Few moments of a hotel stay are more crucial than when a guest opens the door to their room for the first time. It’s a first impression that sets the tone for the rest of the trip—and ideally, it sparkles.
Your hotel is a traveler’s home away from home, whether they’re staying for one night or 10. And with 86% of people surveyed saying cleanliness is the top thing they look for in hotel reviews, a spotless room isn’t just nice—it’s nonnegotiable.
That’s why we’ve put together this guide to cover everything you need to know about hotel housekeeping, including:
Hotel housekeeping is the department tasked with keeping a hotel clean and welcoming for guests. Housekeeping staff are typically responsible for:
Hotel housekeeping is essential because it has such a profound impact on a guest’s first impression and overall satisfaction. A well-maintained room signals professionalism, comfort and care, all of which shape how guests perceive the brand.
Beyond aesthetics, housekeeping for hotels ensures health and safety standards are met. The department also supports operations by preparing rooms quickly for turnover and fulfilling guest requests, so it’s a key driver of both service quality and efficiency.
Hotel housekeeping duties may vary slightly depending on the size and makeup of your property, but the general responsibilities for housekeeping in hotels include:
Cleaning
Refreshing & Replenishing
Common Areas & Extras
As you can see, there are very few parts of a hotel that housekeeping doesn’t touch! That’s why equipping your team to do their best work goes a long way in your overall guest experience.
A hotel housekeeper's standard operating procedure (SOP) includes every step a housekeeping task might entail. SOPs guide housekeepers through room prep, cleaning, safety protocols and any other specific elements they need to do their jobs well.
Clear housekeeping checklists serve as an SOP for each area housekeepers are responsible for, including guest rooms and common areas. Here’s an overview of each category, and the full checklists follow below.
Getting guest rooms ready is one of the most important tasks a housekeeper handles. It takes many careful steps to wow guests the moment they walk through the door. Strong SOPs capture every detail, ensuring nothing gets missed.
Cleaning an occupied room while a guest is out is a different process from prepping for arrival. It may involve fewer steps, but the SOP lays out clear instructions to maintain consistent quality every time.
Common areas—like the lobby, hallways, or gym—also fall under housekeeping’s care. They might seem like a lower priority than guest rooms, but keeping them spotless is key to making sure guests have a great impression no matter where they are on the property.
One of the best ways to boost housekeeping efficiency is by using checklists. Adding clear, detailed checklists to your SOPs ensures every task gets done right, whether it’s a housekeeper’s first week or fifth year on the job.
Let’s look at how checklists can work for each part of a housekeeper’s role:
Cleaning guest rooms is one of the housekeeping duties most integral to the guest experience, and a comprehensive checklist makes sure they’re cleaned to the same standard every time.
Along with daily hotel room housekeeping, include periodic deep cleaning in your schedule. This addresses the things that guests might not see at first glance, but will notice if they take a closer look. The frequency of deep cleanings depends on the volume of room turnover your hotel sees, but it’s generally a good practice to do two to four times per year.
Green cleaning minimizes the use of harmful chemicals found in many traditional cleaning products. This can be a major draw for eco-conscious travelers who prioritize staying in hotels with good environmental practices.
As with most jobs, the right tools make all the difference. Hotel housekeeping software streamlines operations in your hotel by keeping staff more organized and digitizing records that are traditionally kept manually.
A good solution will provide ways for the team to communicate easily, share updates on which rooms are ready for cleaning and work efficiently with other departments.
Pro tip: One clear way to improve efficiency? Making sure housekeeping staff are alerted when a guest checks out and a room is ready to clean!
For hotels of any size, training and motivating housekeeping staff is one of the best investments in your hotel’s success. By making your property a desirable place to work, you’ll experience less staff turnover and happier employees who are willing to go above and beyond.
Pro tip: For more ideas on how to show appreciation to your housekeeping staff, check out our 15-minute webinar on easy ways to do just that.
Cleaning the bathroom is also an important part of making sure your rooms are always guest-ready. After housekeepers clean the bedroom, they can tackle the bathroom with the same organized approach.
Having a hotel cleaning checklist is beneficial for both your housekeeping staff and management. The consistency, quality control and efficiency a checklist creates leads to a streamlined work environment for everyone involved.
Whether it’s for repeat guests or travelers who are familiar with your online reputation, it’s important to make sure your room cleaning system is consistent. This is especially true when considering new hires, who will be better equipped to hit the ground with a cleaning checklist in hand.
Tracking the work dedicated to cleaning each hotel area is much more efficient if tasks are easy to measure. Checklists pave the way for streamlined quality checks, so it’s easy to see what’s been done and where improvements could be made.
Checklists keep housekeepers on track with the most efficient workflow. Ticking off the task as they go, hotel housekeepers will be able to verify everything has been done correctly without having to double back or do extra work.
While following a cleaning checklist creates a standardized approach, you can also equip your team to go above and beyond. These hotel housekeeping tips and tricks cover the philosophy, tools and secrets that go into creating a housekeeping department with service that stands out.
There’s nothing like opening the door to your impeccably cleaned home. When you’re away, experiencing exceptional hotel housekeeping is the same feeling. Coaching housekeeping staff to clean rooms like they were cleaning their own home is an easy way to convey the importance of putting quality at the center of their work.
A clear cleaning system transforms both the quality and speed of housekeeping work. By following a set workflow, housekeepers deliver consistent results: every room, every time at the same high standard and pace.
Organization and cleanliness go hand in hand, and it all starts with the cleaning cart. When housekeepers have the right supplies, easy to find and ready to use, they save time, reduce frustration and keep the workday running smoothly.
Any job is easy with the right tools, and that’s especially true when cleaning. Some essential hotel housekeeping tools include:
Few things feel more luxurious than crisp hotel sheets or a freshly laundered towel. For many guests, these are the details that define their stay! Coincidentally, these items are the ones that take the most wear and tear, but there are a few tricks housekeepers use to keep linens looking and feeling like new.
Use regular detergent.
Commercial-grade detergents often have a higher pH than personal-use detergents, which is why many housekeeping departments use the same solution you might in your own home. Commercial-grade detergent is harsher on fabric and causes more wear over time.
Add vinegar and baking soda.
This isn’t just an eco-friendly laundry hack! After adding detergent, add vinegar and baking soda to linen loads. Vinegar helps remove any soap residue, while baking soda eliminates dirt buildup and neutralizes odors.
Skip the softener.
Fabric softeners sound nice in theory, but they create a waxy buildup over time that may make linens feel dirty even after a wash. This also damages the absorbency of towels, shortening their lifespan and effectiveness.
Even the best housekeepers miss things every now and then. Prevent avoidable oversights with a final room check. From a forgotten cloth in a guest room to a mop left in the lobby, final checks help housekeepers catch mistakes before guests do.
Pro tip: Be sure you’re always ready for a guest’s arrival by adopting a contactless check-in solution where they can add their ETA!
As with any role, staying safe on the job is paramount for housekeepers! Housekeeping involves active work and exposure to chemicals. Train staff on safety protocols from day one. Precautions may include:
Because having a clean property is so essential to the guest experience, investing in the right software is a good use of your hotel housekeeping budget. Housekeeping software lets you streamline daily operations by centralizing essential functions into one cohesive platform.
Key features to look for include:
Together, these features help hotels boost productivity, enhance guest satisfaction and maintain high operational standards.
To make the most of your housekeeping software, look for one that offers integrations with hotel management software so data syncs across departments. Two easy ways to do this?
Implementing a Smart Checkout solution that notifies housekeeping staff when a room is vacant, and adding Digital Tipping to incentivize excellent service. This reduces room turnover time and ensures your cleaners organize their work effectively. Curious? Book a demo today.
Housekeeping is the hotel department responsible for maintaining the cleanliness, comfort and safety of all guest rooms and public areas. This includes tasks such as making beds, replenishing linens and amenities, vacuuming and dusting, sanitizing bathrooms and ensuring rooms are in top condition before a guest arrives and after they depart.
An example of lousy housekeeping in a hotel might include a room with stained linens, overflowing trash bins or a sticky bathroom floor—any of which would be clear signs that the room wasn’t properly cleaned or inspected. Lapses like this not only damage a hotel’s reputation, but also erode guest trust and satisfaction.
A housekeeping policy refers to the SOP and code of conduct a hotel has in place for its housekeeping staff. It covers elements about the scope of the role, work expectations and any safety procedures that are especially important for housekeeping staff to note.
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