Stayover Cleaning

We are thinking about telling our 2 nighters that we won't disturb their room on their stay-over day unless they need something. When I am home, we both try to get in the room, pull the bed up, empty the trash, pick up any towels on the floor and replenish them. I am terrible about forgetting to do this. But it is especially hard when I am at work and Shelley is there by herself. I am of the opinion that I need to pick up my game and do the stay-over shuffle and get it done, but I do understand when she is there that it is difficult. We do have a cleaning girl, but she only does the turn around cleaning.
What are your thoughts?

I always wanted to run in and fluff the rooms. I know it's a lot ... I had eight rooms ... but I'd often find sopping wet towels on the bed or on an upholstered chair or a wooden table ... things like that. It was quick, believe me ... I dumped the trash, grabbed those towels, pulled the bed together, looked for anything amiss, left fresh towels and was out of there unless there was something disastrous ... occasionally a running toilet or faucet, once a curling iron left on high heat on a desk!!!
But you try what works best for you. I've stayed in lots of places that I could decline that my room be freshened.

Being the lazy broad that I am (and old too), AND being blessed with great guests so far (none of the wet towels on beds crowd), I ask at breakfast if they need maid service. Happy to provide if needed, but we look at it as being your home while you are here and we would not enter your home without your permission. Almost 100% say they are fine and some even tell me they like not having someone come into the room.
IF I forget to ask, I trudge upstairs to make sure all is s it should be. Most of the time, they have made the bed already.

It depends on the type of guests you get. Some are sloppy and will destroy your rooms. You need to head this off. We frequently find sopping wet towels, dripping glassware, Coke cans on the furniture, etc. These things have to be handled in a timely fashion. We completely clean the bathroom everyday. This keeps soap scum from building up and makes it a pleasant experience for the guest to come back to the room. We vacuum everyday which keeps the carpets in better condition. We can head off major stains by finding them on day one instead of day two.
How about having the temp cleaner come in more often rather than you cleaning and then running off to work?
If you get perfect peaches for guests then make the cleaning optional. Ask at breakfast if the guest needs anything for the room. Most guests will say no. That does NOT mean they don't feel put out. That may just mean they think you don't want to be bothered and you'll be grumpy if they say yes.
You really need to think out what you want to represent to your guests.

perfect peaches! ha! I like that

We fluff the rooms unless they request no maid service. One couple claimed that they have been coming for four years here and this was the first time they had room service. I know that my uncle had it done.....so what did I do that made them realize it was done that my uncle's maids didn't? (make bed, straighten room, sweep floor, clean bathroom, change towels out)

Other things you want to 'fix' right away - equipment left on all day - heating or cooling. As SS said - the running toilet, the dripping faucet, the curling iron. We've also closed windows when it was pouring rain and guests had their electronics on the floor under the open window. Which also keeps the carpet dry so they don't track dirty shoes thru the damp rug. Or, soak their socks.
I could put my feet up around 11 AM if we didn't attend to every room everyday. Now there's a thought! I could also stop looking for housekeeping help if I only had to do flips. But, it's SOP around here that rooms are cleaned everyday.

I go into every single room every day. If they ask me for no housekeeping, I tell them that I will go into the room and take out the trash and replenish towels, personally, but that the housekeeper won't go in. Or I can accompany the housekeeper the entire time, if they want full service. If they insist, the minimum is empty the trash. We do not offer the option of no service... it's been a disaster for us... always something broken or worse!
We hand sweep the bed, tighten the sheets, make the bed. Empty the trash. We take hand and face towels, but leave bath towels if they are clean and will dry in time. But we put in new hand and face towels and if need be a bath towel.
We vacuum the floor, clean the bathroom, bathroom floor is mopped. (We mop the floor on turn-over.) Surfaces and mirrors are wiped. Everything is put back in place, like remotes, after being wiped down. In some rooms we verify that the TV is set properly.
If you aren't going to do daily housekeeping, you need to advertise it as such. People need to know what they are getting. Some people don't expect our level of service, but it's so nice to get back to the room and find things in order.

Duff2014 said:

We fluff the rooms unless they request no maid service. One couple claimed that they have been coming for four years here and this was the first time they had room service. I know that my uncle had it done.....so what did I do that made them realize it was done that my uncle's maids didn't? (make bed, straighten room, sweep floor, clean bathroom, change towels out).

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Duff2014 said:

We fluff the rooms unless they request no maid service.

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We have had nothing but bad luck with that unless we know the guests. Windows open, A/C running full tilt (or heat cranked up to 80). I would love to leave the wet towels on the bed, tho.
One time the guests didn't leave until 2-3PM so we skipped cleaning. Found out they had taken 10 towels from the laundry room, soaked them all and left them on the beds. All the tissues were pulled out of the boxes (we assumed they hid drugs in there in case someone came in the room). They were just rude beyond belief, refusing to vacate the room. (That's the time I contacted our innkeeping association and asked what my options were and was told to call the police to have the trespassers removed.)
Another guest smoked for 2 days in the room and never took her dog outside.
We go in the room. Everyday. We learned the hard way.
This summer we had guests who said no room service. We said OK and then I went in the room and shut off the A/C that was running full tilt. They were gone for 12 hours. I'm not paying for that. I didn't touch anything else. Left everything where they threw it.

Well, it looks like I'm in the minority. We have door sign hangers inside every room. We will freshen up their room until 12:00 noon and if they don't want service, just hang the sign on the outside of their door. We're a romantic getaway, people want their privacy here. Before I created the door signs we still would only freshen until noon. Our guests hang around here.... a lot. I'm not wasting precious time waiting for them to go out to freshen their room. A lot of them don't even leave until dinner time. Typically, our guests are pretty well behaved. If they leave a wet towel on their bed, it's not my problem. Let them sleep on a damp bed. If they leave their heater on (no ac here), I don't know about it and heck, it's their room.
Here's an interesting thing that happens with those door signs. Even though it's very clear that the sign is about freshening their room, I will find those signs out at all times of the day. They use them as "Do Not Disturb" signs. Our people want their privacy. I would guess that more than 50% of our guests put their signs out.

Breakfast Diva said:

Well, it looks like I'm in the minority. We have door sign hangers inside every room. We will freshen up their room until 12:00 noon and if they don't want service, just hang the sign on the outside of their door. We're a romantic getaway, people want their privacy here. Before I created the door signs we still would only freshen until noon. Our guests hang around here.... a lot. I'm not wasting precious time waiting for them to go out to freshen their room. A lot of them don't even leave until dinner time. Typically, our guests are pretty well behaved. If they leave a wet towel on their bed, it's not my problem. Let them sleep on a damp bed. If they leave their heater on (no ac here), I don't know about it and heck, it's their room.
Here's an interesting thing that happens with those door signs. Even though it's very clear that the sign is about freshening their room, I will find those signs out at all times of the day. They use them as "Do Not Disturb" signs. Our people want their privacy. I would guess that more than 50% of our guests put their signs out..

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Yes. We all need to know our market. Almost none of our guests hang around. They're gone most of the day, some not returning until very late.

Our registration card has a spot to mark if we should check the room or respect their privacy, most guests don't want the service and we have been fortunate to have nice guests for the most part. We are a tiny motel and rooms are not furnished with valuable antiques, so we may be a bit different.

I would pull wet towels off a bed always - not interested in going in later at guest's request to change the sheets because they were 'damp because we are in a harbor' NOT!
I had no fine antiques, not a one. But a wet towel on any wooden desk can ruin that finish and a hot curling iron set down on one after the guests went out for the day scared the heck out of me. Nice burn mark.
I don't know if it's because my guests were often rushing out the door to catch a ferry or what.
I have a friend who owns a motel near a beach. The rooms have small fridges and microwaves. Guests toss their curling irons and 'hot' appliances into the fridges to cool before packing ... and check out without them. She labels them with date and room and holds them for one season. I don't think anyone has wanted to pay for return shipping. End of season they donate hundreds to a charity shop.

The fluffs don't take much time. Ask your cleaning woman to do them.

At a bed and breakfast (guesthouse here) it is fairly expected to have daily room freshening. However, if it is something you cannot provide, then you need to make sure it is clear at check in and in the room, so they don't vacate for you to do it. Have a door hanger to put out is a great idea, but they may forget about it, while inside or outside the establishment. When we stay at hotels we enjoy having our rubbish removed and fresh towels, that is part of the getaway. We aren't actually at home, so want something a little more. As for the turn down bedding, I prefer to not have that done unless it is a five star rated acommodation.
Coincidentally where we live a "fluff" is a term used for something else. Typically followed by a 'oh beg your pardon'. So to fluff a room, well you must have enjoyed a meal of boiled cabbage before hand.

Halfmoonbay said:

At a bed and breakfast (guesthouse here) it is fairly expected to have daily room freshening. However, if it is something you cannot provide, then you need to make sure it is clear at check in and in the room, so they don't vacate for you to do it. Have a door hanger to put out is a great idea, but they may forget about it, while inside or outside the establishment. When we stay at hotels we enjoy having our rubbish removed and fresh towels, that is part of the getaway. We aren't actually at home, so want something a little more. As for the turn down bedding, I prefer to not have that done unless it is a five star rated acommodation.
Coincidentally where we live a "fluff" is a term used for something else. Typically followed by a 'oh beg your pardon'. So to fluff a room, well you must have enjoyed a meal of boiled cabbage before hand..

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HAHAHA!!

naw, the correct polite word for that is 'toot' or 'tweet'
If I ran into all the guests rooms and 'fluffed' per your definition, I'm sure the guests would be po'd. hahahaha I'd need to stock up on door hangars for them to put out 'DEAR INNKEEPER, PLEASE DO NOT FLUFF (IN) MY ROOM.' hysterical

seashanty said:

naw, the correct polite word for that is 'toot' or 'tweet'

If I ran into all the guests rooms and 'fluffed' per your definition, I'm sure the guests would be po'd. hahahaha I'd need to stock up on door hangars for them to put out 'DEAR INNKEEPER, PLEASE DO NOT FLUFF (IN) MY ROOM.' hysterical.

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Do not look up fluffer the urban dictionary... you will be traumatized forever!

That so-called dictionary could turn any word into something gross ...

seashanty said:

That so-called dictionary could turn any word into something gross ....

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Unfortunately, that is a common term that is used and I have even seen them refer to it on TV.