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Hotels turn to robots and room cleanings every 4 days to ease staffing shortages

npr.org

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Re: Hotels turn to robots and room cleanings every 4 days to ease staffing shortages

#11

Post by drewrv »

missedthecue wrote: post #3

I wonder where everyone has gone. The lazy answer is that companies aren't paying enough. But how is it better to sit at home making $0 than working and having an income? How do they afford rent or electricity or pay for car insurance? The workforce participation rate is still well below pre-pandemic levels. Millions of people just up and left the workforce. It's not as if they are looking for work at the right wage,…

Over a million people died of covid. Many more have become permanently disabled. Many of them were retired seniors but among the people who were not, they were disproportionately service workers who couldn’t wfh.

Re: Hotels turn to robots and room cleanings every 4 days to ease staffing shortages

#12

Post by gitfan86 »

missedthecue wrote: post #7
heavyset_go wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People had ~3 years to find new jobs outside of hospitality after the industry basically shut down. No one is sitting at home, they found new jobs. There's also the toll COVID took on the workforce, and COVID-related disabilities.

This can't be the explanation. If it were true, the workforce participation rate would be steady. Changing jobs doesn't raise or lower that figure. A person is employed whether they scrub toilets or do brain surgery. But it's not steady. Literally millions of people have stopped working and looking for work since 2020.

People realized that they didn't need to work shitty jobs. They could Uber part time, or work as a nanny without reporting as a full time employee or cut down on their living expenses or live off of government programs. Just look at how many people live in tents in California.

Re: Hotels turn to robots and room cleanings every 4 days to ease staffing shortages

#13

Post by missedthecue »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #10
missedthecue wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why has the workforce participation rate cratered? If people simply changed to a better job, that figure would hold steady. Instead it shows us that millions of Americans decided to stop looking for work.

I do not think it has cratered in the US. https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-lab... Just 1 percent, 63% to 62%, which could just be aging demographics since a greater and greater proportion of people in America are going to be too old to work, especially for hard labor work like cleaning hotel rooms. Also, hotels (and other low pay to quality of life at work ratio employers) were already struggl…

Look how much the workforce participation rate has varied over the last 20 years. Only a few percentage points even through massive global recessions. Small percentage changes in this statistic can easily deceive the layman into thinking it's not a big deal.

Re: Hotels turn to robots and room cleanings every 4 days to ease staffing shortages

#14

Post by lotsofpulp »

codazoda wrote: post #2

In some Las Vegas hotels I no longer need to stop at a counter or stand in a line and it’s 1000x better experience. I can walk directly to my room and scan my phone. I can scan my phone for parking. I can grab extra keys at a kiosk, if I need them. I never have to talk to anyone, if I don’t want to. I also select the option not to have my room cleaned each day. I’ll ask someone in the hall for towels if I stay long e…

I would want any hotel I stay in to have mandated at least weekly hotel room cleaning, or at least weekly inspection.

Too many people are sufficiently dirty that it can easily cause pest issues, as well as other damages.

Re: Hotels turn to robots and room cleanings every 4 days to ease staffing shortages

#15

Post by crooked-v »

missedthecue wrote: post #7
heavyset_go wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People had ~3 years to find new jobs outside of hospitality after the industry basically shut down. No one is sitting at home, they found new jobs. There's also the toll COVID took on the workforce, and COVID-related disabilities.

This can't be the explanation. If it were true, the workforce participation rate would be steady. Changing jobs doesn't raise or lower that figure. A person is employed whether they scrub toilets or do brain surgery. But it's not steady. Literally millions of people have stopped working and looking for work since 2020.

Well, about 1,245,000 of them died [1], and I'm sure there were a substantial number of older working-age people who went for early retirement to reduce the chances of dying from public contact.

[1]: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm

Re: Hotels turn to robots and room cleanings every 4 days to ease staffing shortages

#16

Post by missedthecue »

drewrv wrote: post #11
missedthecue wrote: post #3

I wonder where everyone has gone. The lazy answer is that companies aren't paying enough. But how is it better to sit at home making $0 than working and having an income? How do they afford rent or electricity or pay for car insurance? The workforce participation rate is still well below pre-pandemic levels. Millions of people just up and left the workforce. It's not as if they are looking for work at the right wage,…

Over a million people died of covid. Many more have become permanently disabled. Many of them were retired seniors but among the people who were not, they were disproportionately service workers who couldn’t wfh.

The average age of a covid death in the US was 80 years old.

Re: Hotels turn to robots and room cleanings every 4 days to ease staffing shortages

#17

Post by mbg721 »

I always assumed the previous frequent room cleanings were more for the benefit of the hotel owner checking up on things than because guests demanded them. So if hoteliers think there isn't very much risk of people trashing their rooms, they don't need to have somebody come in every day.

Re: Hotels turn to robots and room cleanings every 4 days to ease staffing shortages

#19

Post by crooked-v »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #14
codazoda wrote: post #2

In some Las Vegas hotels I no longer need to stop at a counter or stand in a line and it’s 1000x better experience. I can walk directly to my room and scan my phone. I can scan my phone for parking. I can grab extra keys at a kiosk, if I need them. I never have to talk to anyone, if I don’t want to. I also select the option not to have my room cleaned each day. I’ll ask someone in the hall for towels if I stay long e…

I would want any hotel I stay in to have mandated at least weekly hotel room cleaning, or at least weekly inspection. Too many people are sufficiently dirty that it can easily cause pest issues, as well as other damages.

I would assume the reputable but cost-cutting hotels would still be doing a full clean between guest visits, just cutting down on the daily room cleaning while a guest is still there.

Re: Hotels turn to robots and room cleanings every 4 days to ease staffing shortages

#20

Post by lotsofpulp »

missedthecue wrote: post #13
lotsofpulp wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not think it has cratered in the US. https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-lab... Just 1 percent, 63% to 62%, which could just be aging demographics since a greater and greater proportion of people in America are going to be too old to work, especially for hard labor work like cleaning hotel rooms. Also, hotels (and other low pay to quality of life at work ratio employers) were already struggl…

Look how much the workforce participation rate has varied over the last 20 years. Only a few percentage points even through massive global recessions. Small percentage changes in this statistic can easily deceive the layman into thinking it's not a big deal.

I do not understand why a change from 63% to 62% is a sufficiently big deal to be able to claim “millions of Americans decided to stop looking for work”, especially when we know a greater and greater proportion of the population is elderly who cannot work.
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