If you've stayed in some hotels recently and noticed that things feel just a little less pristine – maybe very slightly dingier – well, you're not wrong:
The trend of no more daily housekeeping — while largely initiated by COVID-19 — has become the norm at many hotels. During the pandemic's early days, when transmission was more of a mystery, many hotels cut housekeeping services to reduce contact between strangers. But more than two years later, housekeeping still hasn't returned...
"Guests don't want to have to ask every time they need their trash emptied or dirty towels replaced," said D. Taylor, international president of Unite Here — a U.S. and Canada hospitality workers' union — in a prepared statement. "Without cleaning, what stops a hotel from being just a more expensive Airbnb?"
You know, we've all had the sneaking suspicion for the past two years that a lot of businesses did away with a lot offerings "because of COVID" and then used it as cover for getting rid of that stuff altogether. It's annoying.
But... I mean it's hard to believe hotels would cut back on housekeeping voluntarily. That's like one of the primo benefits of staying in a hotel: You don't have to do any of that stuff, someone else does it for you. It's a tiny little layer of detail that makes a big difference.
If that's gone, why, indeed, would you not stay in an Airbnb? The prices are better and the locations are usually better too. Plus you have the excitement of staying in a house you've never stayed in before. It's overall just kinda more fun walking into an Airbnb.
The economy seems to be doing just great all around!!
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