Proposed Bill in Nevada Would Eliminate Daily Room Cleaning at Hotels

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Image: Las Vegas Strip viewed from The Cosmopolitan. (photo by Patrick Clarke)

No housekeeping at hotels?

Maybe not in Las Vegas.

The House and the Senate in Nevada are considering a proposed bill that would eliminate daily house cleaning. It would be a provision to a bill that was passed in 2019 that required daily cleaning because of the pandemic. But if we learned anything from COVID, it was to be more efficient.

Major hotels, perhaps seeing a chance to save on some expenses, are backing the idea

That includes the Nevada Resort Association.

“If this bill passes, I think it ensures guest choice,” said Virginia Valentine, president and CEO of the Nevada Resort Association. “We want to go back to pre-pandemic health regulations.”

But there are concerns.

Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, which represent more than 60,000 workers in Las Vegas, are opposed to the bill for fear it would upset the dynamic of a hotel workforce. They fear layoffs in the housekeeping industry. And they also. And they also fear untrained people doing the work. Moreover, they haven’t taken the temperature of the general traveling public yet. Most people enjoy being pampered a little bit and having their room straightened up every day. Especially when they are paying top dollar for a hotel room.

Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge testified already that although guest can opt out of daily cleaning by simply hanging a sign on their door, he is prepared to fight to include daily cleaning in. The new contract.

“There’s nothing we’re proposing that doesn’t allow guests to say they’d rather not have their room cleaned,” Pappageorge said. “The legislature needs to step in and stop these companies from going down what we think is a bad path for Las Vegas and bad paths for workers.”

It was noted that not having a daily room service is a trend across the country. Wyndham and Hilton hotels, for instance, as their guests to. It is no longer just an assumption that the room will be cleaned every day.

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