There have been quite a few cuts in hotel service and elite member benefits at all chains, especially in the United States.
Hilton announced last week that it would temporarily move away from complimentary Gold and Diamond member breakfast benefit in the United States (read more here and here) through the end of the year, and members would get a Daily Credit instead.
You can access Hilton’s page for Covid-19 related travel information here.
Hilton added the following disclaimer to its page:
Housekeeping Upon Request.
Housekeeping is now available upon request. Please call the front desk if you’d like your room cleaned. If you want to skip room cleaning during your stay but need extra towels or amenities, the hotel can arrange that for you.
You can read this two ways:
Previously Hilton didn’t mention housekeeping at all on the Current Health and Hygiene Standards at all, and some hotels were providing none during your stay. Now, it should be available, at least theoretically, “upon request.”
or
Hilton uses this pandemic to push through changes at hotels that its hotel owners would have loved to do years ago and ends daily housekeeping and turn down services unless you request them.
Conclusion
In the long run, the pandemic might be just what the hotel owners have been dreaming about. It elevates their profits if consumers are willing to accept these cuts (I don’t).
Why would you stay “loyal” to a hotel chain if the benefits and services are so watered down that you may as well pick the most convenient hotel that fits your budget, regardless of what company it is affiliated with it, and book it using the cheapest OTA option that their Best Rate Guarantee programs won’t match?
Also, what would then be the differentiators between full and select-service hotels? You may as well choose a cheaper select service option if a full-service hotel doesn’t live up to its promise.
Businesses should be careful that they don’t enrage their most loyal customers. It is easy to lose one, but it takes time and money to win over one’s business.
Doesn’t affect me, because I don’t like housekeeping in my room. I just request something when I hear them in the hallways.
This has been the informal arrangement for quite a while at the Hilton Properties i’ve visited throughout USA. Upon check-in, you’re told the cleaning days (usually 2 days per week) and if you want cleaning on a specific day, you should call the front desk 24 hours in advance. This is definitely taking away from the full service hotels and might as well book a budget hotel and get the same thing for half price.
Full service hotels ALSO offer waaay nicer rooms, CLEANER rooms, more comfortable beds, more sound proof walls, and general assurance that you won’t be roomed next to a drug dealer or prostitute (I’ve experienced both of those at budget hotels).
Having to request daily housekeeping hardly puts them on equal ground with budget hotels.
And in my experience, this last year has seen prices at full service properties drop considerably. I frequently am staying in Kimptons and Autograph Collections for $175 or less (sometimes as low as $100, which is what is hardly more than I used to spend at Quality Inn). So services may be reduced, but often the price have been too.
Next they’ll start charging if you want housekeeping. Or include it in the abominable “destination fees”.
I was just about to book a Hilton for next month in Puerto Rico. I can live without housekeeping for three days, but if the breakfast is gone…then I am too.
1) the changes are only US properties… So it might not affect Puerto Rico (I have no idea if Hilton somehow seems it US?)
2) Breakfast isn’t gone… Its changed. You’ll get a credit to use any time during the day instead of breakfast. The exact value of the credits has not yet officially been released. It will certainly be a loss at many properties. (ie I doubt the credit they provide at Garden Inns will cover the cost of the breakfast that used to be free). But the credits could actually be a win at some properties (ie it’s suspected that curio collection will give a $25 pp credit… I’ve stayed at curious in the last that have only given me $15 pp)
3) I believe it starts in July… So if you’re travel is in June, you needn’t worry.
I am in the USA for a few months staying at IHG properties, and it is the same, I have stayed at Holiday Inns, Express, Indigo, Crown plaza. You need to give an 24 hour advance request to clean the room.
Im confused.
Every single major hotel chain has suspended housekeeping for the entire pandemic. None of them have offered it unless you request it.
Absolutely nothing has changed.
Hyatt Place in D.C. did housekeeping every 3 nights.
First killing off breakfast for elites and now this? Hilton is working awfully hard to drive away customers.
Another reason to take a pass on paying for full service hotels. If I want to clean the room myself I would (and do) stay home. Must agree that the property owners have found another avenue way to solve their labor problems. No need to hire when there is no work to be done. Maybe it is time for members of loyality programs to reevaluate how business is done.
I have tolerated the 3-days for the bed clothes, but I want fresh towels and empty trash. These days, I tell them at check in to clean my room (towels and trash) daily. I usually follow up to make sure.