I'll tell on the hotel

Several girlfriends & I are spending the weekend hanging out in a few hotel rooms in the city this weekend, away from all the fuss that "home" entails for each of us. This excursion reminds me of the last hotel in which I stayed, the Sheraton in San Diego, in February, just before I started this blog. Mark had a specialized procedure medical conference in San Diego, and I tagged along to keep him company after long boring days and to basically get away from the chaos at home (yes, I'm already ready for another break). I was going to spend my days walking, shopping, photographing, or hanging out in the hotel room.

We had just started making greener choices at home, and I was curious to see just how wasteful a hotel would seem. Upon entering the room, I saw, of course, the usual array of travel-sized petroleum-packaged products in the bathroom (does anyone really need a *&#%$ disposable shower cap?!?!).

Looking further, though, I was thrilled to find a sign on my bed that set out the "water conservation" policy for Sheraton hotels. Basically, it said that Sheraton would not wash our sheets unless this sign was placed on the bed. For towels, if they were hung up, the staff would not take them to wash & replace, but if we wanted new ones to leave our others on the floor. Simple... right? Obviously not, no.

Day One, I made sure to hang up our towels, washcloths, hand towel, and bath mat towel on the retractable clothesline & hid the "wash my sheets" sign far, far away. When I came back later that afternoon, we had a perfectly made bed & brand new towels, washcloths, hand towels, & bath mat. Damn! (Now, I have no way of knowing for sure whether those were new sheets on the bed or not, but I have my hunches.)

Day Two, I made sure to hang out in the room until housekeeping made rounds. I gave them verbal instructions: we don't need new sheets, and we don't need fresh towels, washcloths, handtowels, & bath mat. I went about my business reading our complimentary USAToday (I felt obligated to get at least some use out of it; how many of those got thrown in the garbage every day?). Before I knew it, I was looking up and saw a huge pile of bed sheets, towels, washcloths, hand towel, and bath mat piled up in the hallway, and my merry maids putting fresh linens on the bed. (WTF?!?!) Now, obviously, I didn't want my other sheets off the floor put back on the bed, since I knew that one pair of them was now going to be laundered anyway.

And so, I decided that for the rest of the week, I would just leave the "Do Not Disturb" sign on our door all  the livelong day. Great idea, except every single day, I would receive a phone call from our friendly housekeeping department, wanting to know if I was ready for them. And every single day, I got to answer that phone call and tell the nice lady that no, we didn't really want them within five feet of our room or we would take out a restraining order.

By Day Five, I was ready for a couple of new washcloths and one new towel (we started with three). Being the bright, resourceful person I am, I decided to leave a detailed note for the housekeepers: Don't give us fresh sheets. Don't give us new hand towels and bath mat. Don't replace anything hanging up. Only replace what we have lying on the floor. Do exactly what Sheraton says you will do on my little "water conservation" sign! I left it in an obvious spot and went about my day, pleased at my small victory. Do you recall that saying about counting chickens?

When I got back, those chickens had hatched, and I was clucking mad. My note, so detailed, was crumpled into the garbage can (with a new liner, despite there being three tissues in there, no doubt). We had freshly pressed & creased sheets (after 3 days, the starch had been wallowed out, so this time I knew they were new). We had new towels. We had new washcloths & hand towels. We had a new bath mat. They had removed my hanging towels & retracted my retractable clothesline. I conceded that I had underestimated the power of stupidity.

Days Six & Seven I went back to my "Do Not Disturb" routine. It was the only way I could ensure no more contact with my housekeepers, the only way, at this point, to ensure their safety. I snuck our dishes out in the hall when they needed to go. I made our bed. I hung my towels without trepidation. And I did NOT leave a housekeeping gratuity when we checked out.

(On a side note, I completely overstuffed our bags with seven USATodays and three crushed Pepsi cans to recycle upon arriving home. I was a little sheepish to discover that the airport had receptacles I could have put them all into and saved me a whole lot of grief and worry about splitting our bag's zippers.)

Comments

[Trish]

Loved your blog! I also wonder if hotels and their "water conservation" signs were actually being followed or just an "advertisement ploy" to make you feel good about the hotel.

I am traveling to Seattle in a couple of weeks, I am going to watch how well my hotel follows their water conservation plan!

[Sally]

Hi!

I was at a Courtyard Marriott not too long ago that displayed the same signs-- and darned if the cleaning staff didn't replace all the towels too-- the ones hanging along with the ones deliberately left on the floor! What's the point of trumpeting the talk if the staff can't walk the walk? I suggest that we all write letters (or send e-mails) to the management of such hotels and point out the obvious disconnect between ad and practice.

Thanks for a great blog!