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

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

#201
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 never have to talk to anyone, if I don’t want to. I have seen this attitude at more and more people, where does it come from? Meaning not wanting to talk with other people. It's what makes us humans, talking with other people. The alternative is lots and lots of money paid on psychotherapy and the like further down the road, or worse. Because actively avoiding talking to other people it's like bringing your car f…

The problem is related to how hotels (and hospitality in general) are hiring. No one is willing to pay the money any more for staff that is qualified for more than entering data into a computer, or for enough staff to keep waiting lines short.

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

#202
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 never have to talk to anyone, if I don’t want to. I have seen this attitude at more and more people, where does it come from? Meaning not wanting to talk with other people. It's what makes us humans, talking with other people. The alternative is lots and lots of money paid on psychotherapy and the like further down the road, or worse. Because actively avoiding talking to other people it's like bringing your car f…

I travel for work semi frequently and my wife and I started “digital nomadding” six months out of the year flying across the country staying in mostly Hilton brand hotels.

I fly in. Click on the hotel address on the Hilton app that takes me to Apple Maps and get an Uber to the hotel through Maps. On the ride to the hotel, I do the digital check in, request my digital key and walk directly to the room.

I’m going to be talking to people all day the next day.

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

#203
post #151

Hotels should start proposing discounts for not cleaning the room every day. If I stay in a place for a couple of weeks, I’d be happy to have the bedsheets and towels changed once and the room made like every 3 days at most. I mean, most of us don’t do more than that at home. Less room cleaning would save on staff and laundry et be a net benefit for the environment.

This causes unexpected problems. Depending on how it's implemented (and in a "fair" way or not), the housekeeping / cleaning staff object to this sometimes on grounds that they're being deprived of hours of work. So in fact I have experienced at some hotels (off the books of course), the housekeeping staff asking you to not accept the points-for-no-housekeeping option. It's kind of like the situation I heard a where…

Labour that is not used inefficiently can be allocated to other purposes.

Of course that's just on paper. In reality one person pockets the profit and they eat dirt.

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

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

1.2 million people in the workforce died? 70% of covid deaths were over the age of 70 years. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2006392117

And how many of those were grandparents doing Fred child care that allowed people to work at low paying jobs?

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

#205

Its not a shortage of workers, it's a shortage of underpayable workers.

I've started to dislike this perspective, because it feels like an "if the only tool you have is a hammer..." kind of explanation. It's a valid perspective, but it's not the only one, and other perspectives are often more useful. Maybe the issue is just that hotels don't want to pay enough. Maybe there is an actual shortage. Then any single hotel can solve the shortage by paying more, but hotels in general can't. Or…

What real wage growth?

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

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did say 'if they don't want to'...and how many of us can honestly say that we want to talk to someone ALL OF THE TIME? Talking to someone about checking in for a hotel room, after waiting for 10 minutes in a check in line...is not what I would call a fulfilling experience. Communication does not make us human, plenty of other species communicate...there are far more intricate and unique things that make us what…

> You're equating someone's wish to not have to wait at a check out counter to being anti-social...come on. Yes, 10 minutes waiting in a hotel lobby, which is by definition a societal space, is, well, social. Actively wanting go avoid that is, well, anti-social. Anyway, it's a losing battle at this point.

> Actively wanting go avoid that is, well, anti-social.

Ah the epitome of social interactions. An underpaid and overworked service worker mis-hears my name, pretends to not find me in the system then gives me a card. Well worth queuing for!

But you know it is a must, since if I continue the conversation with my travel companion uninterrupted all the way to our room then I am actively tearing apart the fabric of society.

> Anyway, it's a losing battle at this point.

Battle? Why do you care how others choose to live their life this much? Are they hurting you?

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

#207
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another app to install and leak my privacy. No thanks. I’ll wait in line for a key card.

What information will the app have that the hotel wouldn’t have at check in?

IP address, browser/device fingerprint.

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

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another app to install and leak my privacy. No thanks. I’ll wait in line for a key card.

What privacy do you think you’re giving up by using an application? The hotel may find out you are staying there and when you come into your room - ie something they already know?

It would link it to other pseudonymous identifiers that don’t (yet) know who you are but would very much like to.

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

#209
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a great way to get mugged to me

Not everyone lives in a war zone.

areas that aren’t usually called “inner cities”. That’s about a half step up from slum.

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

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What privacy do you think you’re giving up by using an application? The hotel may find out you are staying there and when you come into your room - ie something they already know?

It would link it to other pseudonymous identifiers that don’t (yet) know who you are but would very much like to.

And what are these “pseudononymous” identifiers that you worry about? It’s much easier to track across the web than apps.

And how is installing the Hilton app going to allow another app to find out information about you?

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