Ask The Housekeeper
 

Hello Loyal GP Members!!

As a member of housekeeping management at a larger HR, I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have for me.

In return, I'd like to know what drives you the craziest or what you like to see from Housekeeping.

Thanks so much and I hope I can answer lots of questions!

First, a few guidelines that will be mutually beneficial:

Please don't ask for information about the property I work at (which I won't tell you).

This is my personal view and not the view of Global Hyatt.

Please don't ask me for any proprietary info, as I probably don't have much anyway.

Welcome.

No thoughts or questions right now, but boy, I have a feeling this is going to be a REALLY interesting thread :D ^^

OK, I thought of one :)

This is both a question and drives me a bit crazy.

How is the room cleaning schedule determined? For the first few days of a stay I've noticed my room cleaned early and suddenly, it could be 3 or 4pm and the room still hasn't been cleaned. I've actually had my room cleaned and within 2 hours it's then turned down - now there's a waste.

I do understand the need to give priority to rooms that have checked out. There has to be a better way to schedule so that people remaining in the hotel can have a better general idea of when the room will be done.

AJK - Please allow me to welcome you to our Hyatt corner :)

Thanks for the welcome!

We assign lists of rooms to housekeepers in the morning and have them clean the rooms that have checked out first. Then the housekeepers can clean them in any order that they choose as long as they are all done by the end of the day, generally 430 pm. If you would like a consistent time, we can definitely accomodate that if you ask, however, the housekeepers have minds of their own and that time would most likely be a suggestion rather than a rule.

Oh Boy....
 

They are supposed to change sheets every three days unless requested. They also have standards of how everything in the room is supposed to look when they are done. They also must clean everything in the bathroom as well as replace all of the amenities that have been at least half used. Taking out the trash is also a given. There are quite a few other small things they are supposed to do, I just can't remember each and every one of them. If you think of something, I can confirm whether or not they are supposed to do it.

Thanks for your input. My question relates to an Atlanta hotel (not Hyatt), not replacing the glasses and cups in the room, but washing them in the bathroom sink. What is the Hyatt policy on such?

We have dishwashers that they wash all of the glasses in and are in big trouble if they don't.

how often do carpets and upholstered furniture get steam cleaned, if ever? TIA for your response

We clean upholstery and carpets as needed or twice a quarter, whichever is sooner.

This is not specific to Hyatt
I often leave a nice tip for the maid.Someone from the housekeeping staff(a supervisor)often checks the rooms BEFORE housekeeping arrives-I worry that the tip for the maid never makes it to the person who actually cleans my room-the person whom I left the tip for.Please ease my mind on this.

Also-why do maids ignore do not disturb signs and late checkouts.
If I have a do not disturb sign on the door LEAVE ME ALONE-the same for late checkout-if I have a 4 pm checkout why would housekeeping give me a "just checking on you"type call prior to my checout time.

I know that in my property, we never get to the rooms before they do, so rest assured that should not happen often.

As for the DND signs, they are respected unless it is WAY past checkout time and you have not requested late checkout. The only reason we would call is to make sure you are OK (ie 7 pm and the sign has been up all day) and not sick or ::gasp:: dead:(.

Not a Hyatt guy, but i'll throw my experience behind this.

It's a rarity for a supervisor/inspector/manager to get into a room (be it a stayover or a check out) before the housekeeper. For most housekeepers they do a check of all of their rooms before the inspectors would even make it to the floor.

Also keep in mind the supervisors and inspectors are former housekeepers in nearly all cases and know exactly what it's like to have a tip stolen from them.

To the second point: Not knowing specific circumstances is tough. If check out is 12:00 and it's 12:30, we're probably going to give you a friendly knock, DND or not.

As to the late check out, typically when housekeeping gets their boards in the morning (the sheet that has what rooms need to be cleaned) they have the late check out information on it. But, remember, your 4pm check out is generally attached to your profile and you may not use it every time. That is why they check.

Hope this eases your mind. :)

Thanks,
Four Points Hotel Guy

Is it okay to take the cloth laundry bag? do you report to the accounting department? :)