Housekeeping - does everyone freshen rooms?

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TheBeachHouse

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Do you make beds everyday? We have a policy to change the linens on the third day of a stay over four days. But we haven't been making up the beds in between?
Is that wonderful privacy for our guests? Or sloppy housekeeping?
We do change out the towels and check on the soaps, etc.
 
We pop into the rooms every day just to freshen up. Often, the trash cans just need to be emptied. The guests appreciate it. I do straighten the bed, but don't make it up 100% beautiful like when they checked in.
 
Make the bed! If you are in the room doing other tasks guests will wonder why you skipped the bed. Empty the trash. Wipe down the counters, showers, sinks. In your case, near a sandy beach, vacuum, too.
 
I was in the 'make the bed' camp. My husband was in the 'give them privacy' camp. I was a little appalled that he wasn't making beds. He was surprised I expected it. But we've only had one nighters until this past weekend.
Learning curve.
 
I was in the 'make the bed' camp. My husband was in the 'give them privacy' camp. I was a little appalled that he wasn't making beds. He was surprised I expected it. But we've only had one nighters until this past weekend.
Learning curve..
TheBeachHouse said:
I was in the 'make the bed' camp. My husband was in the 'give them privacy' camp. I was a little appalled that he wasn't making beds. He was surprised I expected it. But we've only had one nighters until this past weekend.
Learning curve.
Doesn't a made bed just make the whole room look better?!
 
When guests check in we tell them the rooms will be refreshed every day. ( some places now use the "room service" hang tags for door knobs and let the guest choose whether the room is made up or not.)
Make the beds every day...unless personal things are on it. ( We NEVER touch personal items..and we told them that as well.) So if the bed didn't get fully made it was there fault.
Fresh towels and empty trash every day unless you have signs indicating you are "green" and will change only if towels are left on the floor.
 
I make the beds every day. If they've tossed the throw and cushions to one side I'll put them back on the bed, if they've stored them away somewhere like in the cupboard I leave them there. We freshen the courtesy tray, fill teas/coffees replace dirty cups etc., empty bins, wipe round the bathroom, wash the bathroom floor and hoover the bedroom and replace the flowers if need be.
 
My take:
Privacy would mean - not going into the room at all.
If you are going into the room do it all unless they told you to just change the towels. A freshly made bed is not only nice to come back to but also is nice when you crawl into it at night.
 
TheBeachHouse said:
Do you make beds everyday? We have a policy to change the linens on the third day of a stay over four days. But we haven't been making up the beds in between?
Is that wonderful privacy for our guests? Or sloppy housekeeping?
We do change out the towels and check on the soaps, etc.
The industry standard is to change sheets every 3 days. For a 4 day stay, you would change after 2 nights.
We have the door hanger signs saying if they leave before 12:00 (our guests tend to hang around all day in their rooms), we will freshen up. If they put the "No Freshening Needed" sign outside their door, we will not go in if they leave.
Our system works very well for us, but you'll have to see what works best for you. As others have said, if you're going in, you should make the bed, take out trash/towels, etc., dry the shower/tub, check the toilet paper and sweep or vacuum as needed.
 
I ask my guests if they need maid service. Most say no, all is OK. The few times I forgot to ask and went up (and sometimes they leave the door open) they have made the bed. 9 times out of 10, on checkout I will find a made bed. I do not get the wet towels on the bed crowd.
 
We clean daily. The minimum, if requested is to empty garbage cans. The norm is beds made, towels changed every 2nd day (3rd by request) except for facecloths which are replaced if wet and bed linens changed every 3rd (or 4th day) on stays of 5 days or longer. The beds are made differently from the first night as we skip some of the formality of the bed on the arrival day. We wash glasses, wipe surfaces, replace used items and coil stray cords (to keep them off the floor. We also sweep, vacuum and/or mop depending on the need. Remotes go back to where they belong. If there is a smell, we deal with it. We have been known to neatly fold guest clothing, especially PJs if they are on the bed and tucked under the covers. For children that have stuffed toys, we often set up the stuffed animal doing something different each day.
 
I ask my guests if they need maid service. Most say no, all is OK. The few times I forgot to ask and went up (and sometimes they leave the door open) they have made the bed. 9 times out of 10, on checkout I will find a made bed. I do not get the wet towels on the bed crowd..
Even if they've made the bed I will remake it, partly because we have feather duvets and they need a good shake to fluff them up again (Yes, part of my job is as a fluffer). I'll also make sure the sheet is flat and I'll plump up the pillows and put the throw and cushions back in place.
Like sugar bear I do a bedding change for stays >4 nights, so I'll change on either the 2nd or 3rd night (depending on how many other rooms are changing over).
 
We clean daily. The minimum, if requested is to empty garbage cans. The norm is beds made, towels changed every 2nd day (3rd by request) except for facecloths which are replaced if wet and bed linens changed every 3rd (or 4th day) on stays of 5 days or longer. The beds are made differently from the first night as we skip some of the formality of the bed on the arrival day. We wash glasses, wipe surfaces, replace used items and coil stray cords (to keep them off the floor. We also sweep, vacuum and/or mop depending on the need. Remotes go back to where they belong. If there is a smell, we deal with it. We have been known to neatly fold guest clothing, especially PJs if they are on the bed and tucked under the covers. For children that have stuffed toys, we often set up the stuffed animal doing something different each day..
See...I don't want anyone but me touching any of my clothing especially my PJ's...I find it kind of creepy to have a stranger doing that...Sorry :-(
 
We clean daily. The minimum, if requested is to empty garbage cans. The norm is beds made, towels changed every 2nd day (3rd by request) except for facecloths which are replaced if wet and bed linens changed every 3rd (or 4th day) on stays of 5 days or longer. The beds are made differently from the first night as we skip some of the formality of the bed on the arrival day. We wash glasses, wipe surfaces, replace used items and coil stray cords (to keep them off the floor. We also sweep, vacuum and/or mop depending on the need. Remotes go back to where they belong. If there is a smell, we deal with it. We have been known to neatly fold guest clothing, especially PJs if they are on the bed and tucked under the covers. For children that have stuffed toys, we often set up the stuffed animal doing something different each day..
See...I don't want anyone but me touching any of my clothing especially my PJ's...I find it kind of creepy to have a stranger doing that...Sorry :-(
.
Then don't leave them on the bed that needs to be made up.
 
We clean daily. The minimum, if requested is to empty garbage cans. The norm is beds made, towels changed every 2nd day (3rd by request) except for facecloths which are replaced if wet and bed linens changed every 3rd (or 4th day) on stays of 5 days or longer. The beds are made differently from the first night as we skip some of the formality of the bed on the arrival day. We wash glasses, wipe surfaces, replace used items and coil stray cords (to keep them off the floor. We also sweep, vacuum and/or mop depending on the need. Remotes go back to where they belong. If there is a smell, we deal with it. We have been known to neatly fold guest clothing, especially PJs if they are on the bed and tucked under the covers. For children that have stuffed toys, we often set up the stuffed animal doing something different each day..
See...I don't want anyone but me touching any of my clothing especially my PJ's...I find it kind of creepy to have a stranger doing that...Sorry :-(
.
Then don't leave them on the bed that needs to be made up.
.
I never do ..in fact my clothes always stay in my suitcase. But don't you feel strange touching stranger's clothing? UGH...I could not do that. Have you ever had anyone upset because you did it? Just curious.
 
We clean daily. The minimum, if requested is to empty garbage cans. The norm is beds made, towels changed every 2nd day (3rd by request) except for facecloths which are replaced if wet and bed linens changed every 3rd (or 4th day) on stays of 5 days or longer. The beds are made differently from the first night as we skip some of the formality of the bed on the arrival day. We wash glasses, wipe surfaces, replace used items and coil stray cords (to keep them off the floor. We also sweep, vacuum and/or mop depending on the need. Remotes go back to where they belong. If there is a smell, we deal with it. We have been known to neatly fold guest clothing, especially PJs if they are on the bed and tucked under the covers. For children that have stuffed toys, we often set up the stuffed animal doing something different each day..
See...I don't want anyone but me touching any of my clothing especially my PJ's...I find it kind of creepy to have a stranger doing that...Sorry :-(
.
Then don't leave them on the bed that needs to be made up.
.
I never do ..in fact my clothes always stay in my suitcase. But don't you feel strange touching stranger's clothing? UGH...I could not do that. Have you ever had anyone upset because you did it? Just curious.
.
Only one guest, ever, but because they didn't find them. Which is why the housekeeper is told to put them under the covers so that they show clearly where they are. They are folded neatly and guests realize it's a housekeeper who straighten their bed, nothing untoward.
 
I ask my guests if they need maid service. Most say no, all is OK. The few times I forgot to ask and went up (and sometimes they leave the door open) they have made the bed. 9 times out of 10, on checkout I will find a made bed. I do not get the wet towels on the bed crowd..
Even if they've made the bed I will remake it, partly because we have feather duvets and they need a good shake to fluff them up again (Yes, part of my job is as a fluffer). I'll also make sure the sheet is flat and I'll plump up the pillows and put the throw and cushions back in place.
Like sugar bear I do a bedding change for stays >4 nights, so I'll change on either the 2nd or 3rd night (depending on how many other rooms are changing over).
.
Depending on length of stay of course, day #3 breakfast, I inform the guest we will be going into the room today to change the sheets. Only twice have the guests said OK. All others have said do not bother - we only change sheets once a week at home.
My long-terms get sheets changed/room cleaned once a week - no breakfasts. I check the bathroom every day for towels/TP/waste basket attention and tell guests if their wastebasket needs emptied to set it outside their room for me to empty. I also check the guest service area almost daily for trash and refilling fridge with bottles of water..
 
We pop into the rooms every day just to freshen up. Often, the trash cans just need to be emptied. The guests appreciate it. I do straighten the bed, but don't make it up 100% beautiful like when they checked in..
I instruct housekeepers not to handle guests property that's been left on the bed. If clothing, camera gear, or personal items have been left on the bed they move on to the bathroom or gather trash. When I was new to innkeeping I couldn't imagine that the guests wanted me to enter their room. Now we restock items and replace towels that have been left on the floor besides making beds etc.
 
When we were in the inn where we stayed in Maine a few weeks ago I told the assistant innkeeper, who was also the housekeeper, that we didn't need our room fluffed that morning. She kind of looked at me with a funny look. I told her I've been in the industry for 8 years and that we'd left our room in quite a state due to our hurried morning schedule. As I was walking out the door, I turned back and said, "I understand if you need to get in there to do a visual inspection, but I hung up all the towels and we haven't had any trash. If you need to go in for your own comfort, please do so." She told me that she trusted me and that she appreciated my honesty.
Now, by the next day, I'd had the time to at least tidy up our stuff so she could get in there to take out the trash and do a thorough once-over. I discovered that a freshened room was so welcoming and nice to come back to though. It's just another reminder that we WERE on vacation and that we were NOT at home.
 
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