I took down my "do not disturb sign," but my room never got cleaned. Should I have expected it to be?
On a current stay at a mid-level hotel chain in El Paso, Texas, we left the do-not-disturb sign on the door in the morning, until we were done with breakfast, and getting ready for the day. Our room was skipped. The housekeeping staff told us that if they see the do-not-disturb sign on the door, that they would mark on their chart to skip the room for the day. I've never had a problem doing that before, and we did take down the sign by noon. Have I just been lucky several times in the past?
Update:
Excellent answers and comments. Based on them, a little more details for my situation. My wife often makes friends with the housekeeping staff, and for this particular hotel, she talked to a couple of the staff and got some more information. It's a 5 story hotel, with a broad mix of clients; families, business, etc. and the staff has to clean several floors. So in this area, they can't keep track of who/what when. So in hindsight, I should have asked. To give a feel for the hotel class, it is a Hyatt Place. Other than the confusion on my part, all was up to standards.
Best Answer
The housekeeping staff told us that if they see the do-not-disturb sign on the door, that they would mark on their chart to skip the room for the day.
In my experience this is atypical: they will typically do the cleaning if they see the sign is removed and are still starting to clean new rooms. But each hotel has its own habits, so it's always preferable to double check with the front desk, leave a post-it on the door and ideally have a word with the cleaning staff.
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Does Do Not Disturb stop housekeeping?
The Do Not Disturb sign on a door handle is something guests are able to use when they are staying in a hotel for a bit of privacy. It signals to cleaners and housekeeping that they are not to enter the room.Does do not disturb sign ignore?
The hotel has a legal right to ignore the DND sign any time and for any reason. After all it's their property. The way it's supposed to work is that a hotel will only violate the DND sign if they have reason to believe that health, safety or property may be an issue.What does the Do Not Disturb mean on hotels?
A do not disturb sign is a sign that a guest in a hotel hangs outside their room to tell other people not to knock the door or enter. Your cleaner will enter your room daily, unless the do not disturb sign is on the outside door handle.What is the procedure of Do Not Disturb?
Leave the DND (Do not Disturb) rooms undisturbed. Knock the door with knuckles and announce in pleasant voice, \u201cHousekeeping\u2026\u201d. Wait for five seconds to hear the guest's response. In case of no response, announce the same again.Beres Hammond - No Disturb Sign
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Answer 2
This is not typical, though it probably depends a lot on the level/rating of the hotel, individual hotel policies and possibly how busy the hotel is (which may depend on the season and/or day of the week).
If it was typical my room would never be cleaned :-)
In my experience they will respect the do not cleaning sign and then come back later in the day (a common issue in some places is that they actually come back quite late). If the sign is still up after a certain hour, they will usually leave a note under the door and ask you to call housekeeping if/when you need the room cleaned.
Of course this works in hotels where they have housecleaning staff for much of the day, usually in larger hotels or higher category hotels.
In smaller and cheaper hotels the housekeeping staff may just be there for a few hours in the morning, and if by the time they have finished all rooms they could the sign is still up, then there isn’t much you can expect them to do.
I wouldn’t expect any hotel to skip the room for the whole day if at any point during their round they see the sign, though. Usually housekeeping staff will start with all rooms checking out on the day which do not have the sign and/or which reception tells them the guests have checked out, then other rooms which have the “please clean my room” sign up (if there’s one, it becomes quite rare), then continue looping around, doing rooms as they become available.
In some hotels with limited staff, there may be the issue that one person will do a specific floor or wing or building, do all the rooms they can, and once they are done, move to the next floor/wing/building and not return.
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