Hotel Room Attendant

Also known as:

Room Attendant, Hotel

Introduction

Hotel room attendants make beds, clean bedrooms, and keep rooms supplied with soap, towels and drinks. They may also be expected to serve tea, distribute mail and newspapers, and handle laundry for guests.

Back to Top

Work Activities

Hotel room attendants make sure that hotel bedrooms and public areas are clean and tidy.

The main part of the job is cleaning and tidying the bedrooms. Starting early in the morning, the room attendants collect keys for the rooms. They have a worksheet to tell them which rooms need doing and whether they need to do a full or a part clean. This depends on whether the guest in a room is staying on or leaving, and also on the hotel's policy.

If a guest is staying for another night the attendant might make the bed without changing the sheets. Also they might tidy towels in the bathroom instead of replacing them. Otherwise they will strip the bed and re-make it with fresh sheets and pillowcases and put out new towels. They check the furnishings and report any damage to the housekeeper.

After making beds and sorting out towels, the attendant will empty bins, take away used plates and cups and clear away used soap and shampoo containers. Then they will dust and vacuum, and clean the bathroom. Finally they will put out clean cups, tea and coffee supplies, and new soap and shampoo. They will also check the minibar, add up the daily drinks bill and refill with more drinks.

Once the bedrooms have been done the room attendants might go on to cleaning corridors and public areas - emptying bins, vacuuming, dusting and polishing. Other tasks could be serving drinks and snacks such as morning tea or afternoon coffee, and collecting laundry and dry cleaning for guests.

In some hotels there are late-duty-room attendants who go into the rooms in the early evening, turn down bedcovers, close curtains and switch on bedside lamps. This is usually done in more expensive hotels and helps to make the guests feel welcome when they return to their rooms.

Most attendants wear uniforms.

Back to Top

Personal Qualities and Skills

As a room attendant you could have anywhere between 12 and 20 rooms to clean so you'll be on your feet, bending, lifting and moving about all the time. You need to be well organised and have a lot of energy. A polite and pleasant personality is important because you'll meet hotel guests as you do your work.

You must have the highest standards of honesty as you will be cleaning rooms where people leave their personal possessions.

In this job it definitely helps if you enjoy the challenge of making an untidy room clean, tidy and fresh again. A supervisor usually checks the rooms after you've finished, so you should be happy to follow instructions and be able to take criticism.

Back to Top

Pay and Opportunities

The pay rates given below are approximate.

Hotel room attendants earn in the range of around £220 - £320 a week.

Room attendants work 38-39 hours a week full-time. There are also opportunities for part-time, temporary and seasonal work. Most room attendants are required to work weekends and on public holidays. In some hotels, for example, those close to airports, room attendants may work shifts.

There are hotels throughout the country where you could find work. You could also work in guest houses, inns, motels, college or university halls of residence, residential and nursing homes, and hospitals.

Finding work in holiday resorts could be difficult out of the main holiday season.

Back to Top

Adult Opportunities

It is illegal for any organisation to set age limits for entry to employment, education or training, unless they can show there is a real need to have these limits.

Some entrants have a background in customer service, cleaning work or portering.

• 67% of people in occupations such as hotel room attending work part-time.
• 5% have flexible hours.
• 4% of employees work on a temporary basis.

Back to Top