As hotel stays plummeted in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, daily housekeeping was one of the first services to be cut, but even as travel revived, it’s not coming back. It’s part of a wider trend within hospitality, the same publication previously reported, fueling the rise of third-party operators. It’s one of the starkest examples of how the economy of 2021 will be different from the one of 2019.
Baird analyst Michael Bellisario told The Washington Post that many hotels were considering permanent cuts to a range of services, including cleaning but also free breakfasts.
The new American consumer doesn’t mind too much, as reflected by an August 2020 survey by the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Almost two-thirds of travelers said daily housekeeping should be done without.
After the pandemic, contactless is what travelers want. Insider’s Michelle Gross reported in July 2020 that technology and safety will be paramount to the future hotel experience. Vanessa Ogle, CEO of hotel technology company Enseo, said, “Technology will be the bridge that enables and manages safety and cleanliness procedures and communicates those procedures to guests as well as associates.”
