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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have never stripped a hotel bed

127 replies

rockaround · 24/08/2021 10:51

I've just been reading a post on Facebook about a man who always strips his bed before leaving his hotel. There's comment after comment (probably around 95%) of people saying that they always strip the bed too.

I always make sure the room is clean and tidy and I put the towels together but I have never stripped the bed. Does everyone do this and I am a bad guest?

YABU- stop being lazy and strip the bed
YANBU - I don't do this either

OP posts:
dottypencilcase · 24/08/2021 19:01

To the PPs above- yes I do make my bed everyday and no, I'm not martyring myself. I do it as a matter of habit. I hate mess.

lannistunut · 24/08/2021 19:03

Used to work in a hotel. Never expected people to strip beds.

TBH, is easier if they don't as they do it wrongly - for example in some places you put these thing sin this pile and those in another pile -- once they jumble everything it is slower.

I am not a fan of the phrase 'virtue signalling' but I think this is an example of virtue signalling - an unnecessary gesture.

isthisareverse · 24/08/2021 19:07

@Biancadelrioisback

It takes seconds to do and massively helps housekeeping staff who often have 20 mins or less to completely flip the room.

I also used to work in hotels

it's obviously not a popular opinion because many hotel workers have been disagreeing!
ItsSnowJokes · 24/08/2021 19:19

I don't anywhere I am staying that I am paying a price for (friends I would ask). You are paying a price for cleaning of the hotel or property I am not going to do it for them. We don't leave it a pig sty and we take all rubbish out etc.... and wipe the kitchen sides down but I am not cleaning it all for them. Especially the holiday keys that charge £100 for a clean, they won't give me that money back if I do it all for them.

A holiday should be relaxing and time away from the mundane stuff.

Blah1881 · 24/08/2021 19:30

I wouldn’t do it. If a house guest strips the bed in my spare room it pisses me off. I can’t see any marks that need dealing with, and also I think ‘what the hell have they been doing and do I dare unravel this sheet without a hazmat suit’.

Crazycrazylady · 24/08/2021 19:57

Always strip the bed but I was a chamber maid as a student so have an appreciation for how hard they work and under appreciated they are .

DueyCheatemAndHow · 24/08/2021 19:59

What?? Have I missed another memo?! I thought that kind of stuff was why we pay!?

MargosKaftan · 24/08/2021 20:18

I have never stayed in a hotel where housekeeping didn't come in during your stay and clean your room. Isnt that normal? They clean your bathroom and floors and do a general wipe down anyway, usually daily.

I tend to tidy up before house keeping comes in so it's easier to clean (put all make up and toiletries in my wash bag so they only have one thing to pick up to wipe down the bathroom counter, put clothes away /pick up kids toys and books so its easy to do the floors).

It is one of the things I like about hotel stays. God I'm hoping life is back to normal next year!!

LST · 24/08/2021 21:02

@ElizaDoolots

LST

Do you go a full week at home without hoovering though?

Yes, regularly. And I certainly wouldn’t be doing it on holiday where I’ve gone for a break.

I have to hoover every day at home as I have dogs and kids. I couldn't relax on holiday with dog hair on the floor
isthisareverse · 24/08/2021 22:06

@Blah1881

I wouldn’t do it. If a house guest strips the bed in my spare room it pisses me off. I can’t see any marks that need dealing with, and also I think ‘what the hell have they been doing and do I dare unravel this sheet without a hazmat suit’.
if by house guest you mean an AIr B&B customer, I get your point

but if you mean friend or family, it's weird. It's very bad manners not to strip your bed then, unless your hosts have staff - which let's be honest is rare.

Blah1881 · 24/08/2021 22:28

No I do mean friends and family- I don’t run an Airbnb. I don’t want them to strip it and it would annoy me if they did. Maybe I don’t want to bother washing the sheets yet…. But anyway I would prefer to make up my own mind about it.

Lweji · 25/08/2021 09:04

Blah1881, but, presumably, you end up washing the sheets between visitors, no?

Abraxan · 25/08/2021 09:21

Hotel - never
B and B - never
Rental - only if asked to; as times has moved on we find much fewer places ask you to do this

Many places would rather you didn't in my experience.

Blah1881 · 25/08/2021 09:22

Oh yeah….. I mean I’m not just spritzing with febreeze between times. Although if he can’t sleep my husband will go in there. If we have had a visitor for a couple of nights I won’t bother changing until the next visitor/ it actually needs it. I would just prefer people left the room more or less as they found it, not impose their housekeeping habits on me.

Divebar2021 · 25/08/2021 09:25

I think the only people doing this must be leaving behind very dubious marks and stains that they’re trying to hide.

Blah1881 · 25/08/2021 09:31

That’s what I would assume

isthisareverse · 25/08/2021 09:49

I would just prefer people left the room more or less as they found it, not impose their housekeeping habits on me.

they are just trying to be helpful, and not leave you all the work.
It's considered polite - and actually very rude not to strip the bed.

If you don't tell them, they can't guess.

If they knew you keep the same unwashed bedding for several people, they might not come back anyway!

scarpa · 25/08/2021 09:58

I tie the bin bag, put dirty towels in the bath/shower, and any used glasses etc in one group on the TV stand or wherever so housekeeping can see what needs replacing, but I don't strip the bed for the reasons above.

I do leave it tidy, too, though - remote control back on the weird holder, hairdryer and ironing board back in the wardrobe, that kind of thing. I worked in a hotel as a teen and there was nothing like going into a room after a group of stag party lads had been staying and the sofa cushions were all over, lampshades taken off, everything in the wrong place AND it was filthy - just took forever.

Kiduknot · 25/08/2021 10:11

Three holiday lets have asked this of us this year due to covid. I’ve never been asked previously.

Wouldn’t do it in a hotel room.

PluggingAway · 25/08/2021 10:12

I have never done this.

I always do it in B&Bs, but would never even think to do it in a hotel room.

starfishmummy · 25/08/2021 10:19

Hotels no. I'll probably pull the top covers right back to the foot of the bed to make sure I haven't accidentally left a book or something in the bed, but that's all.

EBearhug · 25/08/2021 10:31

Not in a hotel. It's part of what I'm paying for. I leave things tidy, as part of checking I have got everything, but not having to do the housework is one of the reasons I'm happy to pay for a hotel.

Self-catering - if they ask, or if it's unclear, I will ask.

Friends and family - I ask, as some people are happy for you to do it, others would rather do it in their own time.

Blah1881 · 25/08/2021 10:55

@isthisareverse

I would just prefer people left the room more or less as they found it, not impose their housekeeping habits on me.

they are just trying to be helpful, and not leave you all the work.
It's considered polite - and actually very rude not to strip the bed.

If you don't tell them, they can't guess.

If they knew you keep the same unwashed bedding for several people, they might not come back anyway!

I do have the bedding freshly washed for any guest who stays 😊but maybe I won’t do that until a couple of days before the new guest arrives. I just might not want to go a great pile of washing on the very day the guest leaves. I might have other plans not involving laundry
Anordinarymum · 25/08/2021 10:56

Only time I have ever stripped an hotel bed is if there had been an 'accident' in it :)

honeylulu · 25/08/2021 10:57

No I don't. It seems a bit passive aggressive - feels a bit like being told your house/establishment is so minging you need the extra help (and as PPs have said it can disrupt a well oiled routine).

I would hate it if a guest did this in my house. Firstly they might have only stayed a single night and will also be the next guests back so the sheets don't need changing at all. It's just making more pointless work for me.

If we are having a different guest and/or there is a long gap between guests I prefer to change the bedding just before they arrive so it's laundry fresh rather than getting a bit dusty in the interim! Otherwise I'd end up changing it twice which again is more pointless work for me. I have enough to do already.