Hotels are throwing in the towel on daily cleanings

WHEN guests arrive at the Kennebunkport Captains Collection, a quartet of historical mansions in Maine, US, the front desk staff will provide several details about the accommodation.

This summer, the property expanded the debriefing to include its housekeeping policy.

Before the global health crisis, the 45-room Captains Collection offered daily housekeeping, a standard across the hospitality industry.

These days, a staff member will tidy up every other day, a 30-minute routine that involves making the bed, wiping down the bathroom and swopping the pillowcases. A full replacement of sheets and towels occurs on the fourth day instead of the third.

The timing has also changed. Pre-pandemic, the housekeepers would perform the tasks during the day, while the guests were out. Now, they might clean in the evening, when the occupants are at dinner.

“We explain this to the guests,” said Kristen Caouette, the general manager. “There is not too much grumbling. Nine out of 10 people are very understanding.”

Daily housekeeping was once a given. You returned from lounging on the beach or tootling around the city to find your dustbins emptied, your towels folded and your shoes lined up. No longer. Since the onset of the pandemic, hotels have been scaling back the service to every few nights and allowing guests to determine the frequency of attention.

The trend is catching on. In June, Marriott Bonvoy informed its loyalty members that it would no longer offer daily cleanings at its premium and select brands, such as Sheraton, Aloft and Moxy. A month later, Hilton announced that most of its US brands

would forgo daily housekeeping and switch to an on-demand plan. (The rule does not apply to the companies’ luxury brands.)

Heather Turner, a spokesperson for the Association of Lodging Professionals, has reached out to hundreds of bed-and-breakfasts about this topic. She said most of them were not turning the room every day on multi-night stays, although they would drop off fresh linens and towels if requested.

“For people who have not travelled very often, this will come as a shock,” said Anthony Melchiorri, a hospitality expert and host of several Travel Channel shows. “Years ago, we never contemplated housekeeping becoming an option. It was a luxury.”

Several factors have upended the status quo.

“Hotels are weighing sanitation, the labour shortage and Covid concerns,” said Sheryl Kline, a professor of hospitality management at the University of Delaware.

In an AHLA survey conducted in August last year, respondents overwhelmingly supported the by-request

practice, with 86% of travellers saying optional housekeeping had increased their comfort level. Nearly a year later, this sentiment holds.

The movement to pare back housekeeping is not specific to the pandemic. Hotels with green initiatives have been urging guests to reuse towels and sheets for decades, and water-conservation cards have become a fixture in hotel bathrooms worldwide.

From a medical perspective, a daily scrubbing is not necessary, even with the uptick in cases caused by the delta variant. The coronavirus is transmitted through the air and rarely through surfaces.

Clare Rock, an associate professor of medicine in the infectious diseases division at Johns Hopkins University, said a mask and hand sanitiser were two of the best defences. Fresh air

from an open window and air-conditioning filters could eradicate unhealthy particles.

For overall cleanliness, a disinfectant wipe could swipe germs from such high-touch areas as door handles and light switches. |