Any of us who have traveled in the past three years have become accustomed to the signs, messages, and emails advising us the housekeeping services will either not occur during your stay or happen every third or fourth day of your stay. Or even worse, you have to call and request service. Personally, this is frustrating to see each time I arrive to know that I am paying top dollar and will have one less amenity to look forward to. Where did hotel housekeeping go? I have a theory.
Economists continue to blame a lack of workforce. “Where did the workers go after COVID” is almost always the tagline. The housekeeping workforce didn’t go anywhere. They are still out there. The hotels have stopped hiring them. It’s a perfect scenario for the hotels: blame the lack of workers but in actuality the decrease in workforce continues to increase profits. With inflation and supply chain issues still driving up costs, it would make sense to decrease the amount of staff on hand.
But why blame a shortage in workforce? It seems antithetical to me blatantly put the onus on the workforce. The workforce is there. And even if the workforce from US citizens wasn’t there, you still have the J1 workforce.
If anything, this is a vent. You’re not getting housekeeping because the hotel has decided you aren’t getting housekeeping to increase their profit margin, not because there is a lack of staff. So I implore you, when you check-in to your hotel next time, tell them what you want: housekeeping every day. Why? Because housekeepers work based on “credits”. Credits = how much time they spend in a room and ultimately how much they earn. Drive up those credit counts, and we may see change. Housekeeping and housekeepers are the heart of the hotel. Drive those credits up, and they will have to start hiring more staff. By telling you it’s not available, they keep the credit count low, hence, no need to hire more staff. Make sense?
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