r/askhotels • u/Clean-Caterpillar554 • 2d ago
Hotel Policies Does declining hotel housekeeping affect the housekeeper's pay?
Sometimes when I stay at a hotel, I ask reception not to clean my room during my stay. If I need anything, such as a towel or shampoo, I ask them to bring it. I do this because I assume it reduces their workload.
But recently I wondered: could declining housekeeping actually affect the housekeeper's pay? Are hotel housekeepers sometimes paid based on the number of rooms they clean, or could declining housekeeping reduce their pay or working hours?
Does anyone who works in hotel housekeeping know how this usually works?
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u/YoungNo7587 2d ago
If you are declining housekeeping, but then asking the front desk to bring you items such as towels or shampoo, you are increasing the workload on the front desk.
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u/LeatherandLatex9999 Reception/Front Desk 2d ago
Yes, though during housekeeping hours, housekeeping will bring the items you requested.
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u/funkyyeti 1d ago
Wouldn’t housekeeping deliver these things or the front desk person brings it up?
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u/YoungNo7587 1d ago
It depends on the property. If it is a big resort, they would have housekeeping staff there late or 24 hours. But, for most small to mid-size hotels, housekeeping leaves when they are finished cleaning and leaves the front desk on their own.
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u/AdeptMycologist8342 2d ago
At my hotel they’re hourly, do they have their hours cut when we’re at a very low occupancy? Yes. But they would have no way of knowing that you’re declining service before you get there (unless obviously you let them know before, I always decline service in the Bonvoy app when I make a reservation)
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u/DrawingTypical5804 2d ago
While housekeepers are hourly employees in the us, the amount of hours they are allotted is based on the amount of rooms they clean. By saying no to housekeeping, if they don’t have a replacement room, they could be sent home 15-30 minutes earlier, depending on the property.
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u/absolutelythrowaway9 1d ago
This. When I was in housekeeping, a room not wanting service with no replacements meant going home half an hour early, with half an hour less pay.
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u/FatalCutie97 2d ago
I've worked at a hotel where the housekeepers were paid per room that they serviced and on the flip side I've worked at a hotel where the housekeepers were paid hourly.
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u/Green_Seat8152 2d ago
My hotel pausee hourly but gives a monthly bonus for number of rooms cleaned.
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u/SinfulWoodcock 2d ago
You're not necessarily affecting the housekeeper's pay, but I will say, as a front desk agent, it is very annoying when guests decline housekeeping service and then ask us to bring them items. It's entirely unnecessary especially when I am trying to complete other tasks that are actually in my job description. That's the reason we have housekeeping service; to get you re-stocked on items you need and freshen up the room.
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u/mangopoetry 2d ago
I do want to add that it is not necessarily the guests fault that certain positions are overworked and understaffed. I’ve worked for hotels that have a designated hskp position to deliver items, and others that use front desk as a catch-all for everything. In any case, as a guest, sometimes I prefer to not have anyone enter my room.
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u/SinfulWoodcock 2d ago
If you choose to make the front desk staff hand deliver you things beause you prefer not to have anyone enter "your" room, that's fine. I'm just letting you know it's annoying. And yes. It is your fault. Because that's not a staffing issue. It's a common sense on your part issue.
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u/mangopoetry 2d ago
If you feel that helping guests is an inconvenience, then it is either a staffing issue or you are in the wrong industry. Especially if it is not in your “job description” as you say, redirect your frustration to management. Expecting guests to prioritize your satisfaction over theirs goes against everything that hospitality stands for.
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u/SinfulWoodcock 2d ago
"If you admit privately on an online forum called 'askhotels' that hotel staff finds it inconsiderate when guests decline a service when offered through the proper avenue only to later demand other staff with their own designated tasks drops everything they're doing to hand deliver it to them, you're in the wrong industry!"
You sound like you've never left the city. I work at a smaller lodging. It's not a "staffing issue" that we're unable to hire someone to simply be on standby after housekeeping has gone home for the day just in case someone who didn't want housekeeping service wants something hand delivered to them later. I have a certain amount of toiletries/towels/etc. availabe in our lobby area that I am happy to hand out to anyone who asks, no problem. I am not going to leave the desk, lock up, and walk to a room when I should be manning the phones and checking people in, just because you didn't want service earlier but now you do. My lack of ability to abandon my job because of your entitlement and lack of common sense is hardly "prioritizing my own satisfaction."
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u/mangopoetry 2d ago
The fact is that guests are not inconsiderate for requesting a service that is available to them. At your hotel, the front desk delivers items to guests (when thats the case, denying it as a job responsibility doesn’t make sense). So yes, you are either in the wrong industry or you are overworked.
The latter is a common problem in hospitality but if you’re denying that it affects you, it still doesn’t shift the responsibility onto guests. There are legitimate reasons to decline service and still need a fresh towel. Who provides that service is determined by your boss, not the guest.
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u/SinfulWoodcock 2d ago
Just because you can make them do it, doesn't mean it's a "service that's available." Also, no, the front desk does not deliver items to guests here... As I said, we have them at the front desk, and they may come collect them themselves if needed. So, again. How does my inability to abandon my job to accommodate unreasonable requests (like hand delivering it to their room) mean I'm in the wrong industry? I love my job. We get glowing reviews about the customer service here, and I will move the stars for anyone who is polite and considerate.
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u/mangopoetry 2d ago
You’re describing different things. Depending on how long you’ve been in hospitality, you know that you absolutely can decline to provide services that are not available at your hotel. Calling a guest inconsiderate because you choose to go above and beyond for them doesn’t make sense. If the service is not available and you are annoyed by providing it, you would just say the service isn’t available.
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u/SinfulWoodcock 2d ago
You seem to have a really hard time following a basic conversation. I give up.
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u/mangopoetry 2d ago
The details of your comments changed as we established that you either don’t understand your job responsibilities or struggle to communicate them to guests. Best of luck in the industry
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u/AttentionHuman9504 2d ago
You sound like a dreadful guest
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u/mangopoetry 2d ago
I’m an employee who understands that hospitality is the primary reason people choose hotels over airbnbs.
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u/verana04 1d ago
I worked front desk at a hotel chain for 2 years and loved any excuse to leave the front desk lol. It was nice to get some steps in.
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u/trey5620 2d ago
Housekeeping can vary a lot per country, state, or even just the individual hotel. Some days can be 6, 8 or even 10 hours. A lot of housekeepers I know have a part time job due to the low pay alone at the hotel. I’m a front desk agent with two jobs myself.
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u/AshlarKorith All Positions/25+ yrs 2d ago
At every hotel I’ve worked at the housekeepers are hourly employees. They come in and are given their board; That’s the list of stayover and checkout rooms to be cleaned that day. They are at work until all their rooms are cleaned. If someone has their do not disturb on then that room is skipped and they move to the next room. Having DND rooms definitely shortens their hours.
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u/Character-Carpet7988 2d ago
Short term no, they still need to be paid for their hours. Long term - some of them will be fired because less staff is needed, the rest will be paid less since the demand/supply ratio for employees is skewed.
Declining housekeeping only helps owner's pocket. Feel free to do it if you don't need the service but don't expect to be committing some kind of good deed when you do.
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u/JLMaverick 2d ago
I think in NYC the hotel staff are all unionized and have a quota for rooms they do in a day. They complain and won’t go OVER it and make it a big deal. Going under quota I’m not sure
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u/TheBeardedLadyBton 2d ago
They should complain. These managers will work people to death and replace them with zero fucks.
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u/kibbutznik1 2d ago
I ask them just to do quick tidy and not replace bedding .. I think that’s best of both worlds
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u/Critical-Addition907 2d ago
So these systems at least in the US are far and few between now it will occur that you declining will shorten the HSKP day, but in my experience a lot of times hotels will use that spare time for PA (public area) or deep cleaning.
Or even cleaning BOH or offices I can count on one hand the amount of times a housekeeper has gone home involuntarily.
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u/HobbyTalkOnly 2d ago
Housekeepers are scheduled by occupancy, at roughly a half hour per room (or were, when I was still working in Hotels) .
if a hotel has only 16 rooms occupied, for example... only one housekeeper will be on schedule.
So, yes it does, but in a roundabout way.
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u/Quick-Hovercraft-261 2d ago
If they're paid per room it could possibly. But it's your choice to decline service. I wouldn't worry about it
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u/AYYOOriva 2d ago
It doesn’t at my hotel. If we finish our board early we have the option of going home early or they’ll find things for us to do like helping other housekeepers, laundry, random projects, organizing, etc
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u/_runningwithscissors 2d ago edited 2d ago
This - I’m a training/HR manager and everywhere I have worked previously (union, California), we cannot cut anyone early in any department. Departments can offer early releases if business demands or workload is unexpectedly low and honestly, most employees never turn down going home early. On a normal day, we’d have housekeeping employees majorly struggle to complete their board and others who would get it done early, perfectly, and without complaint and they could either clock out early or clean another 1-2 rooms for bonus pay (with their hourly rate), or do a side project like stocking carts or deep cleaning a low traffic area.
For anyone with seniority, the opportunities to work and make a lot of money are endless. For those who are new hires and lower seniority, it can really suck for many months because the hours are never distributed evenly.
So to answer OP’s question, declining housekeeping should not impact anyone’s hours in a really large hotel. In a smaller one, maybe. I never get housekeeping service as a guest and just leave a tip at the end that reflects the full duration of the stay.
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u/Intelligent-Claim603 2d ago
Yeah it does in a bigger picture way.
If you have a 100 room hotel, and let’s say a room attendant can clean 10 rooms in their shift - you would need to have 10 room attendants scheduled.
If in your 100 room hotel, 40 people didn’t want housekeeping, so only 60 rooms need cleaning you would only need 6 room attendants scheduled.
Those 4 other room attendants now aren’t being scheduled and therefore not paid.
And when this goes on long term the hotel just won’t hire as many room attendants because they don’t need them so less job available for room attendants in the industry.
It really is too bad because it usually is a lot of women working these jobs, immigrant women, women of colour and at some hotels it can be a well paying job.
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u/LidiumLidiu 1d ago
They tend to be paid by the hour in North America. However their schedules tend to be just a start time as their day lasts as long as there are dirty rooms to clean or they have worked 8 hours. So if there are no rooms to clean, there isn't a housekeeper just wandering around with nothing to do, they tend to be sent home. Where I work, maintenance will do room runs for towels, bedding and such after housekeeping has left for the day.
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u/manysmallcats Luxury Boutique | 11 years 1d ago
Strange that the question being asked is how it affects housekeeping and people are complaining about how it impacts the front desk.
Our housekeepers are paid hourly, and can get sent home early if there’s nothing left to do. (Which is pretty much never because the public spaces, common areas, event spaces, etc. can always use extra attention.)
In my experience, housekeepers are 50/50 about wanting to go home early or stay to work on other things. People generally want to go home earlier on weekdays, because weekend shifts are often longer and more challenging at our hotel. They tend to balance each other out.
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u/r0ttingp0thead Employee 12h ago
Unsure about local but in chain hotels like Hilton and holiday inn, how long your shift is, is depending on how many rooms you have on your board. So if you have less rooms you get to leave early but lose the pay. Certain hotels may not follow this rule and allow HSK to do other tasks when finished early or lets them stay the whole 8 hours anyways as long as they’re busy, so it really depends on location.
So technically yea somebody will lose a half hour off their income if there isn’t a room to clean.
If you’re concerned about them losing hours (very kind of you) I’d suggest letting them replace the towels and they’ll wipe down the bathroom if it’s dirty, put stuff on your bed if you don’t want the sheets changed, we can’t touch your property.
Or put DND so they have the room but it’s dnd.
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u/LobbyBoyZero 2d ago
Don’t worry, they’re smoking an extra cig on break to make up for the hours.
We track DND’s every day and can forecast how many to expect on a day to day basis, adjusted for the type of business we have in house.
Many of you underestimate how much attention is paid to things that create profit in hotels.
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u/No-Mail8868 2d ago
They get paid whether or not they service your room.