Full Service Marriotts With “Green,” No Housekeeping Rates…

It appears that at least a couple of full service Marriott properties in the Vancouver area have introduced rates that don’t include housekeeping, as flagged by LoyaltyLobby. I can’t decide whether this is part of the sad race to the bottom for the hospitality industry, or kind of smart.

Marriotts with “Stay Green Save More” rates

The pandemic impacted the hotel industry in many ways, and that includes with housekeeping services. Pre-pandemic, daily housekeeping was basically a standard across hotel brands, from limited service to luxury.

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Then during the pandemic, we saw many hotels reduce housekeeping services. This was due to a combination of staff shortages, plus wanting to minimize contact between people. But of course hotel owners noticed how these initiatives were saving them money and improving their margins, so at many properties, more limited housekeeping service became standard.

For example, as it currently stands, Marriott seems to have three different housekeeping policies, depending on the tier of hotel:

• Luxury properties offer full, daily housekeeping
• Full service properties offer daily tidying
• Limited service properties offer tidying every other day

That brings us to a couple of “creative” full service Marriotts. Both the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre and Westin Vancouver Wall Centre are offering a noteworthy rate option, which seems to currently be available for stays of at least five nights. The rate is called “Stay Green Save More,” and it simply doesn’t offer housekeeping.

Here’s how the rate rules describe this:

Thank you for choosing to travel Green — This rate gives an extra discount for travelers to decline any housekeeping or overnight service — This helps Wall Centre Hotels attain our ambitious environmental targets — Declining overnight service allows us to reduce our water consumption and energy use in a very meaningful way — For your safety and comfort, we will enter your room for a wellness-check and a modest refresh every 3 days —

So to recap, the hotel (graciously) does a wellness check every three days to make sure you’re still alive, and there’s also a “modest refresh” every three days, which I assume includes emptying trash, bringing more towels, etc.

The reason for this rate is obvious — providing housekeeping services is a material expense, especially in a city with fairly high labor costs. But of course the hotel doesn’t even mention that. Instead, it’s claimed that the rate is offered to help the hotel reach its “ambitious environmental targets,” and to “reduce water consumption and energy use in a very meaningful way.”

My take on Marriott rates without housekeeping

On the surface, I’m of course skeptical of hotels moving in this direction. This is essentially the basic economy-ification of the hotel experience. There are certain things that are supposed to differentiate full service hotels from limited service hotels, and consistent housekeeping is one of them.

That being said, at least in the case of the above examples, I do have to give the hotels credit for offering a meaningful discount for the rates without housekeeping. The hotel is essentially giving guests who stay at least five nights the option of saving 20 CAD per night in exchange for forgoing housekeeping.

Since this rate is only available on longer stays, the savings actually are meaningful, and you’ll see that all other rates are significantly more expensive.

Now, the biggest concern here is that in the future, the standard rate simply won’t include housekeeping, even on shorter stays. If that were to become the case, this would shift the dynamics a bit. It would no longer be that a small number of guests receive a discount for forgoing housekeeping, but instead, hotels would likely make the current rate the one that doesn’t include housekeeping, and give people the option of booking a higher rate with housekeeping.

Marriott used to have the “Make A Green Choice” program, where you’d get bonus points if you requested not to have housekeeping. However, that was eliminated at the start of the pandemic. So it seems this concept is now shifting in the opposite direction. Rather than incentivizing people to skip housekeeping by offering extra points, instead charge them extra for the service.

Bottom line

At least in the Vancouver area, a couple of full service Marriotts now have rates that don’t include housekeeping. This is only available on longer stays, and guests who book these rates will just receive a wellness check and “modest refresh” of their room every three days.

I don’t necessarily mind the current implementation of this (since it seems to represent a real discount, rather than jacking up rates that do include housekeeping), though I have concerns it could be different if this were to spread.

What do you make of the concept of “green” rates without housekeeping?