A housekeeper cleans buildings, including bedrooms, kitchens, living areas and bathrooms. This can include mopping floors, changing bed linen, vacuuming rooms, dusting shelves and cleaning windows. Housekeepers typically have a cleaning routine where they prioritise rooms and cleaning tasks to maximise efficiency.
A live-in housekeeper spends their time throughout the day ensuring the home is clean and tidy. This includes putting things away from breakfast in the morning, tidying up any toys children leave out and vacuuming any carpets to remove dust from the property.
A live in housekeeper works on a full time basis usually, working between 40-50 hours a week, five to six days a week around ten hours a day.
Like many other positions working directly with clients, hotel housekeepers may run into confrontations with unsatisfied guests. This can even occur with guests that didn't even have their rooms cleaned by the housekeeper. That can be extremely stressful and uncomfortable.
Housekeepers tend to be predominantly realistic individuals, which means that they often enjoy working outdoors or applying themselves to a hands-on project. They also tend to be conventional, meaning that they are usually detail-oriented and organized, and like working in a structured environment.
The average hotel housekeeping worker is required to check and/or clean between 12 and 20 rooms in an eight-hour shift. That allows for only 20 to 30 minutes for room at best, since time to restock the cart and traveling between floors must be considered as well as breaks in the hotel housekeeper's shift.
On average, housekeepers clean 13 to 15 rooms a day, but it can be as high as 30 at some hotels. And they're expected to clean them all in one eight-hour shift. So, even if you do put your "Do Not Disturb" sign out, sometimes they still have to knock.
Creating a housekeeping strategy
It takes roughly 45 minutes for a housekeeping attendant to completely clean a room, although it may take less time if only a basic turn-down service is needed.
On average, it takes approximately 20-30 minutes to clean a regular hotel room, given that it's a relatively straightforward process involving tasks like changing the bed linens, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, and dusting. This average can increase to 45 minutes to an hour for larger, more luxurious rooms or suites.
What do we mean by poor housekeeping? One of the most common findings in workplaces is poor housekeeping i.e. untidiness, disorder, poor storage of materials and stock. On many workplace inspection visits one can usually see dirt and dust on the workbenches, light fittings and floors etc.
The 4 common types of housekeeping are cleaning/maid services, live-in housekeeping services, live-out housekeeping services, and house manager/housekeeping services.
Working as a housekeeper is a good career for those who are interested in working full-time or part-time for supplemental income. One major advantage of going into housekeeping is you will have on-the-job training rather than needing to sit in a classroom, which can prevent accumulating debt.
Physical stamina and strength: Housekeeping is a physically demanding job that requires hours on your feet, including bending and lifting. Some housekeepers may have to lift as much as 100 pounds, depending on the scope of the job.
Housekeeping is a physically demanding and very tiring job.
Bathrooms and kitchens are known as 'wet areas'. These often take the most time to clean. That's why they should be first in the order you clean your house. Once you've done step 1 and 3, dust everything and then get down to work in your bathrooms and kitchen.
While some hotels may allow guests to stay in their rooms while housekeeping cleans, others may have strict policies that require guests to vacate their rooms during this time. It's always a good idea to familiarize yourself with the specific policies of the hotel you are staying at before your arrival.
Daily room cleaning used to be standard practice in hotels. But since the pandemic, it's become less so.
Reservations must be cancelled seventy two (72 hours) hotel time, prior to your arrival date, in order to avoid a one (1) night full room cancellation fee. If reservations are cancelled less than 72 hours before the arrival date, you will may be charged the full room charge plus taxes.