To ask for the room to be turned down?

[holibobs3]

Currently on a uk holiday with DH and young DC. Staying in a 4* well known chain hotel. We are here for 5 nights total. Obviously it's common now to be told that your room will not be made up daily as it used to be in the past and I completely understand that is to do with environmental issues re towels, they did say that if we would like the rooms to be done then we just need to ask. However I do like the beds to be made etc when staying away from home. We are currently on day 4, so far I've asked twice if the room can be done. I said that I don't actually want the towels changed as we hadn't used them all anyway but I would like the beds to be done, we've run out of toilet roll, run out of clean mugs and would it be possible to have a couple more sachets of coffee.
The first time I asked it just wasn't don't at all. The second time I asked I came back to the room and new towels had been put in the room (which I specifically had said we didn't need) but none of the other stuff had been done.

We've saved really hard for this little holiday as we can't afford to go abroad at the moment, not that it's relevant but we are paying over £100 a night and that's just for accommodation not including parking or breakfast, so are we really being that unreasonable to request new toilet rolls, mugs etc?

This

I stayed at an Oceanfront Hilton in Miami last week. I think I was paying about $300 a night. They had this bullshit policy called " Housekeeping you way" where they will not clean your room unless you book 24 hours in advance. I was not pleased as I didn't get my room cleaned the second day I was there as I hadn't given a request early enough. I was staying with my teenage daughter and she is so messy and we bring in sand from the beach; the room gets grungy fast. Also, no shampoo in the room when I arrived and I ran out of coffee after the first morning- I had to request more. It's a growing trend of hotels cutting back and not employing enough staff under the guise of being eco or staying out your way because of covid . I won't stay there again.

This is awful. I would always expect staff to check on the rooms each day. Totally reasonable to not have fresh towels daily but I always expect the beds made, bins emptied and coffee replenished. That's a real basic.

What have people said on trip advisor?

Should have read this before commenting myself but totally agree

You are not being unreasonable and this is not typical. Complain.

I feel you. The prices didn't go down but the service did. When it was just "For environmental reasons, we're not going to replace the towels unless you ask" I was ok with that (although, it's still gross as hotels bathrooms don't air out very well so the towels are often still damp the next day, not to mention all the towels are identical and there's usually only one towel hook, with the result that my husband keeps using my towel, which, gross). But since they've added on that they wouldn't do any housekeeping, it has been awful. Hotel rooms are small, so trash, and dirt, build up quickly. Not to mention the ridiculous problem of running out of loo roll. Providing a working hotel room means providing loo roll and emptying the trash, otherwise you aren't doing the basic function of a hotel.

Absolutely not being unreasonable to expect your room to be done every day even if they’re not changing sheets or towels. Is there a toilet in reception to get toilet paper from?

For everyone saying they’ve never heard of having to ask at reception for rooms to be serviced I assure you it’s very common since COVID, even at some 5 star hotels ime. And asking in person at reception for the service is quite usual and expected these days, and what they tell you to do at check in. OP has done nothing out of the ordinary and the (lack of) service she has received is unacceptable for a Radisson.

OP is there housekeeping available 24hrs? I’d have thought there should be in that type of hotel. If so look up their number (not reception) and phone and ask for toilet paper now. And complain to the manager in the morning.

At home I'm in the airing camp, but this isn't about it.

I just personally hate the feeling of someone doing servitude kind of jobs.
Things like bins and cleaning between guests are necessary and the person is employed to do an important work, ok.
Making beds (and once someone even folded my PJs as well!) feels more personal. It isn't necessary, I'll undo their job in half a minute, if I wanted it done I have hands and would have been able to do it myself, there is no reason one adult should make the bed for another (healthy, able bodied...) adult

That is pretty poor. The beds should be made and towels changed if needed. And bins emptied. Unheard of for beds not to be made.

OK, haven't read the whole thread, just your posts, OP, but I have stayed in hotels A LOT both for work and play over the last 2.5 decades (FUUUUCK!!!!).

In a 4 star, you should absolutely expect someone to come in and make your bed, empty the bins, give a quick wipe round the bathroom every single day you are there. That is just part of what you're paying for, and if the hotel is not offering that it should be downgraded to 3 star. I don't care what they're charging for it, and clearly it's more in your case than most of the places nearby, but if they are claiming it's 4* then that is the absolute basic minimum.

I think part of the issue is that now the star grading has to cover far too many very different options. So a 5 hotel ought to offer absolutely amazing service, but if you look at the rules (for the UK, at least) it's much more about facilities, so if you are staying somewhere horrible with a swimming pool and a cupboard where someone can do manicures and massages, that may well be able to claim 5 status.

A 5 AirBnB ought to have completely different criteria to a 5 BnB and again to a 5 hotel, and yet again to a 5 holiday cottage. I think no authoritative body has defined it other than in relation to hotels, so far.

It’s nothing to do with the environment. I was in a hotel for 5 nights last weeks and was told that the rooms wouldn’t be serviced during my stay. But if I wanted more tea/coffee, loo rolls or clean towels etc I could get them from reception. I asked that my room be serviced at least every other day. I wouldn’t leave the rooms unpolished/vacuumed etc or the bathroom not cleaned at home so why would I want to be in a dirty bedroom for 5 days. They did service my room. But I asked the manager what it was alll about and he said it’s a staffing thing! Well employ more staff - what it meant was it’s a profit thing, less staff more profit.

I'd definitely expect a daily clean, beds made, supplies replenished, new towels if left on bathroom floor, rubbish emptied.

A turn down service is usually a second visit in the evening to turn back the covers and draw the curtains, check if further towels or supplies are required. Lots of places don't offer this so I'd not be surprised if it wasn't on offer. I would however expect that housekeeping would be at the end of a phone for any ad hoc requests for extra loo rolls/towels etc.

I won't be booking any rooms at a Radisson hotel in a hurry OP.

@holibobs3 this is horrible. You're paying for the privilege of being less comfortable than at home.
I feel for you. We also save hard for our holidays and it is supposed to be a luxury and a treat. Extraneous factors can really take the shine off that. There is no situation that would make it reasonable for them to leave you without loo roll after several requests when you have children and (I assume) fully functioning systems that need to use a bathroom. I would get this complaint on twitter if I were you. You've asked nicely and they've ignored you and left you in a poor situation. They're now not responding. Take it further

Because she’s paying for a hotel. Who makes their bed in a hotel?

Just phone up reception, ask to speak to the manager and make a low level fuss OP. It will get done after that.

Housekeeping should of course come every day and make up the room. It’s part of what you pay for! If you’d wanted to go self catering you could have saved a lot of money.

Covid has no bearing on this anymore.

It cannot be that common.

The past three weeks alone I have been in England (London), Germany (Frankfort), Switzerland(Zürich), Malta (Valletta) and the USA (San Fran).
That’s alot of hotels. Going back to Jan/Feb of this year we can add Scotland (Edinburgh), Netherlands (Amsterdam) and flipping backwaters like Norwich (England) & Pittsburgh (USA) to the list. I have Rome next month and Chicago the month after that already booked in.

It’s not at all usual in the better hotels to have to go to reception in person, cap in hand like a peasant to ask for your room to have a standard service.

It’s not the OP that is at fault, it is this particular Radisson and their silly new policy which is definitely not standard except perhaps in hotels that have lost all sense of customer care.

I’d be furious!!! Utter bullshit.

They blame Covid l think

I thought that was the old excuse; isn't it supposed to be "the environment" now (for which read "a handy excuse to to save some money")?

My own personal worst was a facility which advertised (and still does) a morning clean, a nightly freshen up and a turn down service - except on arrival I was told it's now morning only, and then only if asked
Fortunately I'd saved the advert, and on querying this it suddenly became possible after all ...

You shouldn't have to do this at all but if there's genuinely nobody at the desk or on the phone, try the public loos in the bar area to get toilet roll to tide you over.

Many places keep spare bin bags at the bottom of the bin under the current bin bag. Can you tie up the full binliner and put it out in the corridor? You could replace with a carrier bag if there are no spares.

I would rather do this than live with the discomfort of not being able to get these two things fixed.

Even in a cheapish hotel, I’d expect daily room service.

Not sure if you’re confusing that with ‘turning down’ which is literally getting the bed ready to get into, lowering the lights and a bit of a tidy. I like that also!

YANBU. I haven't experienced this in the UK but did experience it when I stayed in the US for 10 days on business recently. Nothing was done in the room for the whole of the 10 days, had to ask for fresh towels, for bins to be emptied and coffee etc. Even when asking it was usually not done. This was a fairly expensive Marriott. They said they were suffering staff shortages.

That’s really quite poor, OP, poor you. You book a hotel because you get a little bit more than if you’d booked a self-catering place and had to do everything yourself.

I would expect the beds to be made daily, cups replaced with clean ones and tea and coffee replenished. All bins emptying. Check there is enough toilet paper, shampoo etc and sanitary bags I’m happy with towels not being replaced daily as to me that is terrible for the environment.

the only way I’d expect that the room wouldn’t be serviced is if guests were pre-warned that it would only be done if requested due to staffing issues. We’ve had that in the Lakes before, and forgot to request it and it did take the shine off slightly coming back to the room later after a big walk with everything looking still a bit messy. We didn’t even have tea bags for a cuppa! I went looking for the maid for some tea bags (I heard her nearby) and she did check we were ok for everything else but I didn’t feel like I could ask her to come in and make the bed cos I can’t do it as neatly as they can! 😆

If you want to make your bed on holiday you can stay in a self-catering place.

I don't understand why making the bed is servitude. It's just moving around some fabric so that the room has the appearance of order. Cleaning the toilets seems much more like servitude, but a hotel is going to, what, expect their new guests to clean the toilet after other guests have moved out? A cleaning service is what a hotel does, it's an essential part of a hotel being a hotel.

In addition, not everyone who stays in a hotel is on vacation with time to spend messing around cleaning a room. When my husband stays in a hotel, it's for work. He's out by 6 am, works all day, and is not back till 10 pm, and when he gets in, he's exhausted. And in addition, not everyone who stays in a hotel is fully abled.

A hotel is neither home nor homey. It's a small, cramped place where your stuff is constantly in your way and you don't have the things or conveniences you're used to. If you want to eat, you have to either go out or bring snack food with you. It's just so much worse than being at home. I just don't understand why hotels are downgrading so much of what they are there for. Well, I do understand it, but I don't think we should be putting up with it, especially I don't think we should be acting like anyone who is appalled at what is really substandard service, is some sort of entitled person who is above their station in life.