Originally Posted by
The Road Goes On Forever
Pre-pandemic housekeeping is not something that anyone is going to be seeing at most limited service properties regardless of brand for the foreseeable future, if ever again. At best, places eventually transition to where at check in everyone is opted out unless you choose to opt in on a specific day(s), but the idea of having things opted in daily isn't happening because there is no staffing for it and the bulk of the travelling public does not want it. Daily housekeeping was already falling out of favor prior to the pandemic. Franchisees desire to make the labor savings permanent along with guests' continued COVID fear of not wanting people in their rooms during their stay equals what you get today.
FWIW, because of this thread I took a look at the real numbers at the HIS where I work and overall for February the percentage of guests who have opted in for service is around 3%, with some days a bit more and other days being truly zero. My place is not an outlier either. That's what most limited service properties are seeing. With that being the case, why would properties opt everyone in for something that the overwhelming bulk of the travelling public does not want? That would be a total waste of time and the limited resources that most places are already stretched too thin on.
You bring a perspective that helps us remember that there are lots of travelers outside of our FlyerTalk bubble. Thanks.
However, I’m not sure that your conclusion follows from your data. Unless those customers were consistently asked, in a manner that genuinely invited a “yes,” then I’m not sure that the data means much of anything.
On my recent stays, housekeeping has generally not been mentioned at all during checkin, and I suspect most guests don’t think to ask. If it *is* mentioned, it’s something like, “We’re only doing housekeeping on request, let us know if you need any towels, and you can just leave your trash outside your door.” That’s neither inviting nor hospitable. It also provides no idea how many customers would prefer housekeeping,,, just an idea of how many don’t bother request an exception to the status quo.
Maybe your hotel is consistently offering guests the option of housekeeping, in a manner that genuinely invites a response of “yes.” But if it is, it’s the very rare exception.
(ETA: My theory is that the industry desperately *wants* to get rid of daily housekeeping, so practices and checkin conversations are framed in such a way as to discourage guests from requesting housekeeping. Then the industry can tout numbers like you just did and say, “we’re just giving guests what they want.”)