Good housekeeping is an essential part of the hotel industry.
A recent poll from the International Hospitality Institute demonstrates that nearly two-thirds of hotel guests are asking for daily stayover services. And how can we blame them? There’s nothing better than leaving your room and returning to some clean bed sheets, fresh towels, and a sparkling bathroom.
A lot has been said about stayovers over the last few years. While many hotels in the leisure and hospitality industry have been pulling back on the stayover service due to a number of reasons, however, as you can clearly see from the research above, room attendants are fighting back.
That has caused many hotels to start offering opt-in housekeeping services.
Why is Stayover in Hotel Industry Decreasing
Before moving forward, let’s see what is driving hotels to stop offering stayover cleaning services.
While the American hotel industry is returning to its pre-pandemic levels in terms of guests and revenue, certain things are still not the same. For instance, the industry is still facing a huge labor shortage.
That has forced hotels to stop offering daily housekeeping for guests. In an effort to motivate visitors to skip housekeeping services altogether, some hotels offer free amenities.
For example, huge hotel brands like Marriot and Starwood have started offering reward programs who chose not to have their rooms serviced during their stay with vouchers, extra points, and even food and beverages.
Should You Give Up on Daily Housekeeping?
While these programs have become more popular in recent years, they’ve also caused a pushback. Many housekeeping employees report losing hours due to similar programs.
What’s more, in hotels that offer similar programs, when rooms are eventually ready for cleaning, they’re usually dirtier than those that were serviced daily. These rooms also require more employee attention, work hours, and products to clean.
A vast majority of service providers say that they still need to do the same jobs for guests who have opted out of housekeeping. That includes everything from emptying out the trash and restocking amenities to changing dirty towels and linens.
If you’re a property owner or manager, what can you do? Two options may interest you:
- Remove daily housekeeping completely: Of course, you can always remove the stayover service completely. Your hotel can put a bigger emphasis on reducing costs compared to the guest experience.
- Take the opt-in approach: On the other hand, you can take the opt-in approach. As an alternative to traditional daily housekeeping, it works perfectly. While most people will probably opt-in for daily stayover service, many travelers may opt-out. That will allow your hotel to use scarce resources without compromising on the customer experience.
Benefits of Opt-In Housekeeping Services
Not sure if you want to offer your visitors an opt-out or opt-in housekeeping service? Don’t worry. We’re here to convince you otherwise. Here are a couple of reasons why your hotel should opt for an opt-in housekeeping service.
Solution to Hotel Employee Shortages
Ever since the mass layoffs caused by the pandemic, the hotel industry has been struggling with an employee shortage. Adopting a flexible stayover service is one of the ways to address the employee drought.
Reducing the number of rooms that need to be cleaned will not only reduce operational costs, it will lessen the burden on your cleaning service staff. In turn, the risk of overworking your small team of employees will increase satisfaction levels and retention rates.
Lower Cleaning Costs
Due to the pandemic, every hotel has seen an increase in operational costs. Research from Optii Solutions shows that the average cost to service a standard hotel room has increased by 7% in the last year.
Now, in the United States, it costs more than $10 to clean a single-bed room.
A flexible room cleaning service will help your hotel to balance the costs out or even reduce them. Skipping 75% of stayover cleaning could potentially save you six figures on operational costs each year.
Carbon Footprint Reduction
Having trash emptied regularly, keeping the floor spotless, and towels clean will keep a certain percentage of your customers happy. The rest of your guests won’t have a problem with a bit of mess if it helps the environment.
You see, nowadays, consumers care way more about sustainability. A recent study by NielsenIQ showed that nearly 80% of consumers consider themselves “environmentally conscious.” And they want the hotels they stay at to feel the same way.
By allowing some guests to opt out of your stayover service, you’ll save a lot of electricity, water, and cleaning products. An environmentally-conscious guest may take note of this and leave a positive review after they depart.
Increased Guest Satisfaction
The flexible housekeeping model appeals to more than just environmentalists out there. It also appeals to people who want to visit hotels, motels, and resorts to be alone.
If a guest wants to spend a night in one of your rooms to take a break from their life, the last thing they want is someone knocking on their room door, asking if they want some fresh towels, as soon as they arrive.
Many travelers want to only to talk to the person at the front desk when they check in and go straight to their room. By offering flexible housekeeping services, you can ensure that your guests get the privacy they want and have the best experience possible.
More Business Flexibility
Last but not least, a business is as strong as its weakest employee, right? Every hotel needs to do everything in its power to make the life and job of its employees easy.
Numerous studies have shown that an employee that’s not engaged or satisfied with their job is more likely to suffer burnout and quit. Having a less cramped housekeeping schedule allows your employees to work on optimizing their time and operation.
A well-organized hotel employee will have an easier time reacting to last-minute requests, ensuring the guests have a great experience and be more effective on the job overall.
Finally, more flexibility will also allow the managers to train every room attendant with more care and ensure hotel’s high standards are met.
How Technology Can Help Your Housekeeping Staff
How can you see whether your guests want your staff to take out the trash, clean their shower and sink, and fill up the mini-bar every day? You need some help with new technology, that’s all.
With a housekeeping solution like HelloShift, you maximize your staff without hiring new people.
- Use guest data: There’s a lot of information hiding in plain sight. Use the HelloShift platform to collect customer, request, and reservation data to get insights to predict variations in room cleaning times.
- Automate housekeeping: Use the data you collect to create a housekeeping workflow that will allow your staff members to complete their job quickly and efficiently.
- Prioritize tasks: When you’re dealing with a lean crew and flexible workflow, you can’t create a plan for weeks ahead. It would be best if you were ready to respond to a guest’s request at all times. Use HelloShift to prioritize tasks and maintain high standards of your stayover service.
Make Hotel Staff More Efficient With HelloShift
Do more with less, with a little help from HelloShift.
When adopting an on-demand approach to stayover service, hotels, motels, and resorts need a platform that will enable them to process every customer request quickly, no matter the time of the day or night. With HelloShift, you can’t go wrong.
Better planning, maximized staff utilization, ecstatic guests, and reduced costs. That’s what you can expect. HelloShift also offers guest messaging, contactless check-in, and preventive maintenance features that help hotel brands reduce costs and boost operations.
Our platform provides an easy-to-use interface for all of your housekeeping needs, giving you more time to focus on what matters most – taking care of your customers.
Guest Messaging & Website Chat to understand the guest needs. Contactless Checkin to empower guests with self-service. Staff Collaboration and Housekeeping Management to deliver phenomenal hotel service delivery.
Digitize your hotel with Staff Collaboration, Guest Messaging, Contactless Checkin, WebChat, and Housekeeping in one app.
