If anyone is still reading my blog, you may have noticed I have been absent for quite a while now. Part of this is due to my "summer vacation" which I will post a continues review of soon. Mostly it is due to my new job that I started a month ago, right when I got back from vacation.
This new job is exciting, and it's a step towards advancement. Already it's better pay and better hours, so there isn't really a downside. This job takes me from my front desk experience in the front of the "house" and puts me into an entirely new category in the back of "house", housekeeping. I am not actually a housekeeper, I am the "housekeeping coordinator" which is for all intensive purposes an admin position that fills the gap between the housekeepers (and laundry attendants and housemen) and the supervisor. Needless to say, I have learned a lot in the month I have been here.
My first day of training was in the laundry area. Everyday, the laundry attendants sort through the laundry the housekeepers send down, and wash the towels and rags and bathmats etc. The sheets get sent out with our laundry service, so at least they don't have to worry about that. I know what you're thinking, "So they do laundry all day, how hard is that?" Let me be the first to say, folding laundry all day is exhausting. You spend the whole day moving, and on your feet. I don't even like doing laundry in my own house, let alone a hotel full of dirty towels!
My second day of training focused on the housemen and their duties. The houseman split up the floors, and assist the housekeepers on those floors. This includes emptying their trash and linen bags, supplying them with fresh glasses for the rooms, and anything else they might need. Plus the housekeepers are responsible for keeping the hallways clean, so they vacuum them from end to end at least once a day. Let the record show, I also hate vacuuming.
The last three days of my first week consisted of learning what a housekeeper does. The first day I focused on the bedroom, the second day I focused on the bathroom, and the third day, I cleaned some rooms by myself. It wasn't the 15 rooms our housekeepers are in charge of each day, but I was successful in cleaning the three rooms I was assigned. I have worked in hotels for six years now, and I have always known that the housekeeping team is the backbone of the property. Without them, the rest of us are useless. They can make or break your stay in a hotel. And while I knew this on an intellectual level, being a housekeeper was still a whole new experience.
The most poignant experience so far was a guest interaction I had on my first day shadowing a housekeeper. There is a guest who is one of our regulars, and he has always been a bit... odd. That's putting it nicely. But he has always been very polite to me at the desk, knows my name, says hello etc. This day he was moving rooms and we were assigned his original room. We had seen him move his things to the next room, and were about to go in when the housekeeper realized she needed something from the main storage closet. I waited by the room with the cart. The guest started towards his original room and I said "Hi Mr. X, were you all set in your new room?" to which he replied "It's Captain X, and I am going to check this room one more time to make sure I didn't leave anything behind." Seriously. No pleasant greeting, no recognition, nothing nice about his attitude during this exchange. Everyone knows there is that cliche about people treating "the help" poorly, but even so, I was a little caught off guard, and a lot irritated, to find out it's so true! It really says a lot about people when they talk down to people they believe to be below them. Like I said, this man was already not one of my favorites, but this has made me see him in a whole new light.
So the next time you are on vacation, staying at a hotel, remember this: housekeepers make the bed you sleep in, clean the bathroom you shower in, pick up the towels you use, and restock your toilet paper (among many other things). A good housekeeper can easily make your stay wonderful. They work harder than probably anyone you know. Most people tip the people that valet their car, and the person that takes their bags to their room, but you would be surprised how many people forget about the people behind the scenes!
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