If you consider yourself a tidy person, when you’re at home, everything likely has its place. You know exactly where to put your clean and dirty clothes, leftovers go straight into the fridge, and towels are hung up on racks and over shower doors. If you have kids, their toys are (hopefully) put away on shelves and in baskets every night before bed.
When you’re staying at a hotel, keeping your room neat is tough. And while housekeeping services exist for that reason — hotel employees want you to relax and not have to think about cleaning when you’re on vacation! — it’s normal to feel a little self-conscious as you wonder exactly what they notice when they clean your hotel room. To find out, we consulted hospitality and housekeeping experts.
Here’s what they had to say: Some staffers do notice a guest’s sustainability habits. Housekeeping isn’t necessarily judging that pile of dirty clothes in the corner, but our experts said housekeepers are definitely paying attention to your sustainability habits. For example, “such things as discarded plastic used for amenities, water bottles, and plasticware, as well as styrofoam cups and pileups of bath towels (though it certainly doesn’t end there),” said Andy De Silva , CEO of Hotel Emporium, a hospitality service that creates hotel amenities.
Luckily, making more environmentally friendly decisions while on vacation is fairly simple — and De Silva believes hotels themselves could do a better job of encouraging.