Recently, staying at a NYC hotel, I had a Do Not Disturb sign on my door, however was surprised when the maid knocked on the door and entered the room. She claimed that the hotel policy is they are allowed to break the signs after 12pm, even for guests staying over and not checking-out.
We recently wrote about Why Hotel Maids are So Aggressive to Clean Your Room, which has to do with a Leave Early Program that many hotels have. Let’s say they’re assigned to clean 12 rooms for the day. If they finish all their rooms, they can leave 2 hours early and still get paid for the whole day. So if your room is one of the rooms they are supposed to clean and you have a DND sign on it, they won’t be able to finish their quota and thereby not able to leave early.
However at the end of the day if you have a do not disturb sign on the door, do you think it’s acceptable for a maid to enter in the afternoon, or should it be honored?
About Points, Miles & Martinis
Here at Points, Miles and Martinis, we love all things travel. We focus on topics relating to travel including destinations, airline, hotel, car rental and credit card reward programs. Our goal is to help people travel better. - See more at our About Us page.
Sign up for Email || Twitter || Facebook |
Hotel Offers || Airline Offers || Bank Offers || Cash Back Offers
I think this is more a security measure than anything, implemented mostly due to the Las Vegas shooting. Many hotels are now implementing a policy that someone from the hotel will enter the room every 24 hours. I think it’s so if something fishy is going on there’s a better chance of catching it.
I just got back from Vegas and many hotels have this policy. Walt Disney World recently implemented this policy as well. We own the Disney timeshare with our home resort of Bay Lake Tower (attached to the Contemporary) which has prime views of the Magic Kingdom. I stayed there a few weeks ago and someone entered every day. They allow you to coordinate when the employee enters if not comfortable with an unsupervised visit. But outright declining entry isn’t an option.
When we stay at resorts it’s not uncommon for us to leave the DND sign on the entire trip. I think in most locations the days of doing that are over.
I’m sorry, but I do not think the maid’s keys should even work if you have the privacy latch turned from the inside. Security should have cards to do this, but not the maids. If management or security needs to check the room, they should call before just showing up. I was trying to nap one time when I had a late checkout approved and the maid knocked, but before I could react and get to the door, she was already letting herself in. The secondary chain kept the door from opening all the way, but I was really irritated at being disturbed. They wouldn’t be able to clean the room until I left any way.
This happened to me yesterday. The maid knocked at 10am & 11am so I put the DND sign up. She still returned and tried to enter at 1130am. I told the front desk and they told her supervised.
Maids seem to always want to break in to your room no matter what.
It’s also embarrassing when you don’t hear them knock because you are in the shower and when you finish and step out of the bathroom, you suddenly realize there’s a stranger standing between you and your clothes…
The idea that maids entering a room is some sort of security measure is absurd. If you’re actually concerned with security, then hire security professionals. If not, then just stay out of my room when the DND is up.
Bolt your door shut if youre in it and they wont come in unannounced
I work many night shifts when traveling so even knocking let alone entering is not acceptable. Rarely have I had trouble with this but it is oh so annoying when it happens.