Hotel room attendant

Hotel room attendants prepare rooms and make sure they reach the required standard for guests. Duties include making beds, cleaning the room and replacing towels and toiletries.

Work activities

Hotel room attendants make sure that hotel bedrooms and public areas are clean and tidy. The main part of the job is cleaning and tidying the bedrooms. Starting early in the morning, the room attendants collect keys for the rooms. They have a worksheet to tell them which rooms need cleaning, and whether they need to do a full or part clean. Doing a full or part clean depends on whether the guest in a room is staying on or leaving, and also on the hotel’s policy. They need to take care not to disturb the guest who might still be sleeping. In that case, they would have to come back later to clean the room.

After making beds and sorting out towels, the attendant empties bins, takes away used plates and cups, and clears away used soap and shampoo containers. They will then dust and vacuum and clean the bathroom. Finally, they’ll put out new soap and shampoo, tea and coffee supplies and clean cups, and stock up any items in the mini bar (if there is one in the room). Once the bedrooms have been done, the room attendants might go on to clean corridors and public areas – emptying bins, vacuuming, dusting and polishing.

Other tasks could be serving drinks and snacks, such as morning tea/afternoon coffee, and collecting laundry and dry cleaning for guests. They also need to report any damage or loss in the rooms. In some hotels, there are late-duty room attendants who go into the rooms in the early evening, turn down bedcovers, close curtains and switch on bedside lamps. This is usually done in more expensive hotels and helps to make the guests feel welcomed when they return to their rooms.

Most hotel room attendants wear uniforms. They might also wear protective gloves for cleaning.

Being able to read, write and speak Welsh may be an advantage when you’re looking for work in Wales.

Personal qualities and skills

As a hotel room attendant, you need:

• To be well organised.
• A polite and pleasant personality.
• Lots of energy.
• To cope with bending, lifting and moving about a lot.
• To be careful not to knock over or break anything in the rooms.
• To work with people at all levels.
• To follow procedures and pay attention to detail.
• To work well as part of a team.

Pay and opportunities

The pay rates given are approximate. Hotel room attendants earn around £11,500 a year, rising to around £18,000 a year.

Hotel room attendants work 39-41 hours a week full-time, but there are opportunities for part-time, temporary and seasonal work. Most attendants work weekends and on public holidays, on a rota basis. In some hotels, for example, those close to airports, attendants might work shifts.

Employers include hotels, guesthouses, inns, motels, university halls of residence, residential and nursing homes, and private hospitals. Opportunities for hotel room attendants occur throughout the UK in towns, cities and rural areas (including around the coast). Hotel room attendants can find work in other countries and on cruise ships.

Where are vacancies advertised?

Vacancies are advertised in local newspapers, and on the Government’s Find a Job service. Vacancies can also be found through specialist recruitment agencies and on job boards. Many of the larger hotels have their own website, and usually advertise vacancies as they arise. You could also approach hotels directly to ask about vacancies.

Entry routes and training

You don’t need qualifications to do this job; being hardworking and having the right attitude are just as important.  It might help if you’ve had some experience of cleaning or working in the hospitality industry.

An level 2 (intermediate) apprenticeship as a hospitality team member is a great way to start a career in this profession.

Your basic training will be on-the-job and will include things like using cleaning equipment, making beds, hotel layout and reporting procedures. Your manager might decide to support you to obtain qualifications in accommodation services, housekeeping or customer service.

With experience and more training, you might be promoted to floor manager or housekeeper, which is a management position in large hotels. If you’d like to work in another country, you could apply for seasonal jobs in hotels overseas or even on cruise ships. Some hotel room attendants eventually move into hospitality management or set up their own business.

Qualifications

You don’t normally need any educational qualifications to do this job. A qualification in hospitality might be useful for entry to this career.

If you wish to enter this career through an Apprenticeship, you will need GCSEs in English and maths, although you may be able to complete these alongside your programme.

Adult opportunities

Age limits: It is illegal for any organisation to set age limits for entry to employment, education or training, unless they can show there is a real need to have these limits.

Some entrants have a background in customer service, cleaning work or portering.

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