Hotels return to normal?

[Howardh]

Had a few breaks in the UK recently, non had room service as in regular cleaning, however the one I am staying in now has, and also makes a point that there are no covid restrictions at all.

Be interested if that's the same now across the UK?

Although it does mean I have to tidy the room up now before the cleaner comes in....

 

[chesterred16]

All hotels I've stayed at recently have been 'normal', the last bastion of Covid was face masks at the breakfast buffet but even that seems to have stopped now.

 

[bramling]

Had a few breaks in the UK recently, non had room service as in regular cleaning, however the one I am staying in now has, and also makes a point that there are no covid restrictions at all.

Be interested if that's the same now across the UK?

Although it does mean I have to tidy the room up now before the cleaner comes in....

Everything we've stayed in this year has been fairly normal, including full room servicing.

Last year was more mixed. Most places weren't doing room servicing, however the hotel we used in Tynemouth was.

I'd say most hotels are back to normal now. This is one industry which seems to have been pretty keen not to drag things out.

 

[alxndr]

My experiences of hotels over the past year:

July - Travelodge, Battersea - facemasks worn when outside rooms, no cleaning, signs warning that only residents were allowed inside, but this wasn't policed. Takeaway delivery drivers were not allowed inside.

October - Travelodge, Sheffield - facemasks usually worn when outside rooms, no cleaning.

November - ibis, Sheffield - facemasks usually worn when outside rooms, no cleaning.

November - Travelodge, Clapham Junction - facemasks becoming less common when outside rooms (but also fewer common spaces to judge this on), people willing to share lifts, no cleaning.

December - ibis, Sheffield - facemasks becoming less common, no cleaning.

February - Travelodge, Sheffield - facemasks quite rare now, no cleaning.

February - easyHotel, Glasgow - facemasks worn outside rooms, there is a fee for cleaning so never enquired to see if it was still possible to have this.

April - Premier Inn, East Kilbridge - facemasks worn outside rooms, no cleaning, phone number taken for track and trace.

I actually prefer them not to clean, I don't want people wandering around my temporary "home" while I'm out, plus it seems unnecessary unless you're staying for a long time. I get the feeling that the budget hotels are in less rush to return to cleaning as it's more work for them.

 

[Howardh]

I suppose whether you want a room cleaned is another thread, suffice to say if you don't you can put the don't disturb on the door.
I didn't mind before, took the towels to reception every day and topped up the coffee etc.
Makes me wonder if hotels should offer a cheaper rate for no cleaning, ie covid rules, so if you are on a short break you benefit.
Especially if hotels are short staffed?
Could be a covid bonus!

Everything we've stayed in this year has been fairly normal, including full room servicing.

Last year was more mixed. Most places weren't doing room servicing, however the hotel we used in Tynemouth was.

I'd say most hotels are back to normal now. This is one industry which seems to have been pretty keen not to drag things out.

I'm in the Ibis in Brighton, no restrictions although outside deliveries can't go direct to your room, which is more a security issue and not covid related. Think that's pretty normal, but during covid if you were room confined I suppose they would deliver to reception, ok, but how would it get to you?
Would reception staff take it to your door and knock? Sign for the delivery?
Luckily never had that problem!

 

[bramling]

My experiences of hotels over the past year:

July - Travelodge, Battersea - facemasks worn when outside rooms, no cleaning, signs warning that only residents were allowed inside, but this wasn't policed. Takeaway delivery drivers were not allowed inside.

October - Travelodge, Sheffield - facemasks usually worn when outside rooms, no cleaning.

November - ibis, Sheffield - facemasks usually worn when outside rooms, no cleaning.

November - Travelodge, Clapham Junction - facemasks becoming less common when outside rooms (but also fewer common spaces to judge this on), people willing to share lifts, no cleaning.

December - ibis, Sheffield - facemasks becoming less common, no cleaning.

February - Travelodge, Sheffield - facemasks quite rare now, no cleaning.

February - easyHotel, Glasgow - facemasks worn outside rooms, there is a fee for cleaning so never enquired to see if it was still possible to have this.

April - Premier Inn, East Kilbridge - facemasks worn outside rooms, no cleaning, phone number taken for track and trace.

I actually prefer them not to clean, I don't want people wandering around my temporary "home" while I'm out, plus it seems unnecessary unless you're staying for a long time. I get the feeling that the budget hotels are in less rush to return to cleaning as it's more work for them.

I can see the point about not cleaning, however it doesn’t really work if it’s a long stay. We did nearly 14 nights in a hotel in Wales in 2020, and it wasn’t great that the room wasn’t done at all in that time.

 

[Howardh]

I can see the point about not cleaning, however it doesn’t really work if it’s a long stay. We did nearly 14 nights in a hotel in Wales in 2020, and it wasn’t great that the room wasn’t done at all in that time.

I thought you could ask for the occasional clean? Although Wales had possibly more stringent rules then? Certainly when I was staying in England I think that option was available, but never used it. Can anyone confirm?
If the rooms on a long stay couldn't be cleaned I suppose half way through you could be given a move to a clean sanitised room if available?
One thing, during covid toilet brushes disappeared, and haven't come back!

 

[danm14]

I thought you could ask for the occasional clean? Although Wales had possibly more stringent rules then? Certainly when I was staying in England I think that option was available, but never used it. Can anyone confirm? If the rooms on a long stay couldn't be cleaned I suppose half way through you could be given a move to a clean sanitised room if available?

I seem to remember that being the case in Premier Inns in England in 2021, both during lockdown when it was technically illegal to stay and after lockdown - no cleaning for the first five nights unless specifically requested, and for night 6 you had the choice of having your room cleaned, or moving to a new room if you didn't want someone in your room. At the time they were supposedly leaving rooms empty for 2-3 days after each guest, although I doubt this happened in practice

 

[Yew]

Had a few breaks in the UK recently, non had room service as in regular cleaning, however the one I am staying in now has, and also makes a point that there are no covid restrictions at all.

Be interested if that's the same now across the UK?

Although it does mean I have to tidy the room up now before the cleaner comes in....

I've had a few that have been "we'll only clean your room if you ask" though I admit that I don't particularly mind for sub-week stays.

 

[bramling]

I thought you could ask for the occasional clean?

We didn't get the option, though we were able to ask for replacement bedding. We didn't make a thing about it, as the hotel was otherwise pretty agreeable.

 

[Hadders]

I stayed at a hotel near Glasgow Airport on Monday. No masks or onerous restrictions but at the buffet breakfast the following morning the bread for the toaster was packed into individual bags, one slice per bag.

The mind boggles….

 

[dk1]

Everything fabulously back to normal at the two hotels I’ve stayed at recently in both Torbay & Yorkshire.

 

[TPO]

I seem to remember that being the case in Premier Inns in England in 2021, both during lockdown when it was technically illegal to stay and after lockdown - no cleaning for the first five nights unless specifically requested, and for night 6 you had the choice of having your room cleaned, or moving to a new room if you didn't want someone in your room. At the time they were supposedly leaving rooms empty for 2-3 days after each guest, although I doubt this happened in practice

Yup, that's correct.

Premier Inn now on more frequent cleaning but not every day. The pair of extra pillows is back although they are no longer reliably the alternative pair of soft pillows as they previously were. Cushions and the bed foot covers gone for good. Check-in usually 3pm onwards.

Prices are also high on Premier Inn again. Rooms that would have been £50-£60 a night prior to COVID (and £35 a night during COVID for those of us with a legitimate reason to travel/stay away from home) are now more like £70-£80 a night. (That is with booking ahead, business account, quiet days of the week). They are often filling up quickly, half the country seems to be on permanent holiday. Breakfast has gone up in some places/if you don't book ahead, and quality of food offering has gone down- I don't often bother now.

Evening meals: all Whitbread chain eateries have a menu which is very similar and much more limited than pre-COVID. Again, I don't tend to bother, stop at M&S on the M-way and fill the van fridge instead. Or even better, bake the weekend before I go on a work trip (and fill the van fridge). It was a good decision I made in late 2019 to overhaul my work crew bus to add a proper 12V DC compressor fridge and a decent stove!

I travel a lot for work- before, during and after COVID. The new normal is higher prices for a poorer offering. As with the rest of life in UK.

TPO

 

[ChrisC]

I’m finding it all very variable. From my experience Premier Inn and Travelodge are almost back to normal but rooms are still not being serviced as frequently as before and also check in times can be an hour later than previously. The IHG Group which includes Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza etc seem to be almost completely back to normal.

Independently run hotels are variable with some completely back to normal and some still very restrictive. A couple of weeks ago I stayed in a Best Western Hotel near Newcastle where there was no room servicing unless you informed them at reception that you would like it, breakfast time had to be booked, and everything at breakfast, even cold items, were to order and nothing buffet style. In December I had stayed in another Best Western Hotel in Yorkshire where everything was back to normal with a full buffet style breakfast.

I don’t so much mind not having my room cleaned every day of a stay but it is a pain having to keep requesting supplies of tea, coffee, milk etc. Also in those hotels or more expensive rate rooms where additional items like biscuits, hot chocolate, bottled water etc would normally be available, when rooms are not serviced you miss out on these items.

 

[island]

Evening meals: all Whitbread chain eateries have a menu which is very similar and much more limited than pre-COVID. Again, I don't tend to bother, stop at M&S on the M-way and fill the van fridge instead.

I find that Beefeater send me enough free or heavily discounted meal coupons to paper the wall with, doubt I've ever paid full whack!

 

[Cloud Strife]

I travel a lot for work- before, during and after COVID. The new normal is higher prices for a poorer offering. As with the rest of life in UK.

It's the same in much of Europe. Covid really battered many business owners, and now interest rates are hurting them badly. The end result in Poland at least has been costs absolutely skyrocketing. Then there appears to be huge amounts of pent up demand for tourism. People have gone absolutely mental for travel, to the point where people over this long May weekend are paying obscene prices by local standards for hotels in popular tourist areas.

 

[johntea]

The Travelodge I stayed at during the week still had posters up near the lifts advising only one 'household' should use them at a time, which was completely ignored of course (and I'm fairly sure it was ignored throughout the last couple of years too!), other than someone perhaps coughing in your face within the 10 seconds you spend in the lift not sure what real benefit that would have provided against the big bad virus anyway!

Room rate was fine, 3 nights working out at an average of around £42 a night (Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday although I actually left Thursday evening anyway as I needed to be home on Friday morning), Friday/Saturday nights can of course be annoying to find a good deal on particularly if you’re trying to stay central

Of course I prefer Premier Inn over Travelodge but always find Travelodge seem to take the win these days in pricing, and the majority of them are nowhere near as bad as they may have been several years ago due to refurbishments that just seems to have nicked the same design from Premier Inn anyway!

 

[Bungle73]

I’’m currently in a Hub by Premier Inn in Edinburgh. Pretty much normal, except a ton of notices by the lifts etc asking people to wear masks. Hardly anyone is, not even the staff. Blurb in the room talks about screens at reception, which don’t in fact exist. Also says they only clean the room if you ask. I don’t really need it done. My main purpose for it is to replenish the drinks and biscuits, but, of course, that’s not an issue with these hotels.

I had to change rooms when I checked in and they did want to know what I’d touched….

I got a pretty good rate, but then I booked it a year ago.

They’ve actually still got a notice up in the (one working) lift telling us that we “must” (underlined) wear a mask or the “authorities” will be contacted. A bit ridiculous.

 

[dk1]

I’’m currently in a Hub by Premier Inn in Edinburgh. Pretty much normal, except a ton of notices by the lifts etc asking people to wear masks. Hardly anyone is, not even the staff. Blurb in the room talks about screens at reception, which don’t in fact exist. Also says they only clean the room if you ask. I don’t really need it done. My main purpose for it is to replenish the drinks and biscuits, but, of course, that’s not an issue with these hotels.

I had to change rooms when I checked in and they did want to know what I’d touched….

I got a pretty good rate, but then I booked it a year ago.

They’ve actually still got a notice up in the (one working) lift telling us that we “must” (underlined) wear a mask or the “authorities” will be contacted. A bit ridiculous.

I suppose that has a lot to do with Scotland being later to return to a more normal way of life. It frustrates me that notices are not removed at the speed they where originally put up.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I am pretty convinced that a lot of the budget chains will not go back to Daly room servicing unless requested. I almost always request it. For me one of the perks of staying in a hotel even if it's a bloody Travelodge is is having someone one-tier tidy up after me and fill up the tea and coffee and give the bathroom a general wipe over. If I'm staying in a twin room with somebody else then I'll have a discussion with them on whether we have the room serviced mid stay or not, last October in Inverness with an esteemed member of this forum we decided unanimously that would like the room done as with two of us showering and generally relaxing very hard the the general interior could get a bit messy if left to its own devices lol. I am still wearing face coverings and still abiding by many of the rules as as some of them to me at any rate just make sense. Well accustomed however to being the only person in a hotel restaurant or on a train or bus doing so however.


Even when restrictions were much tighter I was still asking for things like room cleaning and never had it refused, worst I was ever asked to do was open the window before I left or leave the air conditioning on full pelt fan speed

 

[dk1]

Even when restrictions were much tighter I was still asking for things like room cleaning and never had it refused, worst I was ever asked to do was open the window before I left or leave the air conditioning on full pelt fan speed

I would never leave the air-con on at all let alone on full pelt. Windows however I have always left open if I can for my own benefit let alone the housekeepers.

 

[Crossover]

I am pretty convinced that a lot of the budget chains will not go back to Daly room servicing unless requested.

I would tend to agree with this

 

[Kite159]

I would tend to agree with this

Thirded here. They will probably see it as a way to save a bit of extra cash with not replacing towels and staff hours.

 

[Tom B]

I recently stayed in a B&B which, pre-covid, I had used perhaps once or twice a year for a couple of nights. This time, in the 'bumph' in the rooms the section on breakfast had been replaced with "Breakfast - there is no breakfast due to covid" and the breakfast room had been changed over to 'staff only' on the door. The rate was no cheaper though!

 

[dk1]

I recently stayed in a B&B which, pre-covid, I had used perhaps once or twice a year for a couple of nights. This time, in the 'bumph' in the rooms the section on breakfast had been replaced with "Breakfast - there is no breakfast due to covid" and the breakfast room had been changed over to 'staff only' on the door. The rate was no cheaper though!

Sounds like one to avoid from now on.

 

[Bread & cheese]

I recently stayed in a B&B which, pre-covid, I had used perhaps once or twice a year for a couple of nights. This time, in the 'bumph' in the rooms the section on breakfast had been replaced with "Breakfast - there is no breakfast due to covid" and the breakfast room had been changed over to 'staff only' on the door. The rate was no cheaper though!

Sounds like a B & no-B ...

 

[Cloud Strife]

I recently stayed in a B&B which, pre-covid, I had used perhaps once or twice a year for a couple of nights. This time, in the 'bumph' in the rooms the section on breakfast had been replaced with "Breakfast - there is no breakfast due to covid" and the breakfast room had been changed over to 'staff only' on the door. The rate was no cheaper though!

It's happening a lot in some industries. A previous supplier of mine cut their support quite dramatically two years ago, and they still haven't returned to a normal level of service. Anecdotally, the sales guy I worked with says that they've chosen to deliberately scale back their service levels as it worked out more profitable for them.

But with this 'return to normal', I've also noticed that prices have gone absolutely insane. I was getting hotel rooms for about 25-30 Euro a night in Poznań, now the same rooms are going for 60-70 Euro and upwards. It's not normal at all.

 

[Howardh]

It's happening a lot in some industries. A previous supplier of mine cut their support quite dramatically two years ago, and they still haven't returned to a normal level of service. Anecdotally, the sales guy I worked with says that they've chosen to deliberately scale back their service levels as it worked out more profitable for them.

But with this 'return to normal', I've also noticed that prices have gone absolutely insane. I was getting hotel rooms for about 25-30 Euro a night in Poznań, now the same rooms are going for 60-70 Euro and upwards. It's not normal at all.

When inflation hits, many won't be able to afford to travel, so hotels may have to reduce prices to tempt them. However, hotel running costs concerning wages and power will rise...
May well end up having to request and pay more for room service. I'm ok with that, as long as there's a kettle I can buy my own milk and coffee, and tidy up, as long as I can change the towels no problems.
But basically that's a out all they could cut down on. I want my room heated/air conned and that will cost more. Will our rooms be metered and we have to put our card in?

 

[bramling]

When inflation hits, many won't be able to afford to travel, so hotels may have to reduce prices to tempt them. However, hotel running costs concerning wages and power will rise...
May well end up having to request and pay more for room service. I'm ok with that, as long as there's a kettle I can buy my own milk and coffee, and tidy up, as long as I can change the towels no problems.
But basically that's a out all they could cut down on. I want my room heated/air conned and that will cost more. Will our rooms be metered and we have to put our card in?

It doesn’t help that hotels were badly hit with the various periods of closure over the last two years, and seemed to be kept closed far longer that was really necessary. I’m sure many people would have been glad for the opportunity of an overnight stay, even if they had to take a meal to their room, not use the lounge, et cetera.

 

[danm14]

It doesn’t help that hotels were badly hit with the various periods of closure over the last two years, and seemed to be kept closed far longer that was really necessary.

The most notable period being April 12th to May 17th 2021, when it was a criminal offence to stay in a hotel for non-essential purposes, but legal to stay in a short-term rental apartment for any reason or none - despite the risk of transmission being close to identical in either case.