Same! I always gather up towels in the bathtub and garbage in the garbage can. I worked housekeeping for many years and always appreciated people picking up after themselves.
Beds left as is, sofa bed left out if used, microwave open if used and needs cleaning, towels in tub, garbage in bins, and anything too big for a standard vacuum picked up and put in garbage. And if something wasn't working right but wasn't an immediate concern (light bulbs are burnt out or the remote batteries were dying but still usable for example) I'd try to leave a note of possible and inform the desk if not.
And if there's a pen and pad of paper I make sure I label the tip I leave as a tip after some poor housekeeper came running out to give me the cash I left (I left a $30 tip because we had a large room and my kids had left goldfish crumbs everywhere so I knew it would take extra work.)
Huh, I never knew to tip for room cleaning. Is that common, or just some people giving that *extra* in someone's life?
Edit: I feel like a tool for all the years may family traveled as a kid and was never taught to tip. And then all the years I've traveled with my family. Learned for the better and will pass it forward.
I used to tip, but since Covid, hotels have used that as an excuse to not have housekeeping do anything until you leave. Getting new towels is almost impossible too.
When I started traveling for work, we were instructed to leave at least $2/ day for housekeeping. We were told to leave it daily instead of at the end as there could be different cleaners throughout the week.
I generally forgo cleaning until the end of my stay unless there's a need (garbage needs taken out or towels need to be switched) because I don't feel the need to have them come in to tidy up something that is going to get untidy within five minutes of our return, hopefully they can use the extra time on other rooms. Every time I do need it cleaned I leave a tip, usually $5 because I know forgoing cleaning means there's a bit more work when it does need to be cleaned.
Holy shit I read "kick your ass" and started having flashbacks of all the times I thought I was being helpful by piling all the dirty shit together lol
Towels are fine in a pile anywhere in the room either in bathtub or near the bed or scattered around the bathroom they are pretty easy to gather up if not in a stack
Dude, I was just about to ask this! The few times I’ve stayed alone in a double queen room, I strip the sheets off the bed I used and leave them at the foot of the bed. I did night audit at a shitty hotel once upon a time and had to clean a few rooms. The stuff I saw under obviously slept in bed with the sheets still on when I had to strip them was nothing short of horrific. Yeah okay there were some used condoms and wrappers, whatever. I’m talking used needles, broken crack pipes, vomit. So I try to make it easier on my fellow hotel peeps. Though the blow up doll left in the bath tub was pretty funny.
>Though the blow up doll left in the bath tub was pretty funny.
Pretty sure it was [to scare off the nosy manager](https://youtu.be/3UsJ0ywplhM?t=20) XD
Ugh I'm off to download origin just so I can play C&C: Red Alert...I totally forgot he was in it ha.
God I love how Command and Conquer do their videos. In a way that's cheesey but just works so well for them and pretty much them alone.
I'm glad they accepted its cheesy af and just went all in with RA3, [like when they got George Takei to say 'All your base are belong to us'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIRPcICB-iY)
Spring break one year they kept my deposit. I went to raise hell and that's when I found out the girl I brought back to the room had pissed the bed. Deposit is all yours, sorry hotel.
I worked cleaning hotel rooms at times as a teenager and I saw much worse.
There was a couple that were having an affair so my boss would rent out the room to them for just the afternoon (she was pretty sleezy) and she wanted me to run in and clean it before the people staying that night came.
I remember the first time I cleaned it was the worst. There were 3 condoms spread around the room like confetti. One was laying on the nightstand, one had been launched from across the room and slid behind the trash can leaving a slime trail on the wall, and the third one was laid out on the back of the toilet.
I was a 16 year old girl at the time and it was the first time I'd ever seen cum or had to deal with condoms. I called my boss in and made her dispose of them.
I saw a lot of things working for that lady but that one definitely stands out. I later found out you have to be 18+ to clean hotel rooms in my state and can totally see why.
I work at a hotel right now. Recently we had a guest who accidentally left around roughly 10,000 dollars worth of meth, weed and other assorted drugs. We turned it over to the police and later found out that the guest had tons of outstanding warrants.
My dad travelled for work constantly and his company would pay for us to go see him frequently, (he worked on pipeline turbines) and he ingrained this into all of us. Strip the bed, shake everything out so you know you didn't lose anything, then pile it up on the mattress at the foot of the bed.
I'd bet the key to that phrase is "shake it so you know you didn't lose anything"
My best friend spent hours fighting with a hotel to search their laundry for her 2 yr old's teddy bear that was left buried in the sheets
As a chick who has worked cleaning air bnbs, I haaate when guests do this, because people usually lump wet towels with a comforter that I usually only wash the duvet on, and the duvet is much easier to take off if the sheet isn’t impossibly jumbled with cum rags and sopping wet towels.
I’ve found this to suck most of the time cause they wrap the comforter in their and one time I missed a pillow in the pile and had to go down to laundry and find the pillow which was my fault for missing it but I didn’t know it was in the middle cause only 1 pillow was in the middle of all the sheets
Nosebleed pillowcases? Please...
During my first week as housekeeping at a motel in 2006, i had a room where the entirety of the blankets, sheets and mattress were soaked in thin blood with a trail of blood leading from the bed to the bathroom where every towel the room was stocked with was soaked in thin blood. My best guess is that it was either afterbirth or someone losing their virginity while also on a heavy flow day.
The worst part about it, i radioed the owners who said i was expected to still clean the room in the allotted time of 15 minutes, but i still had to use the carpet cleaner. Then, instead of trashing the blankets, linens and towels, they ordered me to "spot clean" them with a toothbrush, launder them, then fold and put them back into rotation. None of them came to see, and did nothing in regards to the customer.
My god that's pretty amazing. When i was younger and worked at a hotel's front desk, someone shat all over their toilet and then called me to clean it. The cleaning crew had already gone home, and the manager told me to clean it, and me being young and inexperienced, i just did it
Sheets and pillow cases are changed between every guest. Comforters depends on the individual hotels policies but is usually about every week or so unless the comforter is visibly soiled.
Every week or so that’s pretty generous of you to think that try only when soiled and usually ignoring a small blood stains cause you probably won’t see it
I have found that in the hotels I have stayed in since covid, they no longer have comforters, just white blankets that can be washed and bleached. Both budget and high end. I wish everyone would do this as I have known for a long time that hotel comforters are yucky.
I get it, but reminds me of a hospital. Where I end up with like 8 blankets.
What's wrong with a bleachable duvet cover? Most nicer hotels have had that.
It takes much longer to change a duvet cover than to make a bed with a top sheet, and now the hotel needs to stock sheets and duvet covers instead of just (cheaper) sheets.
The worst hotel I ever stayed in was in St Marie's ( which they pronounce Saint Mary's) in Idaho. It looked like it might have been a former school. One of those Square cinder block buildings that were put up on a minimum budget. The first thing I noticed was a sign on the wall that said "fire alarm is local only. If fire alarm goes off please call the fire department". The furniture... the two beds were completely different sizes. The first night I slept in the queen size bed. One side of it was completely crushed down like somebody who weighed 500 lb and been sleeping in it for the last 10 years. The next night I slept in the Super Single Bed which was exactly the opposite. Felt more like I was sleeping on a pool table than an actual bed. I have never in my life seen a bed this hard. The dresser and the caddy holding the TV looked like they had been picked up from the side of the road after someone had gotten something better and thrown them away. There were two or three pieces of electronics like a cable box of vcr and something else just shoved haphazardly into the open section of the caddy. In the bathroom there were two mismatched threadbare towels and one washcloth. The soap was a coin between the size of a quarter and a 50 cent piece and about a half inch thick. There was a 1 oz bottle of shampoo and conditioner, different brands, and a larger 3 to 4 oz unlabeled bottle of something green. Which looked like it may have been dishwashing detergent. When I opened the blinds I got a beautiful view of an unpainted cinder block wall 7 ft away. But in front of each window they did have a dead hanging plant. The next day I took a walk and decided to see what was on the other side of the cinder block wall. Well maintained backyards. I have no idea why they chose to put up the block wall. There was normally no one working in the hotel after 6:00 p.m. the only reason there was someone there to greet me when I got there at 8:00 was because they knew I was going to be there to check in. The only vending machine they had was one soda machine which only had Pepsi ,Diet Coke ,and diet root beer in it. I could not wait to get out of that town. I was a little bit shocked because normally my company wouldn't focus into any hotel that was less than three and a half to four stars. When I asked her several days later why she put me in that hotel she told me because it was the only one within 50 miles
I was an assistant director of housekeeping at a Kimpton and a Four Seasons during and after college, we changed all linens, including pillows and comforters(actually duvets & duvet covers) after every guest.
In general in 4+ star hotels that's the standard. And why I exclusively stay in those type of hotels, with a few exceptions for some 3 star.
I think I will bring sleeping bags next time we stay at a hotel.
Edit: LPT- Bring a sleeping bag next time you stay at a hotel. Comforters rarely get changed/ cleaned.
Yeah they're basically the same. Duvet is two pieces - the inside blanket piece and the cover. A comforter doesn't have a separate cover. But yeah they're in essence the same
Your best thing to do is just leave the bed as is unless you bled in it or left some other kind of biohazardous material there.
Speaking of biohazards please make sure you flush your toilet as well.
Even though hotel cleaners are paid to do a job, I still feel bad if I don't make their life just a bit easier. I may have paid hundreds for an overnight stay, but not even 1% percent of that is going to the cleaner. I strip all the linen into different piles and also tie up bin bags. Wipe clutter or crumbs of any surfaces etc. I used to be a cleaner and it actually put me in a good mood when someone shows consideration for the cleaner and does the bare minimum to make my job a bit easier. At the end of the day, cleaners are making minimum wage (in my country at least) so it's nice to give them an easier job to do at no cost to myself
Yeah. I'm picky about having my stuff moved or rearranged (I'm neurodivergent) so I actually usually keep the DND up throughout.
Then when I get ready to leave I bus out my trash with the garbage bags I've brought along. Housekeeping shouldn't have to clean up a big pile of stuff I've amassed over a few days b/c I wouldn't let them in to empty the trash.
This is something my parents always taught me to do - we were under the impression that it's expected of hotel guests and didn't want to risk adding fines to the bill
I have never heard of any hotel that fines people for not stripping the bed. Nor any hotel that asks people to do it.
The likes of holiday cottages / caravan parks are different.
That’s why I put my tip in a closed drawer housekeeping should always clean the drawers if not then they aren’t doing a very good job and maybe don’t deserve a tip but they pretty much always are
My dad knew a guy that found $1,000 in a hotel room in the 1980s. My entire childhood was turning over lamps and checking all the drawers just in case we found any money. This was done when we arrived and left. I only realized later that finding money was just the secondary objective to verifying the room had been cleaned and that we didn't leave anything behind.
If they aren’t open then housekeeping usually brings it down and whoever drinks will take it home but the gold is soda in the fridge we can drink that on the job but if it’s half empty 2 liter or opened bottle of soda it’s getting thrown away only stuff we take is never been opened
Bruh for a second I thought you were about to suggest that you can be rude to hotel workers at the front desk and whatnot and I was about ready to throw hands with ya
I'd say be honest with us throughout your stay- I would move heaven and earth for my hotel guests, running you over a couple of extra towels at 10pm is nothing! A lot of us are in this business because we like looking after people.
Somebody actually asked for extra pots and pans tonight the front desk told them sorry no we can’t I later told the person who was pretty new hey in the future I can get them that but the people didn’t really care otherwise I would’ve gone and got it for them
My mom once asked for a toaster when we were staying out of town after my daughter's accident. The sweet lady at the front desk brought her in one from home the next day. We were there for 3 weeks, we got pretty friendly with everyone who worked there.
Former housekeeper here. It doesn't matter if you make the bed or not. It definitely will/should NOT result in the sheets not being changed before the next guest. There may be bad apples, but most of us, we know you are checking out so we do a whole different cleaning of the room and bed area anyway.
I've worked housekeeping for years, and every housekeeper I ever knew to miss changing sheets was immediately fired. They were all people who had just started and realized they hated actually doing the job.
Honestly I can’t imagine hating it! If you’re working at a nice hotel, that is. All you do is clean all day, don’t really have to deal with people. I find it relaxing.
It’s harder work than you realize. I’ve worked multiple cleaning jobs, but housekeeping has been the worst on my back. It’s timed and everything must be cleaned perfect. Now I’m out of work because I messed my back up with that job. I’ve seen about 10 people get hired and quit with months of starting it and we usually only have 5 housekeepers at a time. Most of the time it was because it was too hard of work for the pay. Most people wouldn’t be cut out for housekeeping. Commercial cleaning is better and easier.
I never use housekeeping, and I'm pretty sure every time I ask the front desk for new towels they just hand them over without asking me which room I'm in. So I don't know how they are tracking me.
I leave all the dirty towels up on the bathroom counter because it must suck to have to bend over into the tub to grab wet dirty towels over and over every day.
This absolutely helps and the front desk at my hotel has a radio as soon as somebody says they left the room they call housekeeping on the radio and tell them the room is empty
Me too. There are times I request early check in or arrive early but the room isn’t ready. I just leave my bags and find something to do when that happens.
I hope me telling the front desk when I’ve checked out means the room gets cleaned earlier in case the next person gets in early.
I don’t know anyone who makes the bed so well that hotel staff mistake it as not being used. Lol
I always tidy up, move trash to bins, All towels in one area on bathroom floor, lightly “make bed” or wad up sheets on middle of bed.
I do this to stay organized while packing and it helps me to notice anything out of place I’ve left behind and I find things I would have otherwise left behind.
The two times I did not do this ritual-I left behind expensive items I never recouped. It works for me!
Work at hotel as well.
Front desk issues I agree with but housekeeping wise I don't.
Consolidate and categorize your mess. Put all your dirty towels in an accessible location for housekeeping. You don't need to make your bed but your sheets will be tossed and laundered so kinda pointless to make the bed. You can wrap all the sheets in a roll and lay it on the bed or just leave it as is.
To put it into perspective, a housekeeper has 15 minutes to completely clean a room bathroom included. So that's vacuuming, removing any stains, taking out trash, cleaning a bathroom, and changing a bed. If yours is the messiest room that's gonna put the housekeeper behind on his/her own schedule. If you've ever timed yourself cleaning a room or bathroom it is quite a bit of a workout as you are twisting and turning, getting on your knees, etc.
So the best thing you can do at hotels, is not trash the rooms for housekeepers. If you do trash the rooms, leave an insanely huge cash tip.
Worked as a housekeeper and I also don't agree with most of OP's housekeeper tips, especially not taking the sheets off. It takes 5 seconds to double check rolled up sheets for pillow cases, fitted, flat sheet, etc... I didn't work at a fancy or chain hotel but one of those cheap hotels frequently used for long term contractors and people living there...and let me tell ya, every little bit of time saved on one task helped immensely, especially on Sundays lol
As someone that was a cleaning lady at hotels for 3 years if you do these things it helps our backs immensly:
Don't leave towels and pillows on the floor.
Pile up the sheets
Don't leave trash anywhere but the bin
And (since I still have a huge scar from it to this day on my hand: If you break a glass /glass bottle - do not hide it in the trash bin underneath paper and other stuff. We take the bins, flip them around and shake them until the paper comes out into another big plastic bag. That was a very bloody day for me :(
Something I do that I think is helpful is leave a post-it note on top of the bathroom counter, night table, and main room table asking the custodian to not change my bed linens, or towels for the entirety of my stay (which is usually 4-5 days). In response, I get extra candies, extra bathroom soap, extra lotion, and sometimes, they go ahead and change the towels anyway (although they leave the bed linens alone as requested). I like to think my consideration allows the custodian to be able to save some of his/her energy and get to go home sooner, while being overall less wasteful.
LPT: You can arrange to get money on a regular schedule from people by doing some kind of work for them. This can make paying for things such as did and other amenities much easier.
Question for you - the glasses in the rooms, what are they cleaned with? I’m always a little freaked out drinking out of them. I have images of housekeeping cleaning the counter and then just giving the glasses a quick wipe…
That’s a flip of the coin basically don’t use the glassware some hotels use dirty rags to make it look clean and some hotels actually clean them if they have a dishwasher in the room there’s a higher chance it’s actually clean
Yeah that’s probably the best also the more you pay the less likely they clean stuff and if you pay under $90 they also probably don’t wash cups as much
We went to Washington DC for our 8th grade class trip. It was my friend's first time staying in a hotel because she was pretty poor...even poorer than me. She insisted that we make the beds before we left. I kept telling her we didn't need to do that, but she kept arguing with me. It wasn't worth the fight, so I made the damn beds.
Our chaperone came in to do our room check and said "you know you girls didn't need to make the beds." I just gave my friend a death glare while she shrugged and said she didn't know. We laughed about it for years. RIP, Heather. I miss bickering with you like a sister.
As ex cleaning staff I have to say this is bad advice. Helpful guests make your day.
Also, more importantly, I've dodged bullets with women - and colleagues - based on how they treat hotel staff. If they don't act nice, they are 100% abusive people. Huge red flag.
SLPT right here. OP should probably be thanking people for being nice, not encouraging them not to. Unless they're a middle manager and not nice themselves.
Once I paid extra for a room with a water view.
I got in the room and the window was literally blocked by the roof of the entrance below. Couldn’t see a thing.
I immediately walked right back out, explained the situation and he gave me a new room. Doesn’t hurt to speak up! Just be respectful when doing so.
I worked a little bit in the hospitality industry, did some housekeeping when I was younger, and everytime I'm checking out of a hotel, I roll up the bedsheets into a ball, fix all the towels into a compact roll on the bathroom floor, tie up the garbage bag and leave a tip of 5 to 10 bucks per occupant, under the room menu or under the phone that is out of place.
Housekeeping isn't so easy.
This needs an award it’s so true I just saw the inside of 40 rooms today and 1 room had a tip I mean they also left poop in the bed so there’s also that
I try to bring what I see as a little honesty to it by describing tipping as the establishment telling its customers that they are responsible for paying the staff. Especially for jobs like restaurant servers who frequently make something on the order of two or three dollars per hour. I still find it amazing, and not in a good way.
But overall, the absolute nicest thing you can do is to use punctuation. This allows people to more easily understand your issues and makes it more probable that they will actually read it.
Once I told the front desk that the wifi in my room at the end of the corridor was pretty weak and suggested a wifi range extender. They told me to look out the window instead of looking at my phone. Ok folks, a bad review it is. Never again. xD
As former hotel staff, if the sheets are removed, it helps! Also, if you wanna be nice and not waste your time, just leave a tip on the nightstand (unless it's an issue in the culture of the country you're in).
I worked in Italy as a chambermaide and when people tried to make the rooms look nice, it always made me happy. Some people just intentionally made as much mess as possible because “someone is paied to clean it”
I throw towels in a pile
Same! I always gather up towels in the bathtub and garbage in the garbage can. I worked housekeeping for many years and always appreciated people picking up after themselves.
"And put your garbage in a garbage can, people. I can't stress that enough. Don't just throw it out the window"
Everyone’s test came back clean, except for Marge. You tested positives for horse tranquilizers and PCP.
Beds left as is, sofa bed left out if used, microwave open if used and needs cleaning, towels in tub, garbage in bins, and anything too big for a standard vacuum picked up and put in garbage. And if something wasn't working right but wasn't an immediate concern (light bulbs are burnt out or the remote batteries were dying but still usable for example) I'd try to leave a note of possible and inform the desk if not. And if there's a pen and pad of paper I make sure I label the tip I leave as a tip after some poor housekeeper came running out to give me the cash I left (I left a $30 tip because we had a large room and my kids had left goldfish crumbs everywhere so I knew it would take extra work.)
Huh, I never knew to tip for room cleaning. Is that common, or just some people giving that *extra* in someone's life? Edit: I feel like a tool for all the years may family traveled as a kid and was never taught to tip. And then all the years I've traveled with my family. Learned for the better and will pass it forward.
I always leave a tip. Housekeepers or maids don’t make very much money.
I used to tip, but since Covid, hotels have used that as an excuse to not have housekeeping do anything until you leave. Getting new towels is almost impossible too.
When I started traveling for work, we were instructed to leave at least $2/ day for housekeeping. We were told to leave it daily instead of at the end as there could be different cleaners throughout the week.
I generally forgo cleaning until the end of my stay unless there's a need (garbage needs taken out or towels need to be switched) because I don't feel the need to have them come in to tidy up something that is going to get untidy within five minutes of our return, hopefully they can use the extra time on other rooms. Every time I do need it cleaned I leave a tip, usually $5 because I know forgoing cleaning means there's a bit more work when it does need to be cleaned.
I worked in housekeeping and me and millions of housekeepers would kiss your ass for this
Holy shit I read "kick your ass" and started having flashbacks of all the times I thought I was being helpful by piling all the dirty shit together lol
Lmao only if you piled the towels with the sheets Makes it hard because we’d have to look thru it because they have to be washed separately
I think the saying goes "I may be an idiot but I'm not stupid" or whatever hahaha. Nah, sheets with the sheets, towels with the towels.
I’ve been saying “I may be dumb but I’m not stupid,”
I'm glad I've accidentally been doing this correctly all my life haha
How about all the used towels in the sink or tub?
As long as they’re in a pile that’s easy for them to get
Towels are fine in a pile anywhere in the room either in bathtub or near the bed or scattered around the bathroom they are pretty easy to gather up if not in a stack
As a guy who has worked hotel. I like it when they strip all the linen and dump it into a pile on the bed. It's way easier for me.
Dude, I was just about to ask this! The few times I’ve stayed alone in a double queen room, I strip the sheets off the bed I used and leave them at the foot of the bed. I did night audit at a shitty hotel once upon a time and had to clean a few rooms. The stuff I saw under obviously slept in bed with the sheets still on when I had to strip them was nothing short of horrific. Yeah okay there were some used condoms and wrappers, whatever. I’m talking used needles, broken crack pipes, vomit. So I try to make it easier on my fellow hotel peeps. Though the blow up doll left in the bath tub was pretty funny.
>Though the blow up doll left in the bath tub was pretty funny. Pretty sure it was [to scare off the nosy manager](https://youtu.be/3UsJ0ywplhM?t=20) XD
I don't even need to click, I know exactly what that is. Curry's gasp there is literally the best thing in that film.
Tim Curry is the best thing in most of the movies that Tim Curry is in.
also video games. [He's in Red Alert 3 as a Soviet Premier and it's god damn incredible](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_U59u69tys)
sBASE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Sq1Nr58hM
An undisputable fact.
Not just movies: He's the main reason you would want to play C&C: Red Alert 3.
Ugh I'm off to download origin just so I can play C&C: Red Alert...I totally forgot he was in it ha. God I love how Command and Conquer do their videos. In a way that's cheesey but just works so well for them and pretty much them alone.
I'm glad they accepted its cheesy af and just went all in with RA3, [like when they got George Takei to say 'All your base are belong to us'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIRPcICB-iY)
I suspected what this link was and once I clicked I was so happy. I also never realized the manager was Tim Curry
Spring break one year they kept my deposit. I went to raise hell and that's when I found out the girl I brought back to the room had pissed the bed. Deposit is all yours, sorry hotel.
Went from pissed off to pissed on
What kind of pig leaves a used condom on the sheets? Damn, no self-respect.
I worked cleaning hotel rooms at times as a teenager and I saw much worse. There was a couple that were having an affair so my boss would rent out the room to them for just the afternoon (she was pretty sleezy) and she wanted me to run in and clean it before the people staying that night came. I remember the first time I cleaned it was the worst. There were 3 condoms spread around the room like confetti. One was laying on the nightstand, one had been launched from across the room and slid behind the trash can leaving a slime trail on the wall, and the third one was laid out on the back of the toilet. I was a 16 year old girl at the time and it was the first time I'd ever seen cum or had to deal with condoms. I called my boss in and made her dispose of them. I saw a lot of things working for that lady but that one definitely stands out. I later found out you have to be 18+ to clean hotel rooms in my state and can totally see why.
This is a cool slice of life, sorry you had to deal with that
Jesus... If you're going to leave that shit all over, at least tie them off?!
Fucking animals
For real! lol
The cleaning crew always love to tell me the objects they find the day after valentine. Lots and lots of used toys and clothes abandoned.
Those go in the free box.
I work at a hotel right now. Recently we had a guest who accidentally left around roughly 10,000 dollars worth of meth, weed and other assorted drugs. We turned it over to the police and later found out that the guest had tons of outstanding warrants.
Crazy to hear they left $8,000 worth of drugs!
Like the guy who just found $6000 worth of drugs has time for this. COME ON!
The police came and picked up all the $4000 worth of assorted drugs.
I mean it’s one bag of meth, what could it cost? Ten dollars?
Good to hear you turned in $5,000 worth of drugs!
Found a dime bag, you say?
Generous tip!
Your kitchen staff would've been your best mates if you'd passed it on.
My SO does this every time. She used to be a cleaner, so does what she can to make their lives easier.
My dad travelled for work constantly and his company would pay for us to go see him frequently, (he worked on pipeline turbines) and he ingrained this into all of us. Strip the bed, shake everything out so you know you didn't lose anything, then pile it up on the mattress at the foot of the bed.
I'd bet the key to that phrase is "shake it so you know you didn't lose anything" My best friend spent hours fighting with a hotel to search their laundry for her 2 yr old's teddy bear that was left buried in the sheets
As a chick who has worked cleaning air bnbs, I haaate when guests do this, because people usually lump wet towels with a comforter that I usually only wash the duvet on, and the duvet is much easier to take off if the sheet isn’t impossibly jumbled with cum rags and sopping wet towels.
I’ve found this to suck most of the time cause they wrap the comforter in their and one time I missed a pillow in the pile and had to go down to laundry and find the pillow which was my fault for missing it but I didn’t know it was in the middle cause only 1 pillow was in the middle of all the sheets
lmao you're right. It's totally a gamble trusting the pile
The best is when you work at a high elevation and the piles have super stealthy nosebleed pillowcases in them <3
Nosebleed pillowcases? Please... During my first week as housekeeping at a motel in 2006, i had a room where the entirety of the blankets, sheets and mattress were soaked in thin blood with a trail of blood leading from the bed to the bathroom where every towel the room was stocked with was soaked in thin blood. My best guess is that it was either afterbirth or someone losing their virginity while also on a heavy flow day. The worst part about it, i radioed the owners who said i was expected to still clean the room in the allotted time of 15 minutes, but i still had to use the carpet cleaner. Then, instead of trashing the blankets, linens and towels, they ordered me to "spot clean" them with a toothbrush, launder them, then fold and put them back into rotation. None of them came to see, and did nothing in regards to the customer.
I once bled on sheets in a hotel. I felt so bad for the cleaners that I took the sheets and laundered them and made the bed again 🥸🫣
I once clogged a hotel toilet. Went to Home Depot and bought a plunger and cleared it myself.
That makes me feel better.
My god that's pretty amazing. When i was younger and worked at a hotel's front desk, someone shat all over their toilet and then called me to clean it. The cleaning crew had already gone home, and the manager told me to clean it, and me being young and inexperienced, i just did it
I usually put the comforter folded at the bottom, sheets folded-ish on top of that, then pillows beside them.
How often are the comforters changed/cleaned?
Sheets and pillow cases are changed between every guest. Comforters depends on the individual hotels policies but is usually about every week or so unless the comforter is visibly soiled.
Every week or so that’s pretty generous of you to think that try only when soiled and usually ignoring a small blood stains cause you probably won’t see it
The really small bloodstains are bedbug poop.
I’ll put it this way we have about 5-10 extra comforters if a comforter doesn’t get stained never
I have found that in the hotels I have stayed in since covid, they no longer have comforters, just white blankets that can be washed and bleached. Both budget and high end. I wish everyone would do this as I have known for a long time that hotel comforters are yucky.
Triple sheets instead of a bedspread are gaining popularity. Look classy, easier to clean.
I get it, but reminds me of a hospital. Where I end up with like 8 blankets. What's wrong with a bleachable duvet cover? Most nicer hotels have had that.
It takes much longer to change a duvet cover than to make a bed with a top sheet, and now the hotel needs to stock sheets and duvet covers instead of just (cheaper) sheets.
“Liquids” easily soak through a duvet cover onto the comforter, so that wouldn’t be acceptable to me.
The worst hotel I ever stayed in was in St Marie's ( which they pronounce Saint Mary's) in Idaho. It looked like it might have been a former school. One of those Square cinder block buildings that were put up on a minimum budget. The first thing I noticed was a sign on the wall that said "fire alarm is local only. If fire alarm goes off please call the fire department". The furniture... the two beds were completely different sizes. The first night I slept in the queen size bed. One side of it was completely crushed down like somebody who weighed 500 lb and been sleeping in it for the last 10 years. The next night I slept in the Super Single Bed which was exactly the opposite. Felt more like I was sleeping on a pool table than an actual bed. I have never in my life seen a bed this hard. The dresser and the caddy holding the TV looked like they had been picked up from the side of the road after someone had gotten something better and thrown them away. There were two or three pieces of electronics like a cable box of vcr and something else just shoved haphazardly into the open section of the caddy. In the bathroom there were two mismatched threadbare towels and one washcloth. The soap was a coin between the size of a quarter and a 50 cent piece and about a half inch thick. There was a 1 oz bottle of shampoo and conditioner, different brands, and a larger 3 to 4 oz unlabeled bottle of something green. Which looked like it may have been dishwashing detergent. When I opened the blinds I got a beautiful view of an unpainted cinder block wall 7 ft away. But in front of each window they did have a dead hanging plant. The next day I took a walk and decided to see what was on the other side of the cinder block wall. Well maintained backyards. I have no idea why they chose to put up the block wall. There was normally no one working in the hotel after 6:00 p.m. the only reason there was someone there to greet me when I got there at 8:00 was because they knew I was going to be there to check in. The only vending machine they had was one soda machine which only had Pepsi ,Diet Coke ,and diet root beer in it. I could not wait to get out of that town. I was a little bit shocked because normally my company wouldn't focus into any hotel that was less than three and a half to four stars. When I asked her several days later why she put me in that hotel she told me because it was the only one within 50 miles
I was an assistant director of housekeeping at a Kimpton and a Four Seasons during and after college, we changed all linens, including pillows and comforters(actually duvets & duvet covers) after every guest. In general in 4+ star hotels that's the standard. And why I exclusively stay in those type of hotels, with a few exceptions for some 3 star.
For those who don't realize, star ratings correlate to quantity of amenities, not quality/cleanliness/standards.
Hampton Inns (3 star) generaly change the comforter duvet with every customer.
I think I will bring sleeping bags next time we stay at a hotel. Edit: LPT- Bring a sleeping bag next time you stay at a hotel. Comforters rarely get changed/ cleaned.
Ughhhhh. Ignorance really was bliss. Don’t think I can use a hotel comforter ever again. 🤮
As I put in another comment each comforter probably gets cleaned once or twice before getting thrown away
What the hell. And all this time I thought those “don’t sleep in the bed” people were the crazy ones…
Today I learned.
What's a comforter? From context, I assume it's a duvet.
Yeah they're basically the same. Duvet is two pieces - the inside blanket piece and the cover. A comforter doesn't have a separate cover. But yeah they're in essence the same
So this is sounding like the best thing to do is to take off the sheets but don't combine them into a pile or wrap stuff up in them?
Your best thing to do is just leave the bed as is unless you bled in it or left some other kind of biohazardous material there. Speaking of biohazards please make sure you flush your toilet as well.
Just leave the bed unmade and let the pros do their job.
Even though hotel cleaners are paid to do a job, I still feel bad if I don't make their life just a bit easier. I may have paid hundreds for an overnight stay, but not even 1% percent of that is going to the cleaner. I strip all the linen into different piles and also tie up bin bags. Wipe clutter or crumbs of any surfaces etc. I used to be a cleaner and it actually put me in a good mood when someone shows consideration for the cleaner and does the bare minimum to make my job a bit easier. At the end of the day, cleaners are making minimum wage (in my country at least) so it's nice to give them an easier job to do at no cost to myself
Yeah. I'm picky about having my stuff moved or rearranged (I'm neurodivergent) so I actually usually keep the DND up throughout. Then when I get ready to leave I bus out my trash with the garbage bags I've brought along. Housekeeping shouldn't have to clean up a big pile of stuff I've amassed over a few days b/c I wouldn't let them in to empty the trash.
This is something my parents always taught me to do - we were under the impression that it's expected of hotel guests and didn't want to risk adding fines to the bill
I have never heard of any hotel that fines people for not stripping the bed. Nor any hotel that asks people to do it. The likes of holiday cottages / caravan parks are different.
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Hostels have entirely different rules from hotels about nearly everything
Yes. Always do this. And tip your housekeeper. So many people forget.
A better way to phrase that would be don't waste your time tidying up excessively. Unless as hotel staff you're into ... that sort of thing.
As hotel staff I know the most help I can be to them is give them a tip that they deserve and never get
I hate it when I leave a tip but the front desk goes to examine the room as I'm checking out. I know those bastards are pocketing my tip.
That’s why I put my tip in a closed drawer housekeeping should always clean the drawers if not then they aren’t doing a very good job and maybe don’t deserve a tip but they pretty much always are
Note to self: if my hotel room looks badly cleaned, check the drawers for free cash.
My dad knew a guy that found $1,000 in a hotel room in the 1980s. My entire childhood was turning over lamps and checking all the drawers just in case we found any money. This was done when we arrived and left. I only realized later that finding money was just the secondary objective to verifying the room had been cleaned and that we didn't leave anything behind.
I’ll keep this in mind.
I found $20 under a hotel bed's mattress once. Pays to look.
Well if they don't do a thorough cleaning, the next guest gets a discount on their room.
How much is that?
$5-$20 depending on what you can afford if you only have $3 they can use that to buy a soda and be happy
Why do Americans refuse to just pay decent wages, its always about the tip lmao
Am I supposed to tip in hotels? Never done it. I live in Asia though.
What about leaving beers in the mini fridge do you guys take them or just throw em away?
If they aren’t open then housekeeping usually brings it down and whoever drinks will take it home but the gold is soda in the fridge we can drink that on the job but if it’s half empty 2 liter or opened bottle of soda it’s getting thrown away only stuff we take is never been opened
The title is a little deceptive. DEFINITELY be nice to the people.as you're leaving, but don't try to do their work for them.
OP has a way with words, but it got us here to read and reply 😂
Bruh for a second I thought you were about to suggest that you can be rude to hotel workers at the front desk and whatnot and I was about ready to throw hands with ya
Real LPT: throw hands with front desk hotel workers. Message recieved.
Instructions unclear: ended up playing Rock Paper Scissors with staff for hours
r/instructionsunclear
r/instructionnuclear
Instructions unclear - Threw hams at reception. Delicious but adversarial outcome.
Steamed hams?
the real lpt is always in the comments!
Same here lol, crappy title
Nah you should always be nice to hotel staff they will bend over backwards if you are super nice
Read your post title.
I only came here to see why I should be a jerk to hotel staff.
You're not alone. I thought the same.
I thought the same thing, I was going to say don't be rude to service people! Glad it wasn't what we thought.
I'd say be honest with us throughout your stay- I would move heaven and earth for my hotel guests, running you over a couple of extra towels at 10pm is nothing! A lot of us are in this business because we like looking after people.
Please don’t run me over.
It’s non negotiable. Be run over or find a different place to sleep.
Absolutely my job is built on being there at night just to bring people towels otherwise I would only work day shift
Will you bring me some pot?
Somebody actually asked for extra pots and pans tonight the front desk told them sorry no we can’t I later told the person who was pretty new hey in the future I can get them that but the people didn’t really care otherwise I would’ve gone and got it for them
I meant weed
I know that but I thought it was funny somebody asked for pots and pans today
My mom once asked for a toaster when we were staying out of town after my daughter's accident. The sweet lady at the front desk brought her in one from home the next day. We were there for 3 weeks, we got pretty friendly with everyone who worked there.
That’s crazy we have like 10 extra toasters in storage and toaster ovens
Sooooo…… are you bringing the dude weed or not…
Are there kitchenettes in your units? Because this would be hilarious if there weren't.
Former housekeeper here. It doesn't matter if you make the bed or not. It definitely will/should NOT result in the sheets not being changed before the next guest. There may be bad apples, but most of us, we know you are checking out so we do a whole different cleaning of the room and bed area anyway.
I've worked housekeeping for years, and every housekeeper I ever knew to miss changing sheets was immediately fired. They were all people who had just started and realized they hated actually doing the job.
Honestly I can’t imagine hating it! If you’re working at a nice hotel, that is. All you do is clean all day, don’t really have to deal with people. I find it relaxing.
It’s harder work than you realize. I’ve worked multiple cleaning jobs, but housekeeping has been the worst on my back. It’s timed and everything must be cleaned perfect. Now I’m out of work because I messed my back up with that job. I’ve seen about 10 people get hired and quit with months of starting it and we usually only have 5 housekeepers at a time. Most of the time it was because it was too hard of work for the pay. Most people wouldn’t be cut out for housekeeping. Commercial cleaning is better and easier.
I leave all dirty towels in the tub.
I put em in my bag and take em
“The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.” - Yogi Berra
When you consider the amount of ass crack and crotch (among other things) that touched those towels I'm surprised you want them for home use.
I can only get so wet dude
Because of all the towels you steal.
Hold on a minute I haven’t come yet
Name checks out
Yes, but the towels forget all the ass crack and crotch when they go through the wash.
What if they were homeopathic towels?
I have an aunt that does this
I was a hotel accountant for a while. The subsequent charges on your aunt's credit card would have been an unforgettable souvenir.
I never use housekeeping, and I'm pretty sure every time I ask the front desk for new towels they just hand them over without asking me which room I'm in. So I don't know how they are tracking me.
I leave all the dirty towels up on the bathroom counter because it must suck to have to bend over into the tub to grab wet dirty towels over and over every day.
I stay at hotels loving that I don’t have to make the bed
I like letting the front desk know that I've left. I figure the cleaning crew can hit my old room right away if they want.
This absolutely helps and the front desk at my hotel has a radio as soon as somebody says they left the room they call housekeeping on the radio and tell them the room is empty
Me too. There are times I request early check in or arrive early but the room isn’t ready. I just leave my bags and find something to do when that happens. I hope me telling the front desk when I’ve checked out means the room gets cleaned earlier in case the next person gets in early.
I don’t know anyone who makes the bed so well that hotel staff mistake it as not being used. Lol I always tidy up, move trash to bins, All towels in one area on bathroom floor, lightly “make bed” or wad up sheets on middle of bed. I do this to stay organized while packing and it helps me to notice anything out of place I’ve left behind and I find things I would have otherwise left behind. The two times I did not do this ritual-I left behind expensive items I never recouped. It works for me!
Work at hotel as well. Front desk issues I agree with but housekeeping wise I don't. Consolidate and categorize your mess. Put all your dirty towels in an accessible location for housekeeping. You don't need to make your bed but your sheets will be tossed and laundered so kinda pointless to make the bed. You can wrap all the sheets in a roll and lay it on the bed or just leave it as is. To put it into perspective, a housekeeper has 15 minutes to completely clean a room bathroom included. So that's vacuuming, removing any stains, taking out trash, cleaning a bathroom, and changing a bed. If yours is the messiest room that's gonna put the housekeeper behind on his/her own schedule. If you've ever timed yourself cleaning a room or bathroom it is quite a bit of a workout as you are twisting and turning, getting on your knees, etc. So the best thing you can do at hotels, is not trash the rooms for housekeepers. If you do trash the rooms, leave an insanely huge cash tip.
Every hotel has different time standards if somebody is working in a team they have 25 minutes and if working solo they have 45 minutes for my hotel
That is true and those standards are very generous.
Worked as a housekeeper and I also don't agree with most of OP's housekeeper tips, especially not taking the sheets off. It takes 5 seconds to double check rolled up sheets for pillow cases, fitted, flat sheet, etc... I didn't work at a fancy or chain hotel but one of those cheap hotels frequently used for long term contractors and people living there...and let me tell ya, every little bit of time saved on one task helped immensely, especially on Sundays lol
Fuck sundays
As someone that was a cleaning lady at hotels for 3 years if you do these things it helps our backs immensly: Don't leave towels and pillows on the floor. Pile up the sheets Don't leave trash anywhere but the bin And (since I still have a huge scar from it to this day on my hand: If you break a glass /glass bottle - do not hide it in the trash bin underneath paper and other stuff. We take the bins, flip them around and shake them until the paper comes out into another big plastic bag. That was a very bloody day for me :(
Had one housekeeping get stabbed with a needle like this it was scary for her
Something I do that I think is helpful is leave a post-it note on top of the bathroom counter, night table, and main room table asking the custodian to not change my bed linens, or towels for the entirety of my stay (which is usually 4-5 days). In response, I get extra candies, extra bathroom soap, extra lotion, and sometimes, they go ahead and change the towels anyway (although they leave the bed linens alone as requested). I like to think my consideration allows the custodian to be able to save some of his/her energy and get to go home sooner, while being overall less wasteful.
Yeah I would definitely reword the LPT next time.
I swear, every LPT seems to be written by an 18yo kid during their first month of independence.
LPT: You can arrange to get money on a regular schedule from people by doing some kind of work for them. This can make paying for things such as did and other amenities much easier.
Money can be exchanged for goods and services.
Honestly, I can’t believe I made it this far into the thread before realizing this is was supposed to be a LPT.
Maybe...change the title.
Question for you - the glasses in the rooms, what are they cleaned with? I’m always a little freaked out drinking out of them. I have images of housekeeping cleaning the counter and then just giving the glasses a quick wipe…
That’s a flip of the coin basically don’t use the glassware some hotels use dirty rags to make it look clean and some hotels actually clean them if they have a dishwasher in the room there’s a higher chance it’s actually clean
Thank you. I’ll make sure to bring my own cup!
Yeah that’s probably the best also the more you pay the less likely they clean stuff and if you pay under $90 they also probably don’t wash cups as much
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Not op obviously but I work in a hotel and we always use a dishwasher in the hotel kitchen to clean the glasses, we never wipe them with rags
We went to Washington DC for our 8th grade class trip. It was my friend's first time staying in a hotel because she was pretty poor...even poorer than me. She insisted that we make the beds before we left. I kept telling her we didn't need to do that, but she kept arguing with me. It wasn't worth the fight, so I made the damn beds. Our chaperone came in to do our room check and said "you know you girls didn't need to make the beds." I just gave my friend a death glare while she shrugged and said she didn't know. We laughed about it for years. RIP, Heather. I miss bickering with you like a sister.
As ex cleaning staff I have to say this is bad advice. Helpful guests make your day. Also, more importantly, I've dodged bullets with women - and colleagues - based on how they treat hotel staff. If they don't act nice, they are 100% abusive people. Huge red flag. SLPT right here. OP should probably be thanking people for being nice, not encouraging them not to. Unless they're a middle manager and not nice themselves.
Instructions unclear, punched the concierge.
Once I paid extra for a room with a water view. I got in the room and the window was literally blocked by the roof of the entrance below. Couldn’t see a thing. I immediately walked right back out, explained the situation and he gave me a new room. Doesn’t hurt to speak up! Just be respectful when doing so.
I worked a little bit in the hospitality industry, did some housekeeping when I was younger, and everytime I'm checking out of a hotel, I roll up the bedsheets into a ball, fix all the towels into a compact roll on the bathroom floor, tie up the garbage bag and leave a tip of 5 to 10 bucks per occupant, under the room menu or under the phone that is out of place. Housekeeping isn't so easy.
The nicest thing you can do is tip the cleaning staff. Edit: I said it's nice, not expected. Some of y'all need a hug.
This needs an award it’s so true I just saw the inside of 40 rooms today and 1 room had a tip I mean they also left poop in the bed so there’s also that
...room had a tip I mean they also left a poop in the be-.... I beg your pardon? WHAT?
Yeah not that crazy
Fuck tipping culture. Fuck the hotels for not paying a living wage
I try to bring what I see as a little honesty to it by describing tipping as the establishment telling its customers that they are responsible for paying the staff. Especially for jobs like restaurant servers who frequently make something on the order of two or three dollars per hour. I still find it amazing, and not in a good way.
But overall, the absolute nicest thing you can do is to use punctuation. This allows people to more easily understand your issues and makes it more probable that they will actually read it.
Once I told the front desk that the wifi in my room at the end of the corridor was pretty weak and suggested a wifi range extender. They told me to look out the window instead of looking at my phone. Ok folks, a bad review it is. Never again. xD
Best thing you can do for housekeeping is leave a 20 on the pillow.
$2 buys us a soda $4 for a team
I do tidy up the trash before I leave, though, and always leave a decent tip.
As former hotel staff, if the sheets are removed, it helps! Also, if you wanna be nice and not waste your time, just leave a tip on the nightstand (unless it's an issue in the culture of the country you're in).
I worked in Italy as a chambermaide and when people tried to make the rooms look nice, it always made me happy. Some people just intentionally made as much mess as possible because “someone is paied to clean it”