Local hotel guests are worst – housekeepers

KUALA LUMPUR: “Working in the hotel line we come across all sorts of people each day. There had been times we ended up dumbfounded looking at the mess they left behind,” said Azila (not her real name) in the midst of changing the bedsheets.

“We are not complaining, it is our job to provide the best customer service. We only say this when we are asked about the guests we dread the most. Just ask any of the hotel employees, their answer will definitely be - the locals,” she said.

After hearing what she said, this writer pressed for more details over her angst on local guests. How do they behave? Do they behave that badly?

Azila, in her early 30s, has been working in the east coast hotel for the last 10 years, the same hotel where this writer put up during her recent holiday.

This lady demonstrated great agility and pride in her work. As soon as she finished doing the bed, she continued tidying and cleaning every nook and corner of the room while sharing with the writer the annoying antics of the guests she had come across over the years.

Azila stated clearly she has no intention of running down her fellow countrymen and women. Nonetheless, often the local guests were the ones who leave behind a mess and lacked cleanliness.

“Though not all the local guests behave in such a manner, I have seen that mostly the locals are the ones to leave their rooms in a mess, and dirty. Looking at the mess, one may wonder whether an earthquake or a tsunami had struck the room,” explained Azila.

“What I am saying may not be nice. Yet, I'm sorry to say that the foreign guests don't mess up the place unlike our people.

Among the antics of the guests that irritates this housekeeper is the repositioning of beds and furniture in the room. They end up leaving the room in a disarray.

Normally, they would change the position of the table lamp and chairs to accommodate as many people as possible in the room. Worst still, some place the mattresses on the floor or bring the beds together and just don't bother to return them to their original place.

“We don't mind all these as we are aware not many could afford more than one room to accommodate the whole family. But, at least they should have the courtesy to put them back at their respective places.

“Not only that, they throw rubbish indiscriminately. Some drop food on the carpet and step on them, the bedsheet used as bathroom floor mat and the bathroom too is filthy. At times I get a shock of my life when I open the room door, seeing some guests playing pranks by wrapping the pillows in a blanket like a dead body left behind,” she said.

There are also guests who put up for several days but do not want their rooms to be cleaned for their ‘privacy' sake. Often, this are the rooms that the housekeeper has to put extra effort in cleaning up when the guests check-out.

“Imagine, the waste and filth accumulated in the room? The waste starts emanating stench, the bathroom floor sticky due to food residues, and the bed sheets and pillow covers dirty,” she lamented.

It is no easy task cleaning the mess the guests leave behind. Cleaning and grooming the rooms are done by one or two housekeepers. The hotel where Azila works, each housekeeper is allocated 17-18 rooms per day.

The housekeepers are allocated 15-20 minutes to makeover each room according to the standards set by the hotel management.

“And we can't meet this deadline when the rooms are in such a mess. Moreover, it is not easy for the housekeeper to carry the heavy mattresses back to the bed.

So it may take up to half an hour to clean up and get the room ready for the next guest and this is a major problem during peak periods like school holidays and year-ends where the hotel is fully booked.

“That is why the hotels set the check-out time strictly at 12 noon during peak period and allows extension up to 1 pm during nonpeak periods,” she said adding that this gives time for the housekeepers to get-ready the rooms.

Often many of the guests delay their check-out and this makes life difficult for the housekeepers and the guests waiting to check in.

With so many people waiting to check-in we have to work fast to clean up the rooms. “It is not only about cleaning up, we also have to ventilate and deodorise the rooms where there is foul stench or the smell of durian. Though durian is forbidden in hotels, guests still bring them in, said Azila.

Based on Azila's experience one may ask why Malaysian guests behave in such manner. Is it just because they are paying for the room they feel they have the right to do what they like. Or do they feel that others can be treated like their servants?

Do they care for the others? Does cleanliness matter to them? Have they thought of the trouble the housekeeper has go thorough in cleaning up the mess they left behind? Or is it just the manifestation of the typical Tidak Apa mentality harboured by some segments of the community.

Malaysians should reflect on Azila's revelation and help change the prevailing mindset of some that just brings a bad name for the rest of the society. - Bernama