Housekeepers
Perform cleaning and housekeeping duties in hotels, motels and other commercial premises, and in private residences.
Checkout day at the lakeside hotel
You are a hotel housekeeper on the morning shift, with a trolley, a list of rooms and a deadline before the afternoon check-ins. It is 9am on a Saturday and the hotel is nearly full. Guests are checking out, the next ones arrive from two, and your supervisor has assigned you fourteen rooms. A few surprises are waiting behind the doors.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
Room 214 has had the Do Not Disturb sign on since yesterday afternoon, and the guest has not been seen. The phone just rings out. I'd like you to knock, but I don't want to cause a fuss. What should we do?
Knock and wait, then go in quietly and have a look, since the room is on your list anyway
Going in alone, without the manager, goes against the hotel's own policy. The guest turns out to be fine and furious at the intrusion, and you are in trouble for not following the process.
Ask Gareth to follow the hotel's welfare check process, with a manager attending with you
A manager comes up and, following the policy, knocks and announces themselves. The guest is asleep after a long journey and a little embarrassed. Everyone follows the proper steps, and nobody is hurt or upset.
Tell Gareth you will leave it, since the guest put the sign up and has the right to privacy
Privacy matters, but a guest who has not been seen for a day is the reason hotels have a process. Gareth has to do the check himself later, and wishes you had asked sooner.
I think someone has taken a gold watch from my bedside table while the room was being cleaned. You were the only one in here this morning. I'm not accusing you, but I would like it found. Can you tell me where it is?
Tell him you haven't seen it and that he probably misplaced it, then carry on with the room
He feels brushed off and goes straight to the front desk, angry. You are left defending yourself without a record of what you did. Brushing off a worried guest never helps.
Look around the room by yourself while he waits outside, to find it quickly
You do not find it, and he wonders what you were doing alone in the room. Having a witness in the room would have been better for both of you.
Stay calm, offer to look together, and call the supervisor to note what he says
You look together and find the watch tucked in a jacket pocket in the wardrobe. The supervisor writes a short note, and Mr Calloway apologises. A calm, open search protects both of you.
Room 305 is due to go to a new guest at two. You said the shower leaks, and maintenance can't come until four. Reception has told me it is sold. Can you just make up the bed and put a note on the shower?
Say you will make it ready, but suggest reception move the booking to another room
Priya finds a free room on the same floor and blocks 305 until maintenance has been. The guest arrives to a working shower. Telling the team the real state of a room helps everyone.
Make up the bed and put a note on the shower, since the room has to be ready for the two o'clock guest
The room is made up, but the guest finds a wet floor and a note that is not the welcome they expected. A fix would have been better than a warning.
Say nothing and leave the shower unmentioned, since it is only a small leak
The leak spreads onto the bedroom carpet overnight. The guest complains in the morning and the room is out of use for two days.
How it went
By two, every room was fresh, one booking had been moved, and no one had been accused of anything. Housekeepers see the quiet parts of people's lives and keep a place running. Would you enjoy the steady rhythm of making a home away from home?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The extra favours
A fictional case set in a mid-sized hotel by a fictional lake, with a housekeeping team and a few private clients on the side.
The situation
Xiu worked as a private housekeeper for the Brennan family three mornings a week. The agreement was for cleaning and laundry. Over a few weeks, the requests grew. First it was an extra hour on the weekend, then looking after the dog, and then ironing for the whole family's work shirts. Xiu said yes each time, because the family was friendly and she did not want to seem unhelpful. By the end of the month she was working far more hours than she had been paid for.
What they did
Xiu wrote down what she was now doing and how long each thing took. She asked Mrs Brennan for a chat and went through the list, saying she was happy to keep helping, but that the agreement needed to match the real work. She suggested two options: either some tasks would be dropped, or the hours and the arrangement would be changed to include them. She asked for the new arrangement in writing.
How it turned out
Mrs Brennan was surprised, then apologetic. She had not realised how much had been added. They agreed a new set of hours and tasks, and wrote it down. Xiu stayed with the family for years, and said afterwards that the awkward conversation was the best thing she had done for the job.
What would you do?
- Why might it be hard to say no to small requests from a friendly employer?
- What did writing down the tasks help Xiu to do?
- How would you keep a good relationship while changing an agreement?