Reduces Service Charge (or OBC) if no Room Steward Service all week?

[Dennis#1]

Agree! Interesting concept but the older I get the more I enjoy all types of pampering. Marriott offers something similar in some of their properties by offering points if maid service is declined. I have done that for a short 2 nite stay but wouldn’t for a full week.

 

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Agree with this post. I would want the daily service, especially if I was staying at a Disney Resort for a week.

[mechcc]

If I wanted a vacation where I made the bed, picked up and folded the towels, and took care of our dirty dishes, I would get a RV or just stay home.

[champagne123]

I consider these services as being part of the "cruising experience". A measly $60???? No way! :cool:

[SRF]

I might in that case if it were just two nights.

 

 

Some Marriott properties offer points for no maid service, but they require maid service every 3rd day.

 

And since many hotels now are not changing the bed every day (they make it up, but do not put on fresh linens), that works for me.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

I would do it personally. I feel that the twice a day cleaning is actually excessive and really wish they would go to just once a day while at dinner.

 

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Absolutely! We put the do not disturb sign out during the day....

When we stay at a hotel we do not want the maid to come into the room unless we stay longer than 3 nights...we tell them at check-in would be nice to get some money on-top:D

[geomancer]

I would, and I do when it's offered. Starwood hotels offers points for every day you go without. I think a daily option would be better than a whole cruise option. I don't trash the rooms, so it wouldn't bother me to do every other or every third day.

[A&L_Ont]

I could only imagine how long turn around day would take, to access cabins, if only 1/3 of the guests did this. Some cabins look like disasters even with 2 cleanings a day. :eek:

[lbjen]

It's great to save a few bucks...but...at the cost of un-employing someone that needs that job to support their family back home. Nope.

 

Reminds me of my great aunt. Years and years ago when we went out to eat. She would insist we leave our fast food trays on the table. In her mind our clearing our own tray (with food wrappers) was taking away someone's job and making it so the fast food restaurant owners didn't need to pay as many staff to keep the place clean. It seemed like such a random thought to me all those years ago. But you know what, she was right.

 

I used to work in the fast food business and that’s not true. They have to schedule someone for floor duty to deal with spills, emptying the trash, assisting diners with a problem etc. They don’t schedule extra people just to clear trays, the person who is already there just has to do that too. And trust me, all the other work is already a lot.

[lbjen]

Initially I thought, oh I’d go for this. We don’t typically eat or drink other than water in our cabins, and we’re not really messy people. But I distinctly remember being happy that the maid came several times on our last cruise. Even if she only made the bed so that I didn’t have to. After a long school year cleaning up after my kids I guess I really needed that break!

[cb at sea]

How much maid service we need depends on where we are....if at a beach, I want the room vacuumed daily...can't stand the sand on the floor! Also, I like the tub/shower cleaned frequently. I can make the bed...only takes a minute, but for a week, I'd like the sheets changed once in a while!

[dadofjessie]

No, never

[Markanddonna]

I just finished a 22-day cruise and asked our stateroom attendant how often the sheets were changed. He said it was company policy to change them every 10 days unless there was some visible dirt/soil/mess. So, with two people, our service charge was $600. I would have taken a $200 credit to have them do the bare minimum as we tend to leave the room quite tidy and reuse our towels.

 

We stayed in a serviced apartment in Auckland with no housekeeping service for three days and it was just fine. We went to the front desk to get supplies as needed. I sort of like the idea of no one coming into our room when we stay in a hotel or cabin.

 

So, it seems that it is company policy to not change the sheets frequently.

 

On the other hand, I'm also happy to pay towards the salary of a hard working international. I would look at a proposal and consider it.

[John&LaLa]

Well, they'll still need to clean every room in the few hours between sailings, so I don't think they'd reduce staffing based on this theoretical situation

 

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Well then, what's the point of having a credit for the room cleaned less often if not to reduce costs/staff

 

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[BonTexasNY]

I would never want to give up that AHHH feeling of coming back to our freshly made up cabin after a sweaty day in the Caribbean or even a few hours up on the pool deck or even after breakfast.

 

Note to poster who didn't want towels changed every day....Not sure this has been mentioned but there's a sign in the bathroom asking you to place towels on the floor that you would like changed out. The towels that are not on the floor remain as is.

[grest]

no, no, no

[dreadpirate3]

I could only imagine how long turn around day would take, to access cabins, if only 1/3 of the guests did this. Some cabins look like disasters even with 2 cleanings a day. :eek:

 

I think of this every time I see someone say they don't want service. You really can't leave a stateroom with people for multiple days without emptying garbage, dishes, linens and have it be sanitary. :eek:

 

 

I would never want to give up that AHHH feeling of coming back to our freshly made up cabin after a sweaty day in the Caribbean or even a few hours up on the pool deck or even after breakfast.

 

 

Imagine it after a beach excursion! Coming back to the room and have no clean towels for showers. :eek:

 

Note to poster who didn't want towels changed every day....Not sure this has been mentioned but there's a sign in the bathroom asking you to place towels on the floor that you would like changed out. The towels that are not on the floor remain as is.

 

I agree with each of these. While I don't do all the cleaning at my house, I do enough that I want to go on vacation and be carefree. I keep my room tidy, and restrain clutter, but it is very nice to not have to worry about having clean towels or a messy room. :)

[Beachammo]

I've done this since Sheraton/Marriott starting giving points for declining service. With my job I was away from home every other week. I was by myself and didn't care if I saw a maid all week.

 

I would request that the maid just place new towels every other day by the door.

 

But.....With my DW with me, we always get the service on land and sea.

 

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[Big_G]

I've never understood ponying up money just to keep someone else employed. While I wouldn't take the cash for less service, I just don't care how many it takes or how much they're paid to get the job done. If the product suffers, I move on.

[papaflamingo]

A few thoughts. The cabin stewards are paid by the tips, hotel maids are paid hourly. They get paid whether or not they clean your room. The cabin stewards wouldn't. My guess is the hotel employs fewer maids with this policy. I agree that if it's offered at checkin they can't "plan," but hotels are remarkably adept at predicting behavior. I'm pretty sure they have an average for how many take the offer and staff accordingly.

I sort of feel that the reason ship cabins are so clean is that they are cleaned daily. It's got to be a lot easier to do a daily vacuuming and cleaning than weekly. I like the service. The cabin steward gets about $3.75 per person per day (not sure how accurate that is anymore). So he/she gets about $25 per person per week. Would you accept no service for a $52 reduction in cost? Basically they'd just have you reduce your tips. But then what about turn around? The OP said they left $10 for the person who cleaned the room when they left. So let's say you leave 1 day's tip, or about $7.50, ok you aren't cheap so you'll shoot the wad and leave $10. You just saved yourself $42 on a 7 night cruise. Of course you lived in a dirty, messy cabin all week, but hey... pays for that lunch on the way home. Me? I'll keep the twice a day cabin steward visits.

By the way, on Carnival it's "morning or evening" service only unless you request twice a day. Don't like that idea.

[ColoradoGurl]

Some hotels already do this. I want to say Sheraton Hotels? They put a card in your room that offers like a $5/day gift card to use for coffee or food at their hotel if you don't want daily maid service; something about saving water by not changing out your towels every day etc.

 

I travel once a week and I always clean my room myself, and put the "do not disturb" sign up so they don't come in and dirty it up with their dirty cleaning rags that they've used on everyone else's toilets already. If I stay at a hotel that offers the deal, I take it only because I'm already declining maid service, not because they're offering any kind of big money. On cruises though, I go ahead and let them clean my room every day because it's such a big part of the cruise experience and I don't want to mess up the stewards routine, and anytime you put up the "do not disturb," long enough that they can't get in to clean at the regular time, the steward will hunt you down and ask to clean your room, but I'd really rather them not do it.

 

I figure at hotels the maids are probably relieved that they get to skip a room. Since the majority of people want their room cleaned every day and there is usually no financial incentive given at most hotels to skip the service, I don't think anyone is going to be out a job by my skipping the cleaning, plus the hotel manager probably never even knows they aren't cleaning my room.

 

 

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[Bookish Angel]

We would like NO service and don't need a discount as incentive. We are neat and clean, pick up after ourselves and can easily make the bed, hang our clothes, etc. We prefer not to be disturbed.

 

We always put towels back on the hook but about half the time they are replaced anyway. Also, the "cleaning" that is done in most of the cabins we have occupied is only cursory at best and is done with harsh cleaners that we never use at home.

 

We always tell our steward to skip the evening service and tip well to strike a balance between our preferences and providing jobs.

[mollyeilis]

We rarely have housekeeping come in at hotels, but always do on cruises.

 

 

 

I would never want to give up that AHHH feeling of coming back to our freshly made up cabin after a sweaty day in the Caribbean or even a few hours up on the pool deck or even after breakfast.

 

Yesssss.

 

 

 

Note to poster who didn't want towels changed every day....Not sure this has been mentioned but there's a sign in the bathroom asking you to place towels on the floor that you would like changed out. The towels that are not on the floor remain as is.

 

 

Weirdly that’s only worked for us on one cruise, if I recall correctly. It’s like they just cannot handle not giving clean towels.

 

I used to work in the fast food business and that’s not true. They have to schedule someone for floor duty to deal with spills, emptying the trash, assisting diners with a problem etc. They don’t schedule extra people just to clear trays, the person who is already there just has to do that too. And trust me, all the other work is already a lot.

 

 

Agreed. My first jobs back in the late 80s were in fast food and trust me, they weren’t making hiring decisions just for cleanup. Cleaning the dining area was something we rushed to do when we could catch a moment between all the other jobs we were hired to do.

 

The poster’s aunt was misguided there.

 

 

 

 

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[island lady]

Nope here also.

 

Spoil me baby...spoil me. :hearteyes:

[myfuzzy]

Wow, all I can say is that I'm a big girl and can easily keep my cabin clean, straighten my bed and hang up my towels. When needed I can call my steward and ask for service that day. These people have enough to do with those who feel they are entitled to the service and I actually have heard people say they mess their cabins up on purpose so the steward will "earn" their money. With them having to spend less time in my cabin, they can spend the time in the other cabins that need the service. AND...I have been thanked by them for being so considerate.

[tiger belle]

I wouldn't trade a week worth of returning to a clean room on a cruise ship for one dinner. $60 to spend at Disney gets a dinner that barely rates Applebees quality. I don't know at what dollar amount I would bite, but it would have to be more than $60, and I don't want it as OBC to use for onboard inflated prices.

I pretty much totally agree with this