First came the pleas to re-use bathroom towels at hotels as a way to help the environment.Now, more operators are asking guests to skip housekeeping altogether — and they’re willing to sweeten the deal. Under programs with names like “Make a Green Choice,” “Greener Stay” and “Green for Green,” hotels are rewarding customers who choose not to have their rooms serviced during their stay with loyalty points, food and drink vouchers or other incentives.Such opt-out programs have been around the industry for more than 10 years; Starwood, now part of Marriott, started Make a Green Choice in 2009. But observers say the practice has been spreading more in recent years, especially at mid-level properties...Disney’s option doesn’t even tout an environmental goal; it just offers guests at value or moderate resorts a $10 Disney gift card per night (excluding the first night) if they opt out of room cleaning.
I've always considered daily housekeeping in a hotel to be totally unnecessary, but the source article raises the question of what this trend means for hotel workers.
The problem is that the cost of your room was calculated assuming that you are getting all your towels washed and your room cleaned every day. And yes, opting out is "greener' for the environment, that's not why hotels push this. It's that it makes them more profitable, by lowering their overhead costs. If they were truly pushing for this, then they would offer you the option of going greener, and get a lower room rate. They of course, will never do this.
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