All right folks... not sure if any of you are in the "Industry" but I was for about 10 years in a hotel management position. I've done everything from working the front desk to being a General Manager, and yeah I've had to clean rooms on occassion. And, not for some independent operator or National Park Attraction hotel the person in this article was. But here's some reaction to the article and some of the posts.
First, this looks like one of those articles where one person says something they did, and now it is how ALL hospitality workers must be doing their jobs, and it starts to spark outrage and concern, much like those 20/20 shows did some years back.
Yes, you will always run into an employee who will cut corners to get things done quicker and ulitmately not do a good job doing it... those get canned because the housekeeping management checks [or should check] enough rooms a day to know whether they are really cleaning the room properly...including doing more then just flushing the toilet. I knew a lot of housekeepers who had shortcuts to save time, but never compromised the cleanliness of the room. They knew ways to cut a few minutes off the time it took them to do the room because in their 8 hour days, depending on whether it was a full service or limited service hotel, they had to clean somewhere between 12-18 rooms per day. Do the math, it's about 25-30 minutes per room on average, give or take a couple minutes.
All major hotel companies do QA [quality assurance] checks on their hotels at least every 6 months to make sure they are adhering to all the operating standards. If you aren't you have to correct them or risk losing the hotel. Most hotels are not owned by the well known companies, they are owned by real estate companies or property management companies as a couple examples. They are franchise operators that contract with the Marriott's, Hilton's, etc... for the rights to use their name, and must maintain the standards those hotels expect.
As far as tipping... I, as someone in the business never tipped the housekeeping staff when I traveled. I am not sure when that began, but it is not considered common practice. For wait staff... in the vast majority of hotels [that do enough volume in food sales] and resturants, the hourly rate of pay is something like $3.15 [it's been a few years so it probably changed]. Regardless, it is far below minimum wage, and that is allowed because they are going to make minimally the minimum wage amount when they receive their tips. Be smart when you decide you aren't going to give the server a good tip. If you had a problem, was is something within the control of the server? If the food sucked, the server didn't make it, but if they still provided you with good "service" take that into consideration and reach out to the manager, who if they are any good will adjust your bill. Hell yeah, give them a crappy tip if your server is too busy talking on his/her cellphone at the service area, or would rather be outside smoking then be waiting on your table. But, certainly if you tip, tip what you think is fair based on the overall service you were given. And, yes, a server goes into that job knowing that he/she are only getting the small hourly wage because they make all their money on tips.
And just one more point.... this is a true statistic.... it used to be drilled into our heads all the time... The average person who has a good experience will tell one or two people. The person who has a bad experience tells a minimum of 10. So, for those of you who take the time to pass on a good word, trust me, it is appreciated, because we tend to never hear the good things that happened, but always the bad.
Okay, off my soapbox now
