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Subscribe to RSSThe hotel industry is adapting to shifting travel habits. NBC's Chris Clackum reports.
All the bulky, rolling housekeeping carts are missing from the hallways at the Renaissance Charlotte SouthPark Hotel and The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte.
The hotel managers aren’t worrying about it and, they say, neither should you.
“Actually, we’ve been cartless since opening day in 2007,” said Kris Horasek, general manager of the Renaissance Charlotte SouthPark Hotel in Charlotte, N.C.
The Renaissance Charlotte SouthPark Hotel has eliminated the traditional maid cart in favor of smaller, more portable caddies.
At the Renaissance Charlotte SouthPark, each floor has a linen chute and a fully stocked linen closet. After guests depart, housekeeping aides strip the beds and remove towels and trash. Then the hotel’s "room stylists" arrive. Instead of the traditional cart filled with toiletries, towels and linens, they enter a room with a vacuum cleaner and a compact, wheeled caddy filled with products and cleaning supplies to clean and re-stock the room.
“We started with a knapsack,” said Horasek, “but that didn’t work. Then our senior rooms manager showed us a rolling bag with drawers that her husband uses for his collection of remote control cars. Now we get the caddies from a hotel supplier.”
For guests, the benefits include hallways free of bulky carts laden with dirty linens and the need to maneuver around them. And because housekeepers carry the caddies into the rooms, guests don’t see carts parked outside propped open doors of other rooms being cleaned.
Live Poll
Do you pilfer items from the hotel houskeeping cart?
“Housekeepers close the door and put key cards in the lock to signal that they’re in the rooms,” said Horasek. “The housekeepers are safer. Guests’ belongings are safer. And with no carts in the hallways, it looks like the rooms are done by magic.”
The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte has been cartless since opening day in 2009. General manager David Rothwell said compact housekeeping caddies benefit not just guests, but the staff and the building as well. “Our housekeeping professionals no longer have to push 100-pound carts around all day, and the beautiful wood millwork and doorways on our guest floors are no longer subject to the dings, scrapes and scratches that carts used to leave behind.”
The Newark Liberty International Airport Marriott in New Jersey and the Renaissance Boston Patriot Place Hotel & Spa in Foxborough, Mass., are some of the other hotels that have gone cartless. Debbie Howarth, an associate professor in the International Hotel School at Johnson & Wales University, expects the concept will spread.
“The cost of doing business decreases if you do not have people walking by the housekeeping carts stealing items off of them,” she said.
What item are you most likely to raid off a hotel housekeeping cart? Tell us on Facebook.
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Leave a Comment:
Japanese hotels have been doing this for decades. Maybe they should take a field trip and get some other ideas about over-the-top customer service; even at mid-range hotels.
Ahhhh...How I miss Japanese hotels...especially the ones with the traditional Japanese bath.
Funny, until I saw the poll, stealing never entered my mind. My initial reaction was they were doing it for appearances, but then I read the article.
Same here.
It's apalling that people just take stuff that doesn't belong to them and they fail to recognize that they are dishonest and that it is stealing. Abandoning your principles to lift 2 ounces of shampoo is pretty embarrassing.
...to say nothing of the fact that most hotels will give you an extra bottle of something they put out for your convenience...that is if you aren't asking for a dozen or a case...
You know, you don't have to steal to get the extra stuff -- just ask!
"Cart" - "Caddy"
"Tomato" - "Tomahto"
Yup. Still carts, just smaller.
the hotel maids always steal. i always use the privacy sign. never let them come in while i am a guest at a hotel
They "always" steal? That seems a bit unlikely. If you ever have something stolen from your hotel room, you should call the police. Also, the privacy sign is not a magical barrier. Housekeeping and everyone who works at the front desk can still get into your room. There is a certain amount of trust involved with staying in a hotel, but hotels also have a reputation that they would not want sullied.
I resent your comment that the housekeepers always steal! In eleven years in the industry I have never worked with anyone who stole things from guests. Management keeps track of who does which rooms. They would soon be found out. Maybe you need to find a better class of hotel, or try a bed and breakfast. Check tripadvisor.com before you make reservations.
So if I read this right they actually hire more people. One person to take everything out and another to put everything back. Sounds like a good way to up the room rate.
I highly doubt people in hotels are stealing bottles of shampoo off carts at a great rate. Why would you bother, when you can get equivalent product in a value size for 99 cents? And I doubt they actually cost the hotel that much anyway, considering how much they get for a room. I have grabbed things off a cart to restock my own room, but wouldn't even think to steal the junk that is just for convenience when traveling.
"Room stylists" and "Housekeeping professionals"? Well @!$%#,no wonder they charge more than the Motel 6.
They got 8th grade graduates cleaning up their rooms.
Room stylists?
Does that mean they carefully arrange the little bottles of shampoo, conditioner and lotion instead of just tossing them into the basket in the bathroom?
Yes, we do! A professional who loves his or her job cares about both the general appearance of the room and the little details. Also, we often have more than an "eighth grade education". Many have college degrees and do this because we love to give travelers the gift of a beautiful room!
Suspect the New York area will price themselves out of business, if there is any competition. In any case not many normal folks can afford a trip there. Get a kick out of housekeepers calling themselves stylists, reminds me of garbage men calling themselves sanitary engineers, or secretary's calling themselves assistants. Many examples are out there, suppose it makes folks feel more important but a duck is a duck no matter what you call it.
I hadn't noticed. I guess I have a life.