These are tough times in the hospitality industry, especially if you are a housekeeper.
During the pandemic, hotels began phasing out daily cleaning to reduce the spread of COVID-19. However, this practice can become a permanent way for businesses to reduce costs. And that's bad news for people who make a living cleaning hotel rooms. Hilton , Hyatt, and Marriott hotels in many markets already have policies that require guests to be cleaned on a daily basis.
In other words, the only way to make the bed, clean the bathroom and change the sheets is by calling the front desk and asking.
As we celebrate Labor Day, think about how you can help save a job. It can be that simple: Request a daily room cleaning for your next hotel stay.
In an industry that has been hardest hit by the pandemic, many existences are at stake. In a report released in June, Unite Here , a union representing hotel workers, estimates that quitting daily housekeeping could result in the loss of up to 39% of all hotel cleaning jobs in the United States. United, nearly 181,000 jobs. This is equivalent to a loss of $ 4.8 billion in annual wages.
Even more devastating, the effects will disproportionately harm colored women who do many of these intense jobs. According to an analysis of the U.S. census data by Unite Here, around 89% of housekeepers are women and 73% are black, and many are immigrants from the Caribbean, China, Africa, Latin America, and other countries.
In Boston, Unite Here Local has successfully preserved 26 jobs by entering into agreements with union hotels to ensure daily cleanliness. However, given the way things are done in the industry, less frequent cleaning seems almost inevitable unless guests urge hotels to give in.
"We're concerned, of course," said Carlos Aramayo, President of Unite Here Local 26. "These are good jobs. "
Last year, when we knew little about the pandemic and before vaccines were released, it made sense to stop doing daily housework. We now know that COVID-19 is transmitted from person to person by air; This means that you are unlikely to get the virus from surfaces. Unless guests are in their rooms during the cleaning, which they are not, the cleaning does not pose a threat to public health.
Not doing daily cleaning comes at a different price and turns a thankless task into one that can turn your stomach upside down. Remember how dirty the rooms are after several nights. It takes a lot more work to put things away.
Nely Reinante , a housekeeper at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, can tell you all about it. She was on leave between March 2020 and June this year, and while she was happy to get back to work, it's not the same job she left last year. Since wet towels from bathrooms and toilets are brown, you'll have to spend over an hour scrubbing and sanitizing each room as Hilton now only offers daily housekeeping on request. Before the pandemic, cleaning a room took 45 minutes. She said she came home with a headache and aching limbs. the pain.
"Things are too gross in the bedroom," said Reinante, 46, who has worked at the Hilton for about four years and is a member of Unite Here Local 5.
With the end of the high season there is no regular postponements as they continue to take down the benefits of federal unemployment . Together with dozens of colleagues, she is now waiting to be called back to work. There aren't many good options for Reinante and his family.
"We need to tighten our belts," he said.
I contacted Hilton to find out how guests reacted to the new policy and what impact it had on the housekeepers. This is what a spokesman told me:
"During the pandemic, we found that guests appreciate the flexibility of the on-demand housekeeping service and have varying levels of comfort when someone walks into their room after checking in. We encourage our guests to call the front desk to request daily housekeeping and our team members are ready to help with any extra towels or amenities.
Hotels may be facing the longest recovery of any industry, with lucrative business trips that take time to return. Housewives are a huge expense at a time when it is difficult to make a profit.
"Until room rates and occupancy recover, it is very important to reduce costs," said Rachel Roginsky, director of the hotel consultancy Pinnacle Advisory Group in Boston.
But Roginsky considers the end of daily cleaning to be a fact.
"The biggest unanswered question is will customers eventually have to pay for cleaning services," he added.
Does it sound familiar to you? That's what airlines did when they started charging checked baggage and carry-on baggage fees.
Daily cleaning is an integral part of the hotel experience. Otherwise, you could stay at an Airbnb. The only way to stand in line is to tell hotel companies that you want a clean room and you don't want to pay more for it.
I did this recently while staying at a Hyatt Place in the Los Angeles area. I requested daily housekeeping after learning on arrival that housekeeping was only available on request or after three nights.
But I noticed that a lot of other customers didn't ask about the amenities. Hotel corridors are often clogged with cleaning trolleys in the morning. Not these days. Usually we only saw one cleaning lady working.
So the next time you check in to a hotel, ask about the daily room cleaning and give a generous tip. Little by little we can help to save cleaning jobs everywhere.
Shirley Leung is a business columnist. It can at shirley.leung@globe.com attached to .
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