Annalisa12

I knew someone would say that. I have heated towel rails at home so by my next shower, and I love to have 2 a day, my towels are dry. In a dark hotel bathroom they are often not dry by my next shower. As a female with long hair the towel that goes on my head gets very wet.

A big vent is not getting 3 towels in a bathroom.

Steve M

For me, yes. Bath towels and washcloths at home are a "use once" item before they are cleaned. Hand towels might last a couple of days. And, I do the laundry myself at home. As such, I expect no less than fresh towels daily when staying in a hotel.

wendyg

Kevin AA: That's what I hope happens, that the cleaner gets the money anyway but gets to skip a room.

wg

Allan38103

How can that happen if you have the door locked and the latch/deadbolt on?

Wait! I think i know the answer.

Amelorn

It's unreasonable to put the onus on the guest to fortify themselves.


My gripe is minor. In the US, there seems to be no coordination between the front desk and housekeeping re: checkout. The 'best' was, having to forgotten to hang the DnD card outside, a housekeeper came into my room (Embassy Suites, Buffalo Thunder NM) at 8:15 am surprised that I was still there. And she asked when I'd be checking out...

I was spoiled by housekeeping in Asia which left me alone on checkout day.

I am quite bad even now at remembering to hang a DND card, which means I get out of bed half-way to sleep and try to crack the door/hang the card in such a way that no one sees a half-naked Amelorn in his boxers.

saxman66

That's my gripe too. With technology these days, you'd think they would be able to tell when the rooms have checked out for the stay. I was leaving at 10 am, yet they come knocking on my door at 9 am. I usually don't put up the DND sign when I've leaving before the official checkout time.

Then there was the time I was sleeping when I heard a bang on my door around midnight. I ignored it and dozed back off. Then a manager and two security guards were back. They even brought the master key to unlock the deadbolt this time. Apparently they thought I was stealing the room. My company was paying for it. I called down and they either said they got the wrong room or that something was messed in my reservation, I can't remember. Needless to say, I wasn't happy as I had to be up at 5 am for a stressful day.

Annalisa12

Because I don't have the deadbolt on.

Also, when you arrive at my door and knock I expect you to give me time to answer the door rather than just open the door 15 seconds later.

lmashton

Not all hotel rooms have latches/deadbolts. We've stayed in a few in the UAE recently that did not. Which didn't have me very happy, by the way. At least they had peepholes, which, again, not all hotels do.

Zeeb

I don't know if I'd want to stay at a hotel without something I could lock from the inside. Even ignoring safety concerns I wouldn't want someone to be able to just walk in on me due to a misassigned room, housekeeping neglecting to knock (or not hearing if I tell them not to come in), or things like that.

lmashton

Yeah, I'm not fond of it myself. But you don't know that they don't have deadbolts until you check in, and the hotel already has the nonrefundable money by then.

Steve M

It more or less has to be this way, because of a guest benefit that's more or less standard practice at hotels in the US: the ability to not formally check out. For me, I don't really check out: I don't use telephone checkout, TV checkout, mobile checkout, or stop by the front desk to check out. I just leave. I rely on housekeeping to find the room unoccupied, clean it, and once they mark the room "Vacant - Clean" then I get automatically checked out. It's convenient.

Because of this benefit, most hotels will start knocking on doors at 8am on check-out day if there is no DND tag, so they can find the vacant rooms to clean. I don't see this as a big issue, as anyone that wants to sleep past 8am needs to put their DND tag out on every other night of their stay in order to avoid an 8am knock. I find it hard to believe that the people that are able to do this somehow find it too burdensome to do so on their checkout day.

Regarding the "no coordination" issue, the situation where I agree that that's a problem is where I've requested and been granted a late checkout. If this has happened prior to midnight or so on the last night, then this should be noted on the printout provided to the housekeeper, and they should not start knocking on a DND-tagged door until after the late checkout time granted.

In many Asian countries, they don't have the notion of "unattended checkouts," and every guest is expected to stop by the front desk in person to check out.

But if that's the case, then it's not really a checkout-day issue, as you'll certainly have this issue every day of your stay that you sleep past 8am and don't put the DND tag out. It's certainly not reasonable for them to not try to make up any room until checkout time, even for rooms that they know are not checking out.

See above. No amount of technology addresses the issue of the guest just leaving. And I know many people that do this.

cbn42

If you don't formally check out, the hotel should wait until checkout time (11 AM or whatever it may be) before assuming you have checked out. You have paid for the room until a certain time, and you are entitled to use it until then unless you state otherwise.

I can see why they may want to clean your room earlier due to scheduling issues, but I don't think very many people leave without checking out compared to the total number of guests, so I don't think this is a major factor. I have seen people waiting in long lines to return their keys and check out, even though there is an "express checkout" where you can drop off your keys a few feet away.

emma69

I used to get frustrated with housekeeping issues, so I take a more proactive approach. When I check in, I let them know what time I would like my room cleaning (depends if business or leisure visit, but e.g. at a beach resort, I ask for it to be done between 10am and 2pm). I also let them know what time I would like turn down service (as I used to get frustrated with them trying to turn my room down at 6pm when I was getting ready).

I leave a note in the room in the local language if I can (Spanish, French etc. I can cope, Thai etc. I don't even try!) (as well as a request at check in) to leave additional large towels (I have long hair so echo Annalisa's comments) If the hotel is the type to have the same maid each day (as was my recent stay in DC) I might speak to them directly on the first day and let them know things that make their and my life easier (e.g. no need to try and tidy the papers on the desk or try and move the boxes in the corner to hoover; please could you leave some extra water; please could I have some additional towels)

Kevin AA

If they wait until checkout time to start cleaning those rooms, it means rooms will not be available until later for today's guests. That makes it tougher to guarantee a room at 3 PM, and really tough to check in people earlier. One time I arrived at 11:30 AM and got a room 10 minutes later.

ProleOnParole

This. Housekeeping charging into the room at 8.30 am, ignoring the DND tag. How could I make it any less unclear that I do not wish to be interrupted?

That would be correct in peak periods but won't matter much most of the time as the average room occupancy is in the range of 30-40% for most hotels I believe.