If you’re a hotel housekeeper/cleaner…

[Didjesuspoop]

What things can/do guests do to make your life a little bit easier? I ask this after a recent stay in an amazing hotel when my husband looked at me like I had 2 heads for emptying the bin and stripping the bed! Is there anything that saves 5 minutes of your time when cleaning a room and/or are there things guest do which make your job harder? Currently so poorly so thought I’d post out of curiosity and have my mind taken off things! :)

I clean a holiday let so maybe not quite the same as a cleaner but this is what I say makes my changeover easier.

Not folding towels. A huge heap on the floor or in the bath is fine. I have to shake them out and check them for stains before putting them in the laundry bag. So unfolding them first takes longer.

Stripping the bed is lovely, but again, don't fold the sheets in a neat stack, just a heap again is faster. I have to check for stains as the
marked linens need treating before washing.

Emptying bins is requested by the guests at the cottage, but if they don't do it then it takes longer (I wouldn't expect that in a hotel).

But generally I don't expect guests to really do anything. Tell me of they break something so that way I can come ready with a replacement?

You're very kind to think of the housekeepers.

@livingthegoodlife thank you for your answer! Yes I always pop dirty towels in the bath and dirty sheets on one of the beds and never fold them so at least I’m doing something right 🤣

How do you empty the bins? Surely you don't take your rubbish home with you?

@Valeriekat oh gosh no lol! Took the bag out, tied it up and there was fresh bags underneath so put a new one in and left our rubbish tied next to the bin if that makes sense :)

I worked as a housekeeper for a few months and I absolutely HATED it. It was such hard work and some guests were so disrespectful with the mess in the rooms. I got a new job and would never do that again.

so now if I stay at a hotel I would definitely want to do things to make the house keepers life easier. Such as putting all your rubbish in the bin (a carrier bag) is even better then the bins supplied as the bin bags are so cheap they split very easy. Strip the bed, keep the dirty bedding and towels in a pile so the house keeper hasn’t got to search for the towels. Don’t wear fluffy socks and get sock fluff stuck in the carpet. Don’t leave tea/coffee/drinks half drunk in the cups, because then the house keeper has to pour them away or they would spill out on the trolley. If you have take away or food from restaurants get rid of the rubbish as soon as eaten or it smells so bad. Rinse the bath after use so the little hairs arnt stuck in the bath tub. FLUSH the toilet after a poop! Don’t write thing on the steamed up mirrors. Don’t pee or sick or bleed on the bed sheets and the biggest one of all…open the windows before you leave and stick on the aircon as the house keepers get extremely hot!!! Haha.

@Nadiexox I definitely take my hat off to anyone who cleans hotels, I bet some get left in a right state! Bless you, thank you for your reply, definitely gives me some things to remember for next time! :)

I thought this was going to be about cleaning methods . I always wonder if the aim is to clean or to make thing look clean iyswim

I know a retired hotel housekeeper.
She was a mature mother.
The most disconcerting thing for her was finding men’s magazines (better located in a gynaecologist office), open at the middle pages, under the duvet, with dried sticky stuff all over it.
There’s not much that phases a chambermaid but that did bother her a bit. It was so disrespectful.

I now ask since covid for beds to be stripped (no folding!) and bins emptied. This is for a self catering but I have worked in hotels and ran a guest house. Opening windows where possible to freshen the room is a good idea. Just remembering thT an actual human is coming in to clear up after you and out of basic respect you shouldn’t leave a mess!!

The easiest rooms to clean are
Towels in a heap on in the bathroom or hung on hooks
all rubbish in bins
dirty tea spoons and mugs together
sheets still on bedding and neatly pulled over so they can be checked for marks
hangers back where they belong ditto any hairdryers etc
if loose toiletry refill bottles back where you found them

Please clean your dog's muddy paws before they walk all over the carpets, don't leave pools of bacon grease in the grill pan and don't cover the smoke detectors with tape so the room stinks of cigarettes

Relative of mine had this job. Exhausting and just shocking how people left the rooms (smart 5 star hotel). She said normal clean up OK but it was all the grim things that were awful e.g. vomit in bathroom, curry tipped in unlined bin etc.

I cleaned hotels for a while, leaving things together and reasonably neatly as pp but leaving a tip was the main thing that would make me happy! A couple of pounds on the pillow or on the hotel name card definitely makes the job lighter!

I just finished cleaning hotel rooms. Definitely agree a tip is nice. Empty the fridge if there is one. Open the window it is hot working especially in summer. Not bothered about stripping bed although it does save me a few minutes. If you use the toiletries bin them after. A half bar of soap glued on to the bath is a pain to clean. Used towels in a pile. Please put teabags in the bin and not on the tea tray. Also if you could rinse the cups. I clean them but if there is yesterday’s dried on coffee on the bottom it takes ages. Also if you get room service or drinks from the bar have them pick up your tray after it takes ages to run stuff back to the kitchen.

biggest pain is people putting magazines onto a spillage glueing it to the table or windowsill. We had 30 minutes to flip a room and that takes ages to remove.

If there's a refrigerator, clear it out before you leave. If anything's opened, take it with you or throw it away. If you have something like bottled water or soda in the room and the container has been opened, pour out the remains and put the bottle to be recycled. It's OK to leave behind something unopened - for example, if you bought a sixpack of beer and have one can left over - but anything unsealed will have to be thrown out, so go ahead and throw it out before you leave.

If you want to leave a tip, thanks - but please make it clear that it is a tip and not something you left behind by accident.

Give yourself five or ten minutes before you have to leave to check around the room and make sure you've not forgotten something. If you accidentally leave behind (for example) your charger, it's usually housekeeping who has to interrupt their routine to go back into the room you vacated and search for it.

If something is out of order in the room - either already when you arrive or while you're there - tell the reception desk before you leave. Housekeepers won't (usually) be blamed BECAUSE there's a bulb out or the sliding dooor doesn't snib or the remote is missing, but they may be blamed for not noticing.

Very much about looking clean. I worked in a spiffy hotel and we used the old pillowcases off the bed to clean with, one for the bedroom and one for the bathroom. Spray and wipe. Looks clean but I suspect lots of germ transfer. We also cleaned the cups and glasses using the dirty pillowcases.

I've done caravan cleaning, make sure you empty the fridge, don't leave the toilet looking like a war zone, don't leave dirty cups to dry & end up minging, strip the beds, don't leave used condoms & worse under the bed, leave the windows open a crack if you can. Be honest if you spill something on the bed or if your child wets the bed, housekeeping would rather you tell them so it can be sorted, nothing worse than having to strip a bed that is covered in something nasty.

Things that annoyed me when I worked as a housekeeper while at uni:

• dishes all over the room in different places
• shampoo/conditioner/shower gel drizzled down the shower glass (spray it down!)
• long hairs stuck in the sink/on the walls of the shower
• tissues/napkins shoved in cups/glasses
• rubbish everywhere (not too much to ask to put it in the bin!)
• toilet not flushed (not a huge deal cleaning wise but pretty gross to walk into)

Holiday let owner (and cleaner) so slightly different but for me:

Departure instructions followed (e.g. windows open/closed as specified, whether to strip beds (I actually like sheets/towels folded as easier to transport and I check for stains back home), bins emptied, washing up done/dishwasher on etc)

Sort the bins (refuse/recycling) per instructions - it's a really grim job to have to do this retrospectively

No skids in the toilet

A basic level of clearing up after yourself (if you spill jam, wipe it up, don't leave egg splatters all over the worktop etc).

And because I am an owner (a cleaner probably wouldn't be bothered) show that you have respected the cottage - hard to pinpoint what I mean, but my heart sinks a bit when I arrive at my cottage and find furniture moved around and not put back, the bed left cumpled as if you've just stepped out, towels on floors/draped on furniture, cushions on floors, plates/cups left in bedroom. It's nothing that can't be easily sorted by me, but it just suggests a lack of respect for my very much loved cottage, that makes the whole changeover feel depressing yes, I know I'm being precious!)

shampoo/conditioner/shower gel drizzled down the shower glass (spray it down!)

God, yes - it's things like this that are easy for the guest to deal with at the time as they occur (see also shit on side of toilet bowl, egg yolk on the worktop) but are difficult and unpleasant if left for the cleaner to do.

Reading this it does make me wonder what some peoples’ houses must be like or is there an assumption that it’s fine to leave a holiday place like a tip?
It wouldn’t cross my mind to not at least strip the beds, tidy up and minimise the work for the cleaner/ housekeeper.
We are off on holiday tomorrow and because it’s a full house and a 2 week holiday I will also leave a tip for the cleaner.

That’s really grim, why would glasses and cups not be taken and washed in a dishwasher?

I mean I never leave hotel rooms in a state but I expect basic hygiene standards from the person cleaning my room

I was mortified at a chain hotel once as I bled all over the sheets (peri menopausal so I didn’t know I was expecting it) I stripped the bed and left the sheets in a heap with a £10 note. I hope that was ok.

I have never stripped beds, in hotels or self catering accommodation. Surely it’s easier for the cleaner/housekeeper to spot any stains? (Not that we leave any) Other than that we try to leave it as we found it. Rinse coffee cups/wash and put away dishes, empty the bins, put all furniture back as we found it etc.