Surface Transmission & Housekeeping

There have been several recent releases that CDC reports risks from surface transmissions very low. Not impossible. I do not want to start a debate about the risks of surface-spread, or feed speculation. While the CDC says risks are low, they continue to advocate hand washing.

I've been traveling for work. Smaller cities. Last several trips, hotels where I stayed have been sold out, at capacity. Yet they still don't provide housekeeping. Marriott's, Hilton's, Hyatts. What is the risk to a housekeeper who washes before and after cleaning? How is there more risk nightly than after a guest checks out? How is there more risk to me coming back to a cleaned room on my third day, compared to my initial entry into the room?

I can't help but think that, while intentions were safety back in March, April.... now housekeeping cutbacks are just exploiting the opportunity to save money on services.

I feel similarly about the breakfast service mid-level business hotels promote, but aren't providing...(I got a microwaved Jimmy Dean biscuit sandwich at my latest stay, despite the rate including breakfast.)... Candidly... I'd eat from the hotel breakfast buffet, or grocery salad bar, if I could visit it without being shoulder-to-shoulder with other patrons. But I get that there are higher expectations for food service conditions.

I'm not troubled by the economics. I can't see Vegas-type buffets being economically viable in the absence of high turnover, crowds, etc. But the housekeeping response, while irritatingly inconvenient to me, seems horribly exploitive at the expense of housekeepers' livelihood.

My August trip was Cosmo - full housekeeping. I'm returning to LV in 3 weeks. I'll be staying Bellagio.... I don't know the MGM daily housekeeping policy. I think I've read here on VMB that daily service is suspended, or on request, at CET; perhaps not.

I hope there's a science-based update on this specific response to the Pandemic soon.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/food-and-COVID-19.html

 

I guess just sharing the "air" in a room increase the chances - maybe?

Personally, we never use housekeeping when we visit Vegas, so no big deal to us. I see no reason for them to be in the room.

 

My local library still quarantines all check-in books for 3 days, nobody touches them not even library personal, but now that the library is open to the public, I am allowed to touch and breath on all the books in the library to my hearts delight. So surface virus protocols do seem to be somewhat in limbo.

 

I’ve got a little experience in this area, and it’s a little of the safety column and a lot of the labor savings column. Truthfully, most guests right now are uncomfortable with the idea of someone else entering their personal space once they’ve occupied the room. Lots of brands decided to go with opt-in only rather than bringing a bunch of people back off furlough only to find super high DND usage and be spending extra money they don’t have on hand.

Me personally, I trusted that housekeepers are keeping their masks on while in my room and used the daily cleaning. I want those folks to be able to get their hours and gratuities, so I’m not turning them away.

 

Agree, there are definitely a lot of cost savings cuts using covid as the catch all reason.
I wouldn't notice as we always opted out of housekeeping before. Do our own surface wipe down so wouldn't want anyone coming in.

 

I try to be informed but am not an expert. Based on what has been reported on the board, however, the elimination in some hotels of housekeeping service, unless requested, appears to be about cost savings.

I say that in part because Wynncore, which has been setting the health and safety standard in Vegas in the Covid environment, is still very much providing housekeeping. Other changes have been made, including housekeeping not being in the room when the guest is there, etc. That 100% makes to me as that is about the safety of the EMPLOYEE, who otherwise might be encountering lots of unmasked guests (as they would be in their own hotel room unmasked) during the course of the day if the policy of not being in a room when a guest is there were not in place.

With Covid, there's no longer automatic turn down service in the Wynn or Encore Tower suites and my guess is that is tied more to cost savings but I get it. Wynncore is a business like any other and that's a way to save some costs without negatively affecting in any siginficant way the Tower Suites experience. Even so, Tower Suites guests CAN still request turn down service and I'll likely do so -- leaving more than my already healthy tip for turn down service specifically -- unless my host or someone else at Wynncore shares with me offline that there are reasons, benefitting the housekeeping staff, as to why the turn down service is no longer automatic.

 

CET still doing this, or did they swap this money-saving promotion for on-demand service for Covid?

 

Most of these senseless measures are do to liability and potential litigation's for not following "guidelines"

 

Nope, no extra for not having maid service on our Aug stay at Paris. At MB, the maid knocked after 2 days, but we were still in bed and turned her away.

 

There’s a lot of “security theater” going on right now as well. A lot of the safety steps that are being taken are doing nothing more than giving an appearance of doing something.

 

As a carb watcher, I will admit that sitting down with that sandwich, eating the sausage patty and egg-disk, leaving the biscuit, was easier than dealing with another hotel that tried giving me French toast sticks and canned OJ. I did have option of a granola bar.

"Thanks, Marriot, I'll just grab this stack of coffee cups that come stuck-together, touch several while prying one loose... pull the contaminated lever for some of this week brown brew you label coffee, stick my covid-fingers into the container of stirrers, repeat the pry-loose process on lids, and head to my car."

It's theater of the absurd. Or should I say farce?

 

We've done several long-weekend trips and I'm planning another here in a few weeks with the golf boyz. We've been comfortable with our suites at Hilton and Marriott properties. There may not be a basis for this but I'd rather trust a higher-end hotelier than Suzy's Airbnb. We've been to wineries, done bike rides, played golf, saw friends, took some hikes and have had a lot of meals outdoors and had a few takeaway eats in our digs. I don't assume that any surface is clean thought we don't really overthink surface transmission; wash your hands or use sanitizer. We have no interest in doing anything indoors with masses of people and the fires notwithstanding one of the great things about living in the center of CA is that we have mountains, deserts and beaches easily accessible via car.

 

....all of my non-vegas trips are Central and coastal CA.

 

For years I have wondered is it a waste for someone to clean my room if I've only been in it one day. At the same time, its just a nice luxury to have a freshened room, part of the vacation. I relished leaving my sheets in a pile and come back to a clean room and a made bed.

As someone who loves housekeeping, I really really struggle with this because while I'm fairly neat and tidy, its just that extra fresh feeling that comes from a cleaned home and hotel room, again nice luxury. For a while, the robes were even included in the room, a hot cup of coffee, sometimes Starbucks, daily replenished. If I had a rough night, and made an embarrassing mess of some sort (empty bottles, or dispense wrappers), it magically disappeared when I got back. Housekeeping never judges. Their kind souls greet you like grandma herself the next morning. I felt good seeing housekeepers in the morning, always getting extra supplies and just the general interaction of someone who is about to make your room clean and special.

I remember leaving a $5 tip every day with instructions please take this, its a tip. Its almost criminal the work they do for what they get paid.

Another casualty of 2020, I hate this year. May it end quickly and swirl down the drain of worst years ever.

 

I like this tip. I’ve had 2 hotel stays since this all began. I Clorox wiped everything surface I was likely to touch and also Lysol sprayed the tv remove but I like the added protection of a ziplock bag.

The one thing I keep forgetting are chairs. I wipe the armrests but forget the sides I grab where I move the chair in.

 

You are not alone. +1 everything you said re: housekeeping. Well said.

 

Years ago after a Vegas trip and both the hubs and I got sick I started carrying Chlorox wipes and travel size hand sanitizer in my carryon and purse. I know we got eye rolls and stares when we wiped down surfaces and used the hand sanitizer at restaurants. My husband carries GermX or other brands in his truck and uses it all the time. One of the biggest culprits that people don't think about is after pumping gas. That handle gets a lot of use. I always forget. It is the first thing he does after pumping gas. I also carry a can of Lysol and it is in my front seat. I use it after I get off word and spray my tennies down. I saw a woman a couple of months ago in the parking lot of our grocery store spray her entire body with Lysol before she got back in the car. I thought it was too funny -- but to each his own. Whatever eliminates stress and anxiety.