Recently I had a hotel stay that left me with a question that I had not ever really considered. I generally assume that hotels / housekeeping staff clean hotel rooms between each guests. With recent cuts to housekeeping staff, i understand that perhaps rooms are not cleaned as well (or at all?) between guests, but at a minimum, I have the expectation that sheets will be changed, beds will be made, used towels replaced and trash taken out. Perhaps I am a bit naive (?), but I’m also not the germophobe that some other bloggers seem to be.
Recent Hampton Inn Stay
I had a recent stay at the Hampton Inn & Suites Columbus-Easton Area. I’ll give a full review later but wanted to talk about something that happened when I checked in. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary at first when I walked in – the bed was made.
But then when I sat down at the desk with my laptop, I noticed that there was still trash in the small trash can underneath the desk.
Okay – that’s weird but not a huge deal.
But then I went into the bathroom, and found that there were dirty towels hung up from the previous guest.
Additionally the soap had been opened and left out
And there was a paper towel left out on the sink.
What Should You Do If You Check In And Your Room Hasn’t Been Cleaned?
I don’t like to make a big deal over things, but this seemed a bit over the top. What should you do if you check in and your room hasn’t been cleaned? I’m sure many of you would have had no question at all, but it did take me a few minutes to think about it (and a confirming call to my wife to see what she thought). But after that, I packed up my stuff and headed down to the front desk. After waiting a bit in line (there were now 2 people ahead of me and only one front desk worker.
I explained that my room had not been cleaned. He hit some buttons on his end, said “it’s been a long day”, and assigned me to a different room. I didn’t ask for any points or compensation at the time but maybe I will email to see what can be done. Though reading the hotel reviews (which I should have done before booking), perhaps I should have just been glad that my car wasn’t broken into.
I was a little nervous going into my new room – I didn’t know if I would open it and find someone else already in the room (as I did the last time I was assigned a 2nd room by the front desk). But thankfully, there were no issues, the room was clean, and I had a good night’s sleep. I’m still not quite sure what happened, since it definitely seemed like housekeeping STARTED cleaning it (the bed was made?)
The Bottom Line
What should you do if you check in and your room hasn’t been cleaned? Perhaps there’s some wiggle room to answering that question depending on WHAT is not cleaned. But I think in most cases, if you check into your hotel room and it’s dirty, you are well within your rights to go down and get a fresh hotel room.
Have you ever checked into a hotel room that hadn’t been cleaned? What did you do? Leave your thoughts in the comments below
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at
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