DO'S AND DON'TS WHEN STAYING IN HOTEL (BASED ON MY HOUSEKEEPING EXPERIENCE IN 5 STAR HOTEL)

 Everyone must love traveling, right? Especially Me.😂😄. When traveling on a budget, I like to stay at a hostel, sometimes I stay in a nice hotel as well depending on my pocket hahaha.

So, when I studied in Australia (Sydney) I work as housekeeping in a 5-star hotel for more than 3 years in 3 different hotels. I had so many fun experiences while working in this department and will share it will you here 😉.

Let's share what you can do's and don'ts while staying in a hotel:

1. Checkin time

(Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels)

    Check-in time in the hotel is sometimes different from each other, so we must check correctly the time that allows us to check-in, if you like to check in early we can contact the hotel if they could give us early check-in. If couldn't we can bring our luggage into to lobby and ask them to keep it while we go travel outside, looking for some breakfast or lunch, or you can also ask if you are allowed to use the gym/shower in the gym area.

2. Don't Disturb sign

(Photo by cottonbro from Pexels)

    Don't blame housekeeping as they're only doing their job when cleaning the room as long there is not a "Don't Disturb sign" at the door (handle door). This is a tricky one, sometimes you put the sign on the handle, but when you close the door, the sign sometimes likes to fall inside the door because of those stupid wind (don't know how to describe it) 😂 because it happens much time, even when I put my cleaning sign on the handle, and when I close the door, the sign is flying to inside the room (housekeeper must close the door while cleaning, for safety reason). Some of the luxury hotels has a great system that you just click the switch that can show privacy sign near the outside the door ( red means don't disturb, green means cleaning request)

So, sometimes I like to put some rubber band on the sign or the handle to make it secure. Or you can also call the front office and let them know if you don't like the room to be cleaned. 

3. Secure Door

    Most of the door in a hotel room has the deadbolt to secure the door so no one can enter the room, but if it hasn't you can put some chair near the door lock to secure it or use the doorstop (can be borrowed in the hotel) as seen in the pic below (as far I know, the hotel won't charge you for the doorstop, but you need to return it 😁).

deadbolt (google image)

doorstopper (wikipedia)

I found a tool that seem useful  to bring when travel and stay at the hotel to secure the door from outside intruder. This one with loud alarm that triggered when the door opened.

You can buy it here alarm. 

    Notes: If you forget the key, and want to go back to the room, you have to go to Lobby and ask for the new one. For security reasons, guests couldn't ask staff that they meet nearby to open the door, even that if the housekeeping staff is inside the room do the cleaning, we are forbidden to open the door if you knocked. And please don't start yelling and mad at the staff, because we only follow the procedure. I am sure that you will understand and don't want someone else to go to the room and steals your stuff, right? 

4. Bring your own pillowcase/towels

Photo by Vlada Karpovich from Pexels

    Yes, we change all the sheets after guest checkout, but not the pillow (only the pillowcase). What I meant is, the pillow itself is really really smelly😶, imagine how many heads slept on it, and sometimes they were not showered 😅😅. You could double it with your own pillowcase, or sometimes a guest asking for an extra towel and layer it on the top of the pillow. You also could ask to change the sheet every day, hotel preference is to change the sheet every two days or if looks dirty. 

    I found some guests from overseas bring their own pillowcases, even their own sheets!!! hahaha. Believe me, not, I have found my trainee not changing the sheet because they want finish quick 😒😒, I know it looks still good because the guest sometimes only stays for one night. So the staff is sometimes so sneaky and do shortcuts to clean the room. Especially most housekeepers are working under the agency and paid by rooms (not paid by hours), that why they like to work quickly and not work properly. I know how hard work is, sometimes the guest left the rooms so messy, everywhere very sticky, throw rubbish everywhere, even throw fruit into windows (yup, we curse while cleaning those messy rooms)😂😂😂.

    Before the lockdown happened, we got a lot of tourists came from the Asia region. Almost all of them bring their own towels. They literally do not use any towels in the hotel, well they use it as a bathmat😂. Maybe they don't believe the fresh towel from the hotel is hygienic even we send it to the laundry.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

5. Drinking Glass

    Who remembers the hotel scandal that the housekeeper use a toilet brush to clean the drinking glass and recorded it privately and been shared on the internet? 💣😨. It makes us so aware of the cup in the hotel room. I remembered that I caught my trainee when cleaning the cup with a used bathmat.😖This job makes me migraine hahaha. You could bring a plastic cup or drinking bottle for hygiene reasons. Notes: Australia tap water is drinkable.

6. In-Room Dining

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

    Felling lazy while at the hotel, lazy to go out because the weather is in bad shape makes us hungry and want to order In-room dining, right?. When you are full but still want to keep the food that you have not finished yet, please put a note nearby if you planning to leave the room for gym/pool and like the room to be serviced by the housekeeper.  Sometimes some housekeeper is just removing all the trays thinking that the guest is already done dining.

7. Hotel Amenities

    

Photo by Monstera from Pexels

    

    Hotel Room's Amenities that you can take home for free is: 

    - Toothbrush

    - Soap, Body wash, Shampoo, and Conditioner

    - Shower cap    

    - Nail buffer 

    - Shoe mitt

    - Vanity bag, vanity pads,

    - Cotton bud/Qtips

    - Slippers

    - Shoe bag

    - Laundry bag

    - Tissue

    - Coffee, tea bag, milk, and sugar (most hotels provide it as complimentary)

    - Bottle of water (but sometimes need to ask if it's complimentary or not)

    - Notepad and ballpoint

    - Room dining menu

    - Room's card (need to confirm with the receptionist if you want it as a collection) 

    Notes: You could always ask for extra amenities if you need them, but in a common-sense way please 😉😉.

    Hotel Room's Amenities that you can't take is:

    - Towels

    - Hairdryer

    - Iron

    - Bathrobes 

    - Remotes

    - Phone

    - Travel Adapters

    - Hangers

    - Sheets

    - Clocks

    - Kettle

    - Mugs, spoon, plate, etc

    - Snack on the minibar (it's not free unless they give it as free with notes) 

    All the list provided by the hotel in the rooms, you can found it on the table, or drawer.

8. Things to do before checkout

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels

    

     Please check all this list before you check out the room, I prefer to do it a few hours before checkout's time so you are not rushed:  

• check all those things after you pack the luggage (less mess better for your eyesight 😁)
• check under the bed, sheets, below the pillow, check the duvet (shake it😂) if anything is stuck in there (jewelry, wallet, phone, etc ) I found many of those stuff in this area and report them to the housekeeping department as lost and found. But please not throw it in all over place 😀.
• check the rubbish bin, sometimes accidentally drop something there.
• check the table, cabinet drawer, behind the tv, shelf above the tv or bed.
• check the balcony.
• check behind the curtain.
• check your closet, safety box, drawer inside the closet as well.
• check the hotel bathrobe pocket ( if you wear one)
• check behind the sink area, drawer, bathtub, under the toilet.
• if you like to put some tips (which will be great in an envelope or some notes) for housekeeping, please put them under the pillow/sheets (because sometimes other staff than housekeeping like to come and check for the tips and steal them hahaha😂😂). I found one of my guests leaves some coins under the edge of the closet with notes. I almost vacuum those coins 😅 even it's just $4 but matters for us as a student struggling to live in the big city.
  
• Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
• Close the door properly when checking out (or while you staying in the hotel), you don't wanna someone else to go inside and take all the minibar, and be charged to your bill. As we all know that not all hotels have cameras in every corridor. 

Checkout time hotel is around 11am. If you prefer to late checkout, please ask the receptionist a few hours before the checkout. The hotel sometimes overbooks and needs the room ASAP and pushes us as housekeeping staff to clean quickly and rush like marathon competition😂😂. OR if your flight is in the evening or at night, and you refuse to pay extra for an extended half-day in the hotel, you could ask the Front Office to keep your luggage with them and you can spend some time in the city or restaurant.

Well, I hope you like the article that I write based on my experience as a hotel staff. Comment below if you have another opinion for other readers' knowledge. 

                                                               

                                                                                                                                            

*check out my other daily life video on youtube: https://youtu.be/0XZi3Sp5UZA

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