Feeling like a king in hotels has a cost, monetary and also environmental. Now the hotel chains are going to work on lowering it.
The Hilton Measure: the famous American hotel chain, a symbol of luxury and hospitality, has announced that it will eliminate its policy of automatic daily cleaning of rooms (the five-star and those from Asia-Pacific are saved from the measure). It will move to a plan whereby it will be cleaned at the end of the guest’s stay or automatically every five days if the reservation is for a longer consecutive time. In spite of everything, the client can always request that the room be cleaned, with a maximum of once a day (and without cost), if they take the trouble to indicate it.
The excuses. The Hiltons did a survey in times of a pandemic. In this unusual context, the guests indicated that they wanted to have as little contact as possible with the cleaning staff, to protect themselves from possible covid contacts, so they have decided to automate this preference. Also, according to their internal analysis, not all clients want to be bothered with the cleaning process every day, valuing their privacy more. In other media they have not given these reasons, but another very curious one: it is an environmental measure. Cleaning every day uses a lot of water and electricity for a service that, deep down, is not strictly necessary, but an ostentatious expense.
And the other side. Hotels are bad. Specifically, the Hilton saw its shares fall by half in the pandemic month (since then they have recovered) and lost 362 million profits in the second quarter of 2020 after its turnover plunged 77%. Due to changes in user behavior, such as the systemic decrease in business trips, hotels of this type are not expected to return to prepandemic booking levels for a long time, with a loss of around 10 % of volume. Cleaning is one of the most expensive points in terms of hiring staff and where it is easiest to cut expenses.
The first of many. Following his announcement Ray Bennett, global director of Marriott, told CNBC that “more and more guests [de Marriott] they have asked that [el servicio de limpieza no] come to your room … “. Representatives of the hotel industry have praised Hilton’s proposal and have given different reasoning that we do not need to live in such an excessively hygienic world. Forbes lists a wide range of large chains that have been offering programs for decades. such as “choose the ecological option” or “for a more ecological stay” encouraging customers not to ask for daily cleaning. In many cases, the rewards come in the form of loyalty points, food and drink vouchers and other types of incentives The same thing happened with the towels, which require the use of the laundry, the replacement is being extended every two or three days instead of a daily rotation.
The job change. The so-called “great resignation” is leading to the fact that in certain places the shortage of workers, also cleaning workers, demand better wages. This will hurt both your headroom and the net number of jobs available at all of these hotels. According to the Unite Here union, if the implementation of this measure is extended to the rest of the hotel chains, it will mean the loss of 181,000 jobs in the US, like 40% of the entire industry, and that the savings in salaries for the companies could reach 4.8 billion euros. Other industry analysts do not see it that way, and estimate that the final reduction in personnel, taking into account all the factors, will be 14%.
Of course it pollutes. Yes, hotels have an annual energy environmental footprint equivalent to “10 million cars”, they generate 861,000 kilos of waste and spend what 100,000 Olympic water pools every year. Landing on something more concrete, cleaning a room in a four-star hotel involves, says this study, 35 liters of water, 100 ml of chemicals and 1.5 kWh of electricity.
Discomfort? What some users allege is that, if for the middle-class traveler the hotel was a plus in comfort and hygiene compared to an Airbnb, where cleaning is normally weekly, with this the chains are reducing the attractiveness of their accommodations where more they can be differentiated.
And the next cut? Buffets, which is also another spending point that chains have their eye on and which, it is estimated, encourages food waste to a greater degree than charging per piece.