Cleaning hotel room when going to bed late

[abidismaili]

I asked this question in a totally unrelated thread (so not seen by many), so I make it its own topic.

 

For those of you who take hotels in Thailand and who go to bed late, say 3 am, 4 am you will wake up I guess around noon or 1 pm.

 

In many hotels the cleaning ladies have already finished around that time (or have at least finished with your floor). You go then to reception and ask for the room to be cleaned when you wake up?

 

What I do is this: I take care around 10 am I leave the hotel for breakfast and 2 hours later I go back and my room is then almost always cleaned. I do this because I think if I leave hotel only around 2 pm, I will have missed the cleaning sweep and my room will not be done that day.

 

(My assumption is namely the cleaning ladies know which rooms to clean because if the reception has your key, they know you have left the hotel and your room is free for cleaning.)

 

So how do your guys take care your room is being cleaned when each day you leave hotel only 2 pm or even 3 pm?

[steveboy]

Well,  I have a particular principle for cleaning ladies:  the fewer the better.

I can stay for a week in an hotel room without feeling the need for a cleaning lady.

I don't mess up.  My bathroom doesn't get stinky.  My floor doesn't get muddy.

My bed sheets don't get dirty,  at worst they may get some cum on them.

My towels don't get dirty but wet.  And then they dry.

 

I HATE having to plan my day around whatever time the cleaning lady comes.

When I leave the hotel I usually take my key with me (minus any heavy tag with the number on it)

so they won't know if I am there or I left.

[paulsf]

I'm more curious if anybody else has this problem besides you. Call the front desk and tell them your in your room and it's OK for housekeeping to stop by after 10 am. Hang "OK to clean" sign on door. Slip housekeeper on your floor 500 baht when you arrive and tell her you want room cleaned between 2 and 4 each day. Why do you feel you can't be in the room when they clean?

When you leave room to eat, find cleaner and let her know your stepping out. When you check in, tell front desk your a late sleeper and would like to have late cleaning. Your the customer and unless totally unreasonable they will work with you,

Hotels are used to late sleepers and there are more that are up and out by 8am. Your creating a problem that doesn't exist with a minimal amount of communication. My housekeeper comes around 3pm. Sometimes things happen and she needs to come early.

She sends a text or calls me to say she needs to come early.

[paborn]

I stay at the Ambiance, order breakfast in my room and they clean around me while i read. No need to leave the room.

[Guest whall]

It's an interesting question. I find it really unnecessary to have it cleaned every day actually. I prefer if they don't clean it for a few days. In not a messy person.

[newalaan]

I asked this question in a totally unrelated thread (so not seen by many), so I make it its own topic.

 

For those of you who take hotels in Thailand and who go to bed late, say 3 am, 4 am you will wake up I guess around noon or 1 pm.

 

In many hotels the cleaning ladies have already finished around that time (or have at least finished with your floor). You go then to reception and ask for the room to be cleaned when you wake up?

 

What I do is this: I take care around 10 am I leave the hotel for breakfast and 2 hours later I go back and my room is then almost always cleaned. I do this because I think if I leave hotel only around 2 pm, I will have missed the cleaning sweep and my room will not be done that day.

 

(My assumption is namely the cleaning ladies know which rooms to clean because if the reception has your key, they know you have left the hotel and your room is free for cleaning.)

 

So how do your guys take care your room is being cleaned when each day you leave hotel only 2 pm or even 3 pm?

 

I really can't understand why anyone would want, let alone need, their room cleaned daily. Does anyone do that when they live at home? clean the rooms they live in on a daily basis? you would have to suffer from OCD for that to happen, so why put up with daily room cleaning in a hotel?  And it's absurd that people like the OP actually work their daily routine round a cleaning lady. 

 

If you really must have it cleaned tell them when you are prepared to have it cleaned. I've never come across a hotel with part time cleaners working only mornings, it doesn't make sense, most hotels have check out 12pm so afternoon would expect to be the time they would need to be working.

 

When in a hotel for only 2-3 nights I never have it cleaned, I might request extra towels or replacement towels along with bottled water and that's about it. At the Tarntawan if they see us go out, or know the room is vacant they will put clean towels and water in without asking, maybe even tidy up, in all the years staying there I can't ever remember a cleaner coming to the door to request to clean it. In Thailand I'm there for fun and relaxing not to fit around a cleaners timetable. Of course I'm not that bothered if they go into clean the room if I just happen to be out anyway, like if away to beach or out for the day. If in a hotel for a week I might have the room tidied up mid stay. That's why I am more at home in an apartment when in Pattaya.  

 

In the early days when I stayed at the Flamingo Hotel many mornings I used to get back from the nights fun just as the cleaners were turning up to start their day at 8am! If they hadn't cleaned it for 3 days they would call up about 4pm and ask if I wanted it cleaned. Everyday they would come with fresh towels and water or leave them outside before finishing their shift. It's amazing what they learn about customers habits and wishes, those who don't you just have to tell them.

 

Abidismaili....they are there for your convenience not the other way round!

[vinapu]

 

 

For those of you who take hotels in Thailand and who go to bed late, say 3 am, 4 am you will wake up I guess around noon or 1 pm.

 

 

whatever time I go to bed in Thailand I'm up  by 8 if not earlier, I don't travel that far to sleep.

 

Often when cleaning lady knocks to the door I tell her I don't need any cleaning but bring me fresh towels so whole cleaning  is not an issue for me. Neither me nor any of my boys ever made a pigsty from the room and changing sheets daily I consider waste of resources.

 

What I do though,  I always leave 20-30 baht under the pillow in the morning .

[abidismaili]

I stay at the Ambiance, order breakfast in my room and they clean around me while i read. No need to leave the room.

 

Ok if that is no problem for the ladies and the hotel it is the way to go for me also then.

 

 

I every day have a different boy (often two boys in a day) who use the towels, so the reason I need the cleaning is for the towels. But indeed asking for new towels will be sufficient for me too. I don't need the room to be tidy. It is all about the towels for me. (And sometimes the bed sheets because of the cum).

[Moses]

Answer: depends on how big orgy we had in room at past night (joke)

[Travellerdave]

I always tip the cleaning ladies - often 100 baht every day. A trivial amount in the scheme of things and they have a lot to put up with.

I often need more than 2 towels usually from entertaining more than one boy during the 24 hours, even leaving three every day.

I try to be carefull about cum stains using tissues when removing the condoms and wrapping them but boys arn not so considerate.

[Londoner]

The cleaners at Ambiance are charming....they always have been . Very fast, very efficient. They are on duty until 1700 (I think) and  very accommodating so late risers would have no problems.

I always tip cleaners in Thailand- I thought it  the usual practise to do so.

Perhaps it isn't everywhere.  The first time I left a tip in my Bali hotel  recently I received a note of gratitude- in excellent English.  

[Gaybutton]

If fresh towels are all you need, there shouldn't be a problem getting them any time you want them, even in the middle of the night.  Any hotel I've ever stayed in, if I want fresh towels I simply call the front desk, tell them I need fresh towels, and they send somebody up within just a few minutes - no problem.  I don't do that often, but when I have I've never been refused.

 

If you do have somebody bringing something to your room at odd hours, I think it's definitely appropriate to tip whoever brings it.  If you're really lucky, maybe the tip won't be merely money . . .

[forky123]

I leave a small tip every day (50 baht). In each hotel I've stayed in the room has always been cleaned daily and with no fuss or complex arrangements.

[steveboy]

I stay at the Ambiance, order breakfast in my room and they clean around me while i read. No need to leave the room.

 

In my last stay at Babylon I left a big tip on Sonkran day.  After long breakfast I like to return to my room and play on the internet, and when the cleaning lady knocks on the door I put on just my underwear and let the lady clean around me, sometimes with the door open.  Of course this is no problem at this gay place...

[abidismaili]

Sorry for another stupid question.

 

I suddenly realize I never tip the ladies. Because I don't think about it. This thread makes me realize my mistake. For some reason it has never been in my system to tip them. Probably because they are out of sight. It would be different if I am in the room and she them cleaning, then I would be triggered to give a tip. But bad from me, I need to improve here.

 

But now the stupid question: where to place the money?

It must be obvious to the lady it is meant for her. I can imagine if I place it on the small 'drawer' (don't know correct English word) next to the bed (I mean the thing where the alarm clock is put upon) she can think: "I wonder if this is for me or customer just left it there and forgot to put it back in wallet".

 

I read above someone places it below the plilow. Is that the correct, expected, unambiguous location?

[Travellerdave]

I just leave my tips on the bed or give them to the ladies if I see them.

I always have a good report with female staff in gay hotels - they have no reason to feel threatened even if they enter when I'm not dressed - they know I'm gay.

[forky123]

I usually leave the tip on the pillow. Makes it obvious it's for them that you haven't just left some money out. I always tip them as I imagine they get more from tips than they do from their wage.

[vinapu]

 where to place the money?

It must be obvious to the lady it is meant for her.

I place it under the pillow but if have a chance I give it directly to her,

 

if you pout money in drawer she will not tough it as may be afraid she will be accused of theft

[baobao]

I used to tip 30-40Bt per day, but I've upped that since then. I leave it on near the foot of the bed, usually with a note.

There's a post about it here...

http://khunbaobao.blogspot.com/2013/04/tips-of-trade-or-reaping-what-we-sew.html

 

[Londoner]

Under the pillow. 

[Guest cdnmatt]

Personally, I never care if the room gets cleaned every day.  Usually I'd be up at the appropriate time at least once every three days, which was fine for me.  Then the times it'd go 3 days without cleaning, I'd just groggingly get out of bed when they came knocking, prod Kim for about 5 minutes straight until he got his ass up, then we'd go sit on the stairwell while they cleaned.  Only takes them maybe 15 - 20 minutes to do a room, and we were back in bed with new sheets.

 

Then the days I didn't get the room cleaned, I'd usually hunt the cleaning ladies down in the hallway to exchange my towels for clean ones, get a couple extra bottles of complimentary water, maybe exchange the little basket of snacks in the mini bar for a new one, etc.

 

Then the few times I stayed in a hotel for an extended period (ie. months), I would always keep the room quite clean myself.  I'd ask the cleaning ladies to leave a broom in my room, I'd always take the garbage and empty bottles out, etc.  Besides, made it quicker for the times I was stuck sitting on the stairwell half asleep.

[Guest abang1961]

How old are we to make the room messy? We are no longer teenagers who like to throw things around.  In fact, most of us have (more or less) developed strict personal cleanliness requirements and such habits won't change even if we are overseas in a hotel.

All we need are fresh towels, refill of potable water and other necessities.  Changing of bed sheets is NOT in the priority list. 

[Guest anonone]

Agree not a priority in most cases.  When I was with BF, we would go 7-10 days in the condo without the cleaning staff.  Plenty of towels at the condo as well as a change of bed linen, which we would do ourselves halfway through.

 

When in butterfly mode (in the past as well as future trips for the foreseeable future), I do appreciate more frequent cleanings with daily bed linen changes and fresh towels.  Just more necessary when you have frequent guests.  

[ggobkk]

Tip preference - give it to the housekeeper directly.  If not possible, then leave the tip in the open, on a desk or on a pillow.  As to cleaning, I go out and find my room cleaned when I return.  On arrival I ask the desk to let housekeeping know that I'd like a double order of towels and they appear shortly after being requested.  This is true wherever I travel, in Bangkok, I base myself at the Tarntawan.