9 Common Mistakes People Make When Planning Their Honeymoon
Scott Laird
Hotel housekeeping used to be pretty standardized: room attendants would tidy rooms during the day when guests were out, replenishing amenities, emptying trash, and changing linens as needed.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, hotels modified their policies for numerous reasons. First, guests indicated they felt safer with nobody entering their room, even if they weren’t there. Second, hotels struggled to stay staffed adequately to provide daily cleaning services, or needed to reduce staff when occupancy levels nosedived.
After the pandemic was over, most major hotel chains eventually returned to regular cleaning schedules, while others didn’t. Luxury properties which typically offered twice-daily housekeeping (a daily refresh plus evening turndown) didn’t change, while many upper-upscale and midscale hotels have brought back cleaning in varying degrees. Some have returned to daily housekeeping service, while other hotels have made it available on request.
Whether or not to clean rooms every day is a question that the industry has faced since long before the pandemic. In the 2010s, it was en vogue to offer guests a property credit or loyalty points as a small incentive for electing to forego daily cleaning on multi-night stays. Ostensibly it was more eco-friendly because it saved water and cleaning supplies, but what it also saved the hotels was money. Starwood Hotels, which was acquired by Marriott in 2016, started this program in 2008.
Nowadays, it varies by property. At some Marriott properties, guests can choose whether to have their rooms cleaned when they make their reservation or check-in on the Marriott Bonvoy app. Guests can also request cleaning whenever they wish.
But why is it a good idea to request daily housekeeping service? There are a number of reasons.
It Protects Jobs
Allowing guests to opt out of daily room cleaning also allows them to cut staffing. Many hotels deploy a mix of fully employed and contract workers to clean their guestrooms. While terms for workers vary, contract housekeeping staff who aren’t employed by the hotel can often be dismissed for the day as soon as they’re not needed, or the hotel can request fewer workers from their staffing agency when occupancy rates are lower. If a high number of guests requests no room cleaning, that’s fewer hours the hotel has to pay the agency for.
In 2022, the hospitality workers union UNITE HERE demanded that hotels around the country return to automatic daily cleaning to preserve working hours for housekeepers. Opting-in to daily room cleaning means hotels will at least staff workers to clean your room, even if you later decide to put out the “Do Not Disturb” sign.
It Keeps Workers Safer
Hotel housekeeping staff are allocated between 20 and 40 minutes to “turn” a room (that is, to clean it after a guest has checked out and must be prepared for a new guest). Imagine the difference between turning a room after a four-night stay by a guest who requested daily cleaning, vs. a guest who requested the room not be cleaned at all those four days. Regardless of how dirty the room is, housekeeping staff are still given the same amount of time to clean them during a shift. Asking them to clean dirtier rooms in the same amount of time can lead to increases in workplace injuries, which housekeeping departments are already at higher risk for.
Rooms Are Cleaner and More Hygienic
Among the things housekeepers monitor for when tidying hotel rooms are early signs of mold or pest infestations like bedbugs. Catching those things before they’ve had a few days to germinate prevents the need for more invasive solutions at a later date.
It’s a Nicer Experience
Part of the fun of staying in hotels is that you don’t have to make your bed every day, and it’s just nice to come back to a hotel room where the beds have been made, the towels and bath mat have been refolded or replaced, and the trash and clutter removed.
The Bottom Line
The next time you book a hotel, check their housekeeping policy to see what they’re offering. As an example, here’s Hilton’s, which offers daily housekeeping at most Hilton brands, and cleaning every other day at Focused Service brands, although additional cleaning is available on request. Let hotel workers look after you during your stay—it supports they work they do,
Launched in 2019, Signia by Hilton debuted at one of the most difficult times for new brands to scale, but in the six years since, Hilton officials have managed to carve out a spot for the brand with a growing portfolio and global presence.
A big part of that strategy is leaning into conversions during a period of historically low supply growth for the U.S. hotel industry. At launch in 2019, Hilton leadership anticipated the brand would be mostly new builds. While Meghan Fitzgerald, Signia's brand leader at Hilton, said new-builds are on the horizon for Signia as construction costs moderate, for now the company is "targeting high-quality conversions to grow the brand."
An example of this is the recently opened Signia by Hilton La Cantera Resort and Spa in San Antonio, Texas, which marked Hilton's fifth Signia to open, and 9,000th among all Hilton hotels when it opened this year. The resort was converted from the longstanding and regionally popular La Cantera Resort & Spa.
Fitzgerald said she describes the brand as "Hilton's approachable luxury brand."
When it launched in 2019, Signia by Hilton was described by many as a more direct competitor to large meeting and event brands like Marriott Marquis. Fitzgerald said Hilton takes pride in the brand's ability to execute events "of every size and for every occasion."
"Some of the ways we do this is through technical event space, innovative technology, and service for both our meeting planners and our attendees," she said.
In 2025, Hilton welcomed its first international Signia property with the opening of Signia by Hilton Amman in Jordan. Fitzgerald said growth of Signia outside the U.S. will be a key driver for the brand going forward, with signings in India and Egypt and the Signia by Hilton Tainan set to open in Taiwan midway through 2026.
Overall, 2026 is expected to be a big year for the brand domestically, with the new-build Signia by Hilton Indianapolis slated to open in the fall and the conversion of the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida, into the Signia by Hilton Diplomat Beach Resort expected to wrap up.
Fitzgerald described the Indianapolis hotel as a "purposeful property that will transform the skyline of the city."
Fitzgerald said the Indianapolis hotel is illustrative of how the Signia style can adapt to any market. This hotel may "bring the brand to life in a way that's appropriate for that fantastic Midwestern city" but isn't necessarily the same way Hilton approaches resort markets.
In addition to the Amman property, open Signia hotels include the Signia by Hilton Atlanta Georgia World Congress Center, Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek and Signia by Hilton San Jose.
Current signings and underway projects mean Signia by Hilton will double its portfolio by 2028, Fitzgerald said.
She added the growth of the brand will be meaningful for the larger Hilton system because it "strategically bridges that gap between full service and luxury" and that its growth has been fueled by "rising demand for premium meetings and group travel."
Going forward, Fitzgerald said she hopes construction costs continue to moderate, making the path to more new-build hotels more feasible. But she added Hilton already has more hotel rooms under construction than its competitors, so that is likely to remain the case.
"Approximately one in every five hotel rooms under construction globally are slated to join the Hilton portfolio, and Hilton's commercial engine, global distribution and strong technical service teams really help mitigate the risk and support developers," she said.
The CEO of Eight Continents Hotels & Resorts aims to grow the company through acquisitions while improving its cashflow.
In an interview with CoStar News Hotels, Haninder Sachdeva, the chief executive of the hotel ownership and management company, said he's also looking at deals in Africa, more opportunities in India and management deals in Europe. The company, with headquarters in Manchester and Gurugram, India, has a burgeoning portfolio in the United Kingdom, and also in India and Zanzibar.
“In Switzerland, we’ve started negotiations. Middle East demand is driving Switzerland,” he said.
In October 2025, Eight Continents acquired the 38-room La Barbarie Hotel in St. Martin, Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, a U.K. crown dependency close to France. The attraction of Guernsey is that it is a financial hub but one with other pockets of untapped demand, he said.
“There are 1,400 different institutions," he said. “Operating a hotel there is more lucrative, and there is a mix of business and leisure. Added to that, I do not think anyone has tapped into its request-for-proposal business. La Barbarie’s corporate business is less than 8%.”
Eight Continents has always wanted to be in Guernsey, Sachdeva said, pointing to the hotel market's average daily rate and overall demand.
“When [La Barbarie Hotel] came to market, it had been No. 1 on TripAdvisor for many years. On top of being well-managed and kept in good shape by the previous owners, the hotel's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was healthy,” he said.
When it comes to deals, Eight Continents is opportunistic, Sachdeva said.
“Our strategy is to have 50 hotels by 2030, but Guernsey was pure opportunity," he said. "It was not in the plan, but when the chance came, we knew we did not want to miss it."
Sachdeva said he hopes for more airlift to the island, adding it's at a disadvantage to neighboring Jersey. The United Kingdom is both islands’ chief feeder market.
Eight is great
There's meaning behind the Eight Continents Hotels & Resorts name, Sachdeva said.
“Number eight is my favorite number, it is the date of my birth, and the company is named for Zelandia,” he said, referring to the submerged continental shelf off the coast of Australia and New Zealand that some people consider to be the eighth continent.
“The Chinese consider the number eight as lucky. It is a business number,” he added.
The origins of the business might easily have been less lucky, Sachdeva said. Eight Continents was founded pre-pandemic in January 2020.
“We were a management consultancy company, but I decided to start my own business connecting owners with brands," he said. "The pandemic, though, stopped everything, so we decided to be an operator, and during the lockdown we decided to be the manager. I saw after the 2008 [global financial crisis] that the bounce-back was stronger. No one knew how long it would take to rebound after the pandemic, but we took a shot at it in August 2020."
Sachdeva added that in hindsight that downtime, with everyone sitting at home, allowed him the time to develop Eight Continents’ framework.
“That gave us time to have a 360-degree view, to understand what we wanted to launch, and we took a bold step to launch on three different continents,” he said.
Indian guests, be they from India or within its diaspora, understand the DNA of the firm, Sachdeva said.
“Between 50% to 60% of hotel owners in East Africa are Indian owners. In 2021, we took the entire back office to India, a strategic move to allow us to have a bigger footprint there, to save on our bottom line and to provide a better [return on investment] impact on conversions,” he said.
In India, Eight Continents is focused on leisure hotels in secondary cities.
“We seek experience-led hotels and class ourselves as bucket-list hotels. An example would be a great property close to a tiger reserve,” he said.
Eight Continents also pioneered stargazing in light pollution-free areas of India, Sachdeva said.
The firm has numerous brands to play with from the midscale to the luxury segment, including Naaz, Tree Top, Stamps and Legacy by Eight Continents, as well as eponymous brand Eight Continents Hotels & Resorts.
Across its portfolio of open hotels and properties in development, Eight Continents has 12 hotels in Asia — 10 in India and two in The Maldives — six hotels in Europe and two in Africa. One of its upcoming hotels is Naaz Zanzibar, which is expected to open in 2027. Design often is traditional and in keeping with hotels’ locations, he said, and the firm also operates in-house restaurant brand Firangis.
It owns three of those hotels: La Barbarie; the 18-room Taychreggan, Signature Collection by Eight Continents, on Loch Awe near Oban, Scotland, which dates to 1753; and the 34-room Episode Hotel Royal Lemington Spa in Warwickshire, England, which dates to 1820.
“We are acquiring a fourth hotel, The Vincent, in Southport, close to both Manchester and Liverpool. It has golf business and is close to the sea, away from the hustle and bustle,” Sachdeva said of the 59-room hotel.
Indian incidences
The growth of the company's Indian portfolio came with challenges, Sachdeva said, but it was fueled by Eight Continents’ optimism and bravado.
“The first hotel we signed in India was in 2021. The hotel was not 100% ready. Before us, no brand would come in, but we wanted to showcase what we can do, and it is still not fully open," he said. "Last year, we opened its spa and banquet hall, and the hotel gets 60% to 65% occupancy, when the average in the area is 40%.
“The owner is well-connected. His father was a forest officer, and it is still part of a national park. We came up with the idea of having solar power, and he said, ‘Why not?’ His father still liaises with the heads of local villages, and 60% of staff is local. We organize village tours and dinners with locals, with whom we profit share,” he said.
One Eight Continents hotel that did not work out was located in Romania in an UNESCO heritage site but too close to Ukraine, Sachdeva said. He added he is looking at similar destinations in Commonwealth of Independent States nations and in Eastern Europe as part of a partnership.
“Hospitality is always challenging. Running costs are always high, and the biggest of those are payroll, heat and power,” he said.
Comments
Post a Comment