OskiBear

In some hotels, there is a button that you press by the door where you either select "Do Not Disturb" or "Make Up My Room" - or nothing. It's more discreet than the tag flapping on the door knob. However, does anyone know if these are integrated into the hotel's system such that when I have "Make Up My Room" selected, it notifies Housekeeping? Or is it still reliant on a visual check where the housekeeper walks down the hall and sees my room is ready to be cleaned?

I'm always hopeful that there's some technological efficiency but am likely to be disappointed

Norri

In my experience it's just an indication for housekeeping.
The do not disturb tags used to usually have "please make up my room" on the reverse side but that seems to have mostly disappeared now, but I expect the effect was the same.

Duke787

In most hotels I still see housekeepers with clipboards and printed sheets of paper with the rooms and any checklist items.

Imagine there is some efficiency that can be had here (and would be great to see the integration) but seems low on most hotel lists.

OskiBear

Is it bad form to notify Housekeeping when one is leaving the room for the day? Or should I just accept they will get to it when they get to it?
I sometimes leave early in the morning and get back early/mid-afternoon and the room isn't done or someone is in the room. In the latter, I'd rather just not have the room done at all b/c I want back in to rest.
I'm usually just hoping that there's some efficiency to be gained by letting them know as early as possible that the room is ready to be cleaned.

writerguyfl

I'm with Norri and Duke787 on this one. It's highly unlikely that this is anything other than an electronic version of the door sign. Only people in the hallway will know your preference.

[The following opinion is coming from someone that worked in hotels for over a decade.]

Not bad form, at all. In fact, any decently-run Housekeeping Department will welcome this request. Just give them a window of a few hours. Let's say it's 11am. Calling and saying something like this would be fine: "I'm leaving my room now. If it's possible, can you have my room cleaned before 2pm?"

nzed

The door lights for DND/Make up room are not connected to any master system.....it is just to notify the room attendant in case the door knob sign goes missing. I have seen a couple of hotels in Hong Kong that feature a DND mode on the TV but haven't used it myself.

If a specific time for making up the room is needed the best time is to tell the Front Desk on arrival. If you frequently stay at the hotel then it will be in the guest profile and they should automatically do it.

james318

Some property management systems (PMS) can be integrated to these buttons. It is certainly an option, but you wouldn't find most small hotels to PAY for all that, as it can be very expensive and would need to tie into a BacNET system to facilitate, usually through a connection to an Inncom thermostat. Large hotels can and do drive efficiencies through these.

Large hotels have also moved away from clipboards of room information and utilize systems like HotSOS and REX to the PMS system when the room has been clean and is ready, or if the guest has a DND on their door, keeping things real-time.

As far as when your room is cleaned, it generally goes in this order:

1. Cleaning rooms to accommodate guest arrivals.
2. Cleaning rooms for guests staying over night.
3. Cleaning rooms that have been checked out and are not expected to be needed that day.

HotSOS/REX provides an order of rooms for housekeeping to be assigned to, in a specific order for more efficiencies.

If you expect you may be back before housekeeping finishes your room, the simple answer is to stop by the front desk and request your room be cleaned early. When using HotSOS/REX, they can be queued to the front of the list. Without such a system, it can be communicated to the staff by printed sheets, radio, daily standup meetings, etc.

Now when it comes to your average 100 room hotel, most likely none of this is happening. Large hotels, especially Vegas and convention hotels, certainly do this.

I am hospitality systems manager for an 800 room corporate training center and hotel.

Carnforth

I've always thought the use of the 'make up my room' signs as a form of politeness which enables the housekeeping to be aware that a room is available to be cleaned; in order to make more efficient use of their time,rather than wait around or ring on the door

writerguyfl

Why complicate things? Just press the "Housekeeping" button on the phone in the guest room and talk directly with someone in that department. That's so much simpler than involving someone that has nothing to do with the process.

BuildingMyBento

The only country thus far where I have felt housekeepers do their job is Japan.

Everywhere else gets DND until check-out. (The best part is, housekeepers are generally glad about not having to clean my room, so they give me extra amenities when I tell them.)

Basically, ​​​​​​​why would I ever want to invite someone into the room when I'm not present?

james318

Well, we don't have a "housekeeping" button at my hotel. Secondly, most to those requests get answered by the front desk at some hotels.

writerguyfl

Well, every hotel I've ever stayed in or worked at has a phone with a connection to Housekeeping. I'd also say that any full-service hotel that has Housekeeping calls routed to the Front Desk (during the day) needs to reassess their operations.

So, I stand by my suggestion: Simply pick up the in-room phones and hit the Housekeeping button to request to have your room cleaned.

james318

I'll be sure to let my hotel know that you believe they need to reassess their operations.

milepig

LOL. I actually find that phones with a million buttons come across a low class and I'm happier with a single button. In many cases I don't exactly know - if I think a tray has been left outside my door too long is that Housekeeping or Room Service or something else. I like punching an information button and talking to a person who can just make sure that whatever I need done happens.

I like even more a system that is becoming more popular where after checkin I get a text message on the phone that says "if you need anything, just reply to this text, and we'll make sure it gets done."

Qwkynuf

I *HATE* these text messages!!!!

There's one Doubletree that I stay at pretty regularly, near Atlanta that drives me nuts with them:

(Day before arrival) "Hi, this is Justin! If there's anything I can do to make your stay more enjoyable, please let me know!"
me: "Please don't send me text messages on my work phone, Justin. If I need anything I will contact you."
(no reply)
(Morning of arrival) "Hi! This is Alicia! If there's anything I can do to make your stay more enjoyable, please let me know"
Me: "I asked Justin yesterday to not send text messages to this number. Please don't send text messages to this number"
(no reply)
(5 minutes after check-in, as I am wrestling my bags through my room's self-closing door) "Hi, this is Justin! Just checking in to make sure that your room exceeds your expectations! Remember that anything less than a "10" on your post-stay survey means that we failed"
(me) "Please stop texting me. now."
(around 10am on day 2) Hi, this is Justin! Are there any issues with your room that would prevent you from giving us a '10' on your survey?"

And on...and on... and on.

Usually, if I walk down to the front desk and glare directly at them while making my "request", they'll stop, but it starts right back up on my next visit.

The worst, though, was when I spent a day trying to convince some other Justin, from some unknown hotel, that he was texting the wrong number - and not only was I not staying in his hotel in Washington DC, I was nearly as far away from DC as I could be, and still be in the continental US.

I get what they are trying to do, but until they apply some critical thinking to the process, I'd rather not participate.