Stateroom host Duties

[melni]

We were recently on a cruise and on a couple of the days we were enjoying just relaxing in the room with the on demand movies. We told our host we didn't need our rooms (we had connecting rooms) serviced. She seemed very annoyed by it and told us we needed to have our privacy card up. We did so and then she proceeded to knock on the door 2 or 3 different times to hand us things that could have easily been left on the fish and then again to double check that we really didn't want the room serviced. I'm perplexed by her annoyance--is there a reason not doing the room makes her day harder or something? I've been wondering about it so thought I'd ask here.

 

[Eeyorebabies]

Could be anything from tips that they are earning, scheduling routines, etc. if they have a specific schedule they have to stick to and several rooms aren't requiring or wanting service, then it may appear the the host isn't doing their job. It if they finish their jobs early, they could be put on more mundane tasks that they don't care to do and would rather clean the rooms. Especially since they aren't constantly being supervised in the rooms where someone is looking over their shoulder all of the time.
Some people think that if they don't have their rooms serviced, then they don't have to tip as much. Not saying you are that way, but they get that a lot. They won't know until the cruise is over as to what type of tipper you are. So they would rather earn their tips.
Some people have a anxiety/OCD temperament and need to stick to a specific schedule to keep them functioning fully without causing anxiety.
If a privacy sign isn't on the door, then their boss could have been getting onto them to clean the room.
Does this excuse the annoyed behavior, nope. But maybe it will help give insight as to why a person behaves the way they do.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Any room under their control can be inspected by an officer and if not up to the DCL standards they could get anything from a warning to being dismissed. If you have your privacy card up at least officers know that.

 

[tink too]

We once told our stateroom host that we didn't need our room serviced early in the morning when we saw him in the hall & were advised to put up the privacy card so they knew not to bother us later. We just wanted a couple of hours to relax in the room after a few very busy days. In the early evening after the turndown service had been done, we got a visit from a supervisor to check that we were happy with our room, our host and when I explained all was good I had to sign a sheet stating "service declined" for the morning only.

We've also experienced similar in hotels during our travels and I assume that it's when the staff put in their report at the end of their shift, having several rooms missing from the report makes their supervisor wonder if they didn't have time to do all their work or if they are slacking off. This just confirms that the guest asked for them not to visit so can't complain later when they have no clean towels or an overflowing trashcan, and that their wishes were carried out by the host.

 

[undertheradar]

I'm thinking that this is a CYA so that guests can't complain about lack of service later. Let's face it, the world is full of people looking for freebies and discounts, many not caring how they are obtained.

 

[Kenny1113]

I expirienced similar as well. On our recent cruise our room cleaning occurred later in the day (much later than I have had on any cruise, or hotel). We had gone back to the room for the kids to relax and DH to take a nap. The stateroom host was irritated that 4 of her rooms were taking naps at the same time. We told her we would skip cleaning that day. She didn't push placing the privacy card and we didn't have to sign anything though.

 

[melni]

Seems like your guesses are about the same as mine...although I actually didn't think about her worrying about us not tipping the full amount. We would never lower the standard gratuity amount. Although I will say, I wasn't super inclined to add more to the tip after these interactions.

We've never had an issue before but I'm wondering if it was a bigger deal since we had two rooms instead of one.

 

[just2girls1]

We were on the Magic and had connecting rooms. My Mom was not feeling well for a few days so we just asked the attendant to not disturb her and leave the clean linens etc. in our room for the other. He was wonderful. Not only did he ask how 'Granny', what the kids call her, was doing every day but did as we asked and not once bothered her. We would laugh saying that since he had actually seen her and talked to her once he knew she existed. But being told not to disturb her for days he was probably wondering if we had Granny in the room hostage or worse. We wondered if her went in after the cruise was over expecting to find Granny!

 

[Starwind]

At hotels I normally hang the privacy sign for the duration of our stay; sometimes we will call and ask for a change of towels and trash, but otherwise I prefer to not have our room serviced each day.

My compromise for our cruises was to let the stateroom host know early on the first day that we want the beds left as they are and not serviced, but they can do the rest of the room. Because we are two sisters traveling and my sister won't share a bed with me, I get the main bed and she gets the sofa bed, or, in the case of our upcoming trip, the murphy bed (well, we are trying a room with a murphy bed and hoping it is more comfortable than the sofa bed, which she found VERY uncomfortable on our November fantasy cruise -- any opinions on murphy bed vs sofa bed gladly accepted !! ). We ask that that bed be put down ASAP and then left down for the duration. That way she can take a nap whenever she wants, or just relax on it.

For our last cruise I printed signs on card stock that said "PLEASE DO NOT MAKE BEDS"; the letter size card folded in half nicely (like a card) and the text was on only one half of it. I put those on the beds each day when we went out of the room as a reminder.

When I had the conversation with our stateroom host on day 1 I also assured him that we would be giving him full tips even though he was not making up the beds. I think that that helped.

Our stateroom hosts for both cruises were great. For our Fantasy cruise, he left a slowly growing collection of towel animals on the floor in front of my carry-on suitcase On the third day (7 night cruise) he asked if we were ok with him leaving them where he was -- we said yes of course ! We had quite the collection by the end of the week

-SW

 

[PrincessShmoo]

any opinions on murphy bed vs sofa bed gladly accepted !! ). We ask that that bed be put down ASAP and then left down for the duration.

Are you in a verandah room? The murphy bed will block the door out to the verandah when open.

 

[Starwind]

Are you in a verandah room? The murphy bed will block the door out to the verandah when open.

No, fortunately. Cat 8B, Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom.

I realize keeping the murphy bed down means we loose access to some drawers and will have to climb on it to get to the window.

Not sure what we will do with the big chair...

SW

 

[lbgraves]

The chair will have to be removed from the room if you are going to be able to get into the drawers.

 

[bumbershoot]

I figure an attendant gets into a flow, and interrupting the flow does make the day harder. Having free time, well, they probably don't end up with much free time if they then have to justify why they are done earlier.

They make up the room twice a day, and add paperwork and things like that; I've noticed that they sometimes don't do everything in one swoop, if we come in at some odd time we'll notice it looks like it's done, then we come back an hour later and it's ALL done. Not sure if they are leaving for the bathroom or a break or if they do all beds at once, do all bathrooms at once, etc, leaving and coming back several times. Bet it changes depending on attendant.

They want to put the beds away first, then some hours later put the beds back up, making things super-pretty in between.

Although we never get housekeeping regularly at regular hotels, we LIKE this level of service on cruises, so we make sure we're out and about for it to happen.

 

[C6PT7]

Just out of curiosity and not judgement in anyway, can someone who doesn't want their cabin serviced just explain generally why not?
I get the whole if someone is sick and just would like to be left alone.
I travel a lot with work, work weird hours and stay in many hotels and if I'm back say early in the morning after a long overnight shift, or if I'm taking a nap in the middle of the day, I just put the door hanger do not disturb out and let them service the room if and when they can around me.
But I don't understand why not let them make the bed (who doesn't like a freshly made bed to sleep in?), and please note I am not judging anyone!

 

[Melissa S]

Any room under their control can be inspected by an officer and if not up to the DCL standards they could get anything from a warning to being dismissed. If you have your privacy card up at least officers know that.

I hope there is cause and not a random inspection. When you a few people in tight quarters it gets messy in between services even when a stateroom host does their job very well.

 

[Starwind]

Just out of curiosity and not judgement in anyway, can someone who doesn't want their cabin serviced just explain generally why not?
I get the whole if someone is sick and just would like to be left alone.
I travel a lot with work, work weird hours and stay in many hotels and if I'm back say early in the morning after a long overnight shift, or if I'm taking a nap in the middle of the day, I just put the door hanger do not disturb out and let them service the room if and when they can around me.
But I don't understand why not let them make the bed (who doesn't like a freshly made bed to sleep in?), and please note I am not judging anyone!

I can answer for our family. Our reasons are probably rather different than most.

I have a suppressed immune system thanks to medication. I also have severe food allergies. So, one of the first things we do in a bedroom that is not at our home is to use disinfecting wipes to wipe down a whole bunch of surfaces. (I don't normally do walls, but I do do things like dresser, desk and countertops, handles, switches, the phone, the remote control, ... we don't walk in sock or bare feet in the room except in the shower itself). It takes a bunch of wipes to do. I would rather not repeat it more than necessary.

I have severe allergies to many things, and sensitivities to others. For example, I get rashes and sometimes worse from pretty much all laundry detergent (for home use, I have found ONE detergent I can use without problems). I am also really allergic to dust mites. So, I bring my own pillow (with an allergen barrier), an allergen barrier for the bed, and an Allersac (http://allersac.com/) that is laid on top of the turned down bedding and allergy barrier. I sleep in the Allersac. For long trips, I will wash it at least once. But, as with bed linens at home, it works just fine for several nights. I make up my own bed so it is tidy. Also, since it is just me in the bed, sometimes I will lay out some things on the other half of the bed and it is nice to just be able to leave them there.

I sometimes bring my own towel. I have gone and done laundry (2 full cycles; we always bring our own detergent) with hotel towels that were too irritating. I do bring my own microfibre hair towel for wrapping as it makes managing my hair soooooo much easier.

Finally, some/most of the cleaning chemicals hotels use are also irritants. Minimizing exposure to them is good.

I of course bring my own toiletries, including soap for washing hands (we use a liquid soap; easier, less mess; and portable when changing accommodations, eg split stay or hotel and cruise).

For our stay at the Hyatt MCO the night before our cruise, we are going to stay in one of their Pure rooms. I am hoping we will like it, and I am looking forward to try sleeping *in the hotel linens* *with the hotel pillow* .

Finally, privacy. But really, all the other reasons are much more significant.

-SW

 

[C6PT7]

I hope there is cause and not a random inspection. When you a few people in tight quarters it gets messy in between services even when a stateroom host does their job very well.

Sorry, I'm having trouble understanding what you are saying?
Do you mean that a passenger could come back and mess the room up before an inspection?

 

[C6PT7]

Thank you so much Starwind for taking the time to explain your reasons and I appreciate that!
Allergies were never even a consideration when I was thinking so why not?! Everyday is a school day!

Wishing you all the best for your stay in the hyatt Pure room and an amazing cruise!

 

[Melissa S]

Sorry, I'm having trouble understanding what you are saying?
Do you mean that a passenger could come back and mess the room up before an inspection?

Exactly. It would be one thing if it occurred the first day prior to guests gaining access to the rooms to make sure cleaning is up to standards. But during the cruise? Our rooms were usually cleaned while we were at breakfast and dinner. If we came back after breakfast to change for the pool and DD unmade the beds or spills her box of Cheerios the room host would be fired?! There would have to be cause (passenger complaints etc.).

 

[C6PT7]

Exactly. It would be one thing if it occurred the first day prior to guests gaining access to the rooms to make sure cleaning is up to standards. But during the cruise? Our rooms were usually cleaned while we were at breakfast and dinner. If we came back after breakfast to change for the pool and DD unmade the beds or spills her box of Cheerios the room host would be fired?! There would have to be cause (passenger complaints etc.).

Oh no! Absolutely not!
The door card reader and be read to see who was the last to open the door the same as a hotel door so if a cabin attendant or maintenance workers or a pax enter the room they can see the list of entries.
I guess if it were to happen and the room was not up to standard they would check the door log of entries between the cabin attendant to see if the passenger opened the door. Otherwise if you disliked your cabin attendant for whatever reason you could just mess the bed up and throw stuff around then make a complaint