyone reads the info, there shouldn't be any??

I alway read info and I have yet to read anything explaining that guests could be disturbed as early as 8 a.m. by housekeeping staff if they do not put the DND sign on the door. I recently stayed in a hotel where there were no DND signs because there was a button by the door instead. There wasn't any information about that either and wasn't at all clear what the button was (my mother thought it was a light switch).

backaftera2yearbreak · 15/02/2017 09:23

I used to do housekeeping many years ago in a hotel. If there is not a do not disturb sign we started to knock from 8am

haveacupoftea · 15/02/2017 09:40

Urgh 8am is far too early. Hate being disturbed in hotel rooms. Half the time they ignore the DND sign anyway, or the fear of them barging about gets too great as they thunder about hoovering and rattling trolleys and I just get up anyway. Annoying.

Fortheloveofdog · 15/02/2017 10:00

I think the point is, the majority of guests don't read the existing info. Adding further information isn't likely to encourage that.
In an ideal world housekeeping would be 10am until 3pm but between late check outs and early arrivals it is very difficult. Guests even get the dates wrong and have to be located because they haven't checked out when they should.

Roomster101 · 15/02/2017 10:18

I think the point is, the majority of guests don't read the existing info. Adding further information isn't likely to encourage that.

Apart from the fact that it isn't really possible to tell whether or not people have read the info, it is quite likely that those who don't have stayed in the hotel before or are used to hotels.

In an ideal world housekeeping would be 10am until 3pm but between late check outs and early arrivals it is very difficult. Guests even get the dates wrong and have to be located because they haven't checked out when they should.

I can't see why it would be particularly difficult and for it only happen in an ideal world. At the very least it would make sense not to start earlier than 9 a.m. so that people aren't disturbed early in the morning. I doubt that the hotels where housekeepers start at 8 a.m. have even attempted to employ people for the hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Obviously they would need more staff but consider that those hours would be very convenient for those with school age children I doubt it would be hard to do.

Anyway, the point is that it isn't "common sense" to know that housekeeping staff start that early. Anyway, in my experience a DND sign doesn't even prevent disturbance. I put one on the whole time I am in a hotel (I hate anyone going into my room) and housekeeping still sometimes knock and clearly sometimes enter.

MyWineTime · 15/02/2017 11:09

All of the above is also in the booklet in addition to veing explained on check in.
I have stayed in many hotels. At check-in, I have often been told what time breakfast is and what time check-out is. I have booked an alarm call and a newspaper. I have NEVER been told what time staff will knock on the door in the morning if I don't have the DND sign up!
Putting it on the door as I head down to breakfast seems perfectly reasonable.

paranoidmother · 15/02/2017 17:51

Having worked in hotels, shift starts at 7am on weekdays and you need to shift it to get through your rooms before check ins etc.
Use the DND card always just in case on weekdays.
Enjoy your lie in tomorrow

mammamic · 15/02/2017 17:54

IMO YABU - DND sign is there for a reason.

Regardless though, housekeeping usually starts around 30 mins after breakfast (if it's offered).

I'd say 8am is pretty standard.