It’s almost like magic. You leave your hotel room only to return and find everything in its right place. Your bed is made with clean sheets, the bathroom towels have been replaced and folded and any refuse that may have been scattered about the room is cleaned away. Many times we take for granted the house cleaning services provided by hotels. Usually the only time we seem to notice the industrious workers pushing the laundry trucks up and down the hotel corridors is when we need extra towels or toiletries. The other times in which we are more aware of housekeeping is when something goes awry with the cleaning. There is an old saying that nobody pays attention to what you do right, only what you do wrong. This could be a strong maxim for house keeping.


We all visit hotels under the assumption that when we choose a nice hotel there is an implicit bond of trust between the housekeeping staff and the visitors, but many times travelers have found that during the routine cleanings their belongings have also been taken along with the laundry and the trash. Below you will find a few tips to make sure that your house keepers are only using the laundry trucks to clean your dirty linens and towels, not to clean you out.

Check to See if the Room Has Metal or Plastic Lockers to Hold Your Valuables

As the old saying goes, out of sight out of mind. Even in some of the nicer hotels, guests have reported missing items. In many cases these items were sitting right in the open. Rather than blindly trusting the motivations of a stranger, why not remove the temptation? Especially if you are traveling for holiday, you will probably be in possession of a number of valuables, including computers, cameras, phones, and, more than likely, cash. An easy solution is to keep these items out of eye sight is to ask the hotel if the room is equipped with some type of safe or strong box that you can use during your stay. If the hotel does not offer a lock box than you can also take the step of either bringing your own personal lock box. There are a variety of custom plastic containers that can add an extra layer of security to locked luggage.


For Short or Solo Trips Skip Housekeeping Altogether


While part of the hotel experience is having housekeeping and room service experience , in the interest of your property it might be worthwhile to put the do not disturb sign on your door. If you are traveling by yourself, you probably will not be making the kind of mess that would necessitate having housekeeping cleaning up after you. The same thing goes for stays that are shorter than three or four nights. By skipping house keeping and following the steps above you can ensure a bit more safety for your property. Just make sure that you leave a generous tip when you check out.


Laundry Trucks Shouldn’t Automatically Be Equated With Thievery


An important thing to keep in mind is that hearing laundry trucks coming down the hallway shouldn’t be cause for panic and alarm. In the big picture most housekeeping staff, especially in nicer hotels, are well trained, courteous and honest and are not looking for opportunities to rip you off. With that said a little bit of common sense and planning can make the difference between a good hotel stay and a hotel horror story. It never hurts to plan hope for the best and plan for the worst. Luckily in this day of multimedia and reviews everywhere, hopefully you can do some worthwhile online investigation into any prospective hotels on your list.