Say Goodbye to Daily Hotel Room Cleaning

Housekeeping unions fight back

Hotel unions see the move away from daily cleaning as a direct attack on their members’ jobs. Ending daily housekeeping industrywide would eliminate up to 39 percent of all hotel housekeeping jobs in the United States, costing housekeepers about $5 billion in annual lost wages, according to a 2021 report by Unite Here, a labor union representing hotel workers. “Most hotels temporarily suspended daily housekeeping when Covid began,” said D. Taylor, the international president of Unite Here in Las Vegas. “Hotel demand and room rates have rebounded now, but many hotels are trying to get back to full occupancy without restoring the services that guests expect and love.”

In recognition of the unions’ political power, dozens of cities including Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Honolulu, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami and New York have passed agreements or legislation requiring hotels to offer daily housekeeping as the norm. And even these rules aren’t always honored: In January 2022, guest room attendants who belong to the Culinary Workers Union rallied in Las Vegas after reports that daily cleaning protocols weren’t being followed.

Still, hotels lost about $108 billion in business travel revenue in 2020 and 2021, when the pandemic largely shut down travel, according to a 2022 report released by the American Hotel Lodging Association and Kalibri Labs, a company that evaluates and predicts hotel industry performance. And a June 2022 survey of 500 members of the A.H.L.A. found that 97 percent were experiencing staffing shortages. More than half, or 58 percent, said their most serious staffing shortage was housekeeping.

The housekeepers, meanwhile, are suffering from lost wages and tips and a more grueling assignment when they’re actually on duty.

Elena Newman, who has been a guest room attendant in Las Vegas for 19 years, said hotel managers may believe they’re saving money by cutting down on cleaning, but it’s not the case.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/24/travel/hotels-end-daily-cleaning.html