She was told the cleaning of rooms at checkout is meant to keep her and guests safe. But she believes that the hotel is busy enough that more housekeepers should be brought back. Companies, housekeepers say, want to save money, so they’ve created programs that discourage guests from requesting housekeeping, but have framed them as environmental initiatives and offered guests rewards points for skipping cleanings. The pandemic, as they see it, has given these companies an opportunity to trim cleaning even more — and cut their costs. Hotel owners and investors say they simply cannot afford to have all their housekeepers back at work full time, and measures like checkout-only cleaning are meant to keep everyone safe.

Source: New York Times September 11, 2020 09:00 UTC