WEBVTT - Inside the Secret World of Hotel Operations 0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:04.680 I guess what mango? What's that? Will? So In prep 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:07.080 for this week's episode, I was reading about this hotel 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.760 in Ireland. It's called Ashford Castle, and the big draw 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:13.720 there is that there's an owl called Dingle. Mango doesn't 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:15.800 make you want to stay there. I love the idea 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:17.840 of a hotel, al I I feel like I need 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.319 to hear more. Okay, well, apparently the hotel has this 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:23.240 falconry school, so here's even more reason to go there. 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:25.560 It's on the grounds right there, and the guests can 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.000 take classes there with you know, you work with all 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:30.720 kinds of birds when you do this, but Dingle is 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:32.880 of course the star. To be clear, there are other 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:34.800 birds there, but Dingle is the star. I'm just gonna 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:37.440 keep saying Dingle in. This is partially because he has 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:40.840 a specialty. So if you're looking to get the proposal 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.880 package there, they set you up with this nice cozy 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.520 dinner by candle light, and at the end of the dinner, 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.960 Dingle will swoop in and deliver your ring. How cool 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:52.840 is this? I feel like that's the most Harry Potter 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.400 proposal I've ever It's so awesome. But you know, this 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:58.320 also made us wonder about hotels and all of the 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:02.240 secrets around hotels, the little gimmicks hotels used to get 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:04.880 guests in the door, and the tricks and codes that 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.679 hotel employees use, and of course this mysterious society that 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:12.120 so many top concierge is belonged to. So let's dig in. 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.679 Hey there, podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:37.959 Will Pearson, and as always I'm joined by my good 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:40.200 friend man Guesh Ticketer and on the other side of 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.280 the soundproof glass showing off his vast collection of ill 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:46.960 gotten hotel amenities. This is one of his stranger collections. 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:49.960 That's our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. And you know, 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:51.440 this is one of those times I do wish our 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:55.240 listeners could see this, because every single inch of Tristan's desk, 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:59.040 and I mean every single inch is just tiny bottles 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:03.000 of shampoo and conditioner and lotions. And I actually don't 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.560 think I've ever seen so many slightly different shades of 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.840 beige and light green in my life. It's kind of 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.400 like the world's most boring rainbow if you look at it. 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:14.480 So I don't even want to Nobody has planned for 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:16.040 all of this but you know one thing you won't 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:19.480 find interest in collection, and that's toothpaste. And that's because 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.560 hotels in the US aren't typically provide complimentary toothpaste like 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:25.959 they do for soap, shampoo, and all those other bathroom staples. 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:27.800 You know. I've noticed that there have been a couple 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:30.360 of times where I've forgotten toothpaste and gone downstairs and 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:34.280 they've given me the world like this should do the trick, 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:38.280 or the world's smallest of toothpaste. Have you ever had 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.600 this happen smaller than like the tip of your finger. 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:44.639 It's so strange. But I've actually heard that hotels choose 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:47.720 which amenities to offer based on market research. And you 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:50.120 would think and hope that there would be a strong 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:53.400 market for dental hygiene, but apparently most people aren't asking 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:55.920 for toothpaste in their rooms, so hotels just don't bother 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.360 stocking it. Yeah, So, I'd always figured that it was 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.320 just because most people brought their own, but it turns 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:03.200 out there's actually a more practical reason that hotels don't 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:06.320 do this as well. Apparently toothpaste is more strictly regulated 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:08.320 in the US and things like shampoo or soap, and 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.480 in fact toothpaste is actually classified as a cosmetic and 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:15.040 a drug since it usually contains fluoride, and the stricter 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:18.519 regulations put on drug manufacturing means that toothpaste can cost 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.840 I don't know, like or even more than other hygiene essentials. 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:24.400 So you know, that's probably another reason why most hotels 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:26.680 don't provide it. Okay, I actually never knew that, But 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.800 that's exactly why we're doing this episode because you know, 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:31.800 although the vast majority of us have stayed in a 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:33.920 hotel at one time or another, the two of us 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:36.440 within the past week, actually most of us, you know, 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.640 we know very little about how a hotel actually runs. 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.960 And that's probably because our culture has long since embraced 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:45.640 the thinking of one of the hotel industry's pioneers, and 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.880 that was Caesar Ritz now the Swiss hotel a famously 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:52.760 claimed that quote people like to be served but invisibly, 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:55.360 and so for the last hundred and fifty years, society 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:58.000 is pretty much stuck to that maxim and that's, you know, 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:00.800 for better or worse. But today we're we're going to 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:03.160 peek behind the front desk and kind of pull back 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:05.840 that disposable shower curtain to reveal some of the best 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.600 kept secrets of hotels and their employees. Well, of course, 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:12.280 uncover the dues and don'ts of things like room service, 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:14.920 as well as some of the weirdest requests ever fielded 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:17.839 by a hotel concierge. Plus, we'll get a better sense 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:20.600 of the burdens of a hotel housekeeper and why you 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:23.279 probably shouldn't use the glass cups in your hotel room. 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:25.360 So where do you want to start, Mango? So I 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:27.640 think before we get into the secrets, we should lay 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:29.919 out a few basic facts about just how massive the 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.440 hotel workforce truly is. So for starters, they're about fifty 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.359 five thousand hotel properties in the US, which amounts to 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:39.440 more than five million guest rooms in total, and over 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:41.479 one billion people stay in a hotel for at least 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.160 one night each year, which is about fifteen percent of 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.440 the world's population. And to service all of these guests 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.919 and the rooms they occupy, hotels employee about four point 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.240 five million people in the US alone. So this includes 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:58.359 things like desk clerks, hotel managers, housekeepers, bell boys. It 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:00.840 takes a staggering amount of man or to keep even 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:03.800 like a single hotel running smoothly. And according to the 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:06.720 American Hotel and Lodging Association, which is where all these 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.480 stats actually come from, a typical hotel with a hundred 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.200 occupied rooms per night supports over two hundred fifty local 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:16.440 jobs every year. Al Right, well, since hotels are such 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:18.719 big employers, I think maybe the way we want to 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:21.800 approach this is just kind of do a role by 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.520 role dirt dishing on you know, each one of these 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:26.520 if if that makes sense to you, yeah, I like 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:28.680 that idea. So why don't we start with the front 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:32.360 desk and this practice of walking a guest And this 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:34.320 is when a hotel turns away a guest with a 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:38.440 standing reservation because the hotel is mistakenly overbooked themselves. But 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:41.239 the truth is that overbooking is rarely done by mistake. 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:43.960 So the average no show rate for a hotel reservation 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:47.080 is around ten percent each day, and hotels tried to 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:50.240 book themselves to a hundred ten percent capacity whenever possible 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:53.520 to account for these expected cancelations, and the hope is 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:55.680 that the numbers will balance out and that every head 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.200 will have a bed for the night. It's what hoteliers 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:01.080 call a perfect cell. But the trouble is that sometimes 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.279 too many people actually show up for the rooms they booked, 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:05.839 and this is when someone gets walked. So this is 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:08.760 somewhat similar to like when the airline's over book flights 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:11.279 and they're looking for volunteers and all that. But you said, 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:13.120 when somebody gets walked? So what what what does that 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.320 mean exactly? Well, you know, the practice varies by hotel, 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:18.880 but typically the desk agent will book the guest one 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:21.880 night stay at a nearby hotel, usually on the company's dime. 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:25.280 But again it depends on the hotel. Alright, so how 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:28.000 do hotels choose who to walk Like? Is it based 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:31.479 on how long you're staying or something else or what? Yeah, 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.040 I mean there are a few different considerations. So length 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.720 of stay is one. So for example, like you're more 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:38.920 likely to get walked if you're staying for just one night. 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:41.800 Another consideration is whether or not you've stayed in the 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:44.040 hotel before and how likely you seem to come back. 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:46.960 And obviously if you're route to the staff or maybe 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:49.320 even short tempered with a loved one in front of 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.839 the staff, you probably up to your chances of getting walked. 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:56.000 But honestly, the biggest determining factor of who gets bumped 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.640 is how much they're paying for their room, So hotel 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.479 prices fluctuate a lot by on demand. But the rooms 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:04.039 that make hotels the least profit are all the ones 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.000 booked on discount sites like Expedia or price Line, and 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:09.480 these sites all take commission for helping to fill at 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:13.320 hotels rooms typically anywhere from ten. So obviously I would 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:16.320 tell would prioritize a customer who booked with them directly, 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.600 since that person is paying the full rate. So if 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:21.440 you booked on a discount site and the hotel is 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:23.440 full when you get there, you might want to prepare 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:26.080 to take a walk. Yeah. I've actually read how hotels 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:29.240 usually set aside their worst rooms for those discount sites too, 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.440 which is a little bit scary because I tend to 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.200 use those sites at the same time. But like, I'm 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.320 one of those gold star members because I do it enough, 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:37.840 so I guess that means I get the top of 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:41.480 the line, dirtiest nazist room. But apparently the thinking is 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:43.680 that those customers are in it more for the value 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:45.920 than they are the experience, so why not keep the 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.440 best rooms for those who choose the hotel at full 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.040 price right. I mean, it definitely makes sense from a 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.679 business standpoint, but it is kind of ironic that sites 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:55.640 like price line have become such a thorn in the 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:59.640 hotel industry side, because, if you remember, hotels actually helped 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.600 create those discounts sites way back in their early two thousand's. 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.880 At the time, the hotel industry was in a serious decline. 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:09.280 This was post September eleven, so you know, owners decided 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.120 to roll the dice on a different way to sell 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.120 more rooms, and all kinds of hotels started giving their 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:16.680 inventory to these discount sites, and little by little the 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.680 industry sort of picked itself up again. And now the 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:22.240 hotels are doing so well they probably wish they could 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.080 dish the discount sites entirely, but of course customers wouldn't 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:27.800 stand for that, and with things like Airbnb and other 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:30.880 rental platforms rising, you know, hotels are even less likely 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:33.560 to shake things up. Yeah, you're probably right in but 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:36.559 since we're talking about hotel financials, Actually, here was the 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:38.200 fact that I stumble across. Did you know that the 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.800 average operational cost for a hotel room is only between 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:44.720 thirty and forty dollars a day. Now, that includes everything 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:49.079 from the water being used, electricity, laundry, cleaning supplies, even 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.840 the hourly wages of housekeepers and other employees who helped 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:56.520 keep the room operating. So deduct about thirty dollars from 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:58.600 whatever you're paying for the hotel room, and you can 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:01.959 see why the industry became profitable again so quickly. That's 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:04.200 really interesting, you know. To get us back to the 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:06.000 front desk, though, I do want to warn you about 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:08.679 another secret way that hotel desk clerks can get even 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:12.760 with inconsiderate guests. And thankfully this one has some hotel 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:15.079 slang associated with it as well. Have you ever heard 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:17.480 of a key bomb? I can't say that I have. 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.679 It sounds a little bit scary. So so what is it? So? 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:22.839 You know the key cards that most hotels used for 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.720 their rooms these days, right, Well, whenever a guest checks in, 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.280 there given what's called an initial key, and this is 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:30.319 the key that's been programmed to reset the door locked 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:33.120 the first time it's inserted, so that no other previous 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:35.880 keys will work anymore. And most hotels will give you 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.360 two or more room keys, but only one of them 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:40.880 is often an initial key, at least that's how it's 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:43.400 supposed to go, But if you cross a desk agent 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:45.200 or act like a jerk to your family in front 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:47.920 of one, it's possible that they'll slip you a key 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:51.760 bomb is punishment, and this is basically a second initial key, 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:54.920 So once it gets used, the first key gets deactivated 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.080 and whoever stuck with it will be locked out the 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:58.920 next time they try to use it. And says most 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:01.199 people will keep that is key for themselves and then 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.240 give the other key to like a spouse or a child. 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:07.040 The key bomb generally hits the person that's intended for. Ouch. 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:10.720 You actually came across another good low key revenge plot, 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.200 and this one is especially popular among desk clerks in 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.720 New York City hotels. So you know how to one 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:17.640 two is one of the oldest and maybe even the 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.600 most common area code in the New York City area. Well, 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.080 if you ever find yourself staying in room one to 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.800 one two or twelve twelve in a New York hotel, 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:28.719 you might just be the victim of a passive aggressive 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.400 hotel worker. And that's because hotel management knows that guests 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:35.080 often forget to dial nine when they're trying to call 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:38.600 outside of a hotel. So whoever ends up in room twelve. 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.640 Twelve is doomed to get phone calls all night from 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:45.560 confused guest dialing one to one too. It's pretty great. 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:49.240 That is pretty great. So let's switch on our gears 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:52.320 for a second, because there's another secretive aspect of hotels 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.480 that involves the front desk crew, and that's room service. 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:58.600 So back in the nine thirties, the Waldorf Historian became 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.400 the first hotel to deliver else directly to its rooms, 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.920 and for decades afterwards this amenity was seen as almost 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:07.400 a luxury and one that was only found in like 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:10.680 five star hotels. But nowadays plenty of standard hotels are 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.080 getting in on the action as well. In fact, around 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.320 of all hotels in the country now offer some type 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:18.719 of room service. Really that many, alright, So so what 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.199 should we keep in mind when placing an order? So 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:23.559 for starters, you have to consider which floor you're on 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.560 before you make that call. So earlier this year, Metal 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:31.000 Flaw spoke with a hospitality specialist known simply as Matt. Matt. Yeah, well, 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:32.599 he's been in the industry for ten years. He's a 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:35.319 veteran and worked at luxury hotels and according to him, 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:38.240 the higher floor the saggaer food is going to be 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:41.000 when it finally gets there. And this is actually because 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.400 of those big metal lids that hotels used to cover 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.240 your food order. So the lids are great for retaining 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:48.800 heat and keeping out germs, but the longer they have 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:51.560 to travel, the more steam builds up inside them. So 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:54.480 unless you like your toast really wet or your fries 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.280 super soggy, it's probably best to skip the crispy stuff. 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.400 If you're on a higher floor. Well, i mean, wet 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:01.960 toast is probably one of my all time favorites, so 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.880 I feel like I'm I'm okay here, but that's interesting. Yeah, 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:08.400 So you know, the metal is can actually result in 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.959 another problem because the lids trap that heat, they basically 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.920 continue cooking your food during the trip up to your room. So, 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:18.120 according to Matt, if you order a steak medium, it'll 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.360 probably be medium well by the time it gets to you, 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.200 if not even more cooked. So his advice is to 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:26.120 avoid steak and seafood altogether and just off for the 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:28.319 things that are tough to mess up, like salads or 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:32.120 club sandwiches. Well, and you even seeing hotels where sometimes 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:35.000 those are the only items offered after a certain hour, 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.640 and apparently that's to avoid having to keep an overnight 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.160 chef on staff, and so instead of the day crew 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:42.960 just preps a bunch of salads and sandwiches that they'll sell, 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:45.560 you know, until the next day comes, which makes sense, 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:47.640 you know. And another thing that most people don't know 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:49.920 is that a lot of hotels now outsourced their room 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:52.400 service to the local restaurants. So if you look closely 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:54.199 at the menu, it might say that the food is 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:57.160 proudly presented by the hotel, but it actually comes from 0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:59.600 a place down the street. And obviously this is another 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.320 cost measure for the tell, but it's also one that 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.720 most people don't mind or even notice in most cases. 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:07.079 You know, I think I actually prefer knowing that the 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.560 food I was eating was not prepared in the hotel kitchen, 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:11.760 just from a place down the street, like a good 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.200 restaurant nearby. That sounds like a smart plan. Yeah, I mean, 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:16.160 I can't blame you. And hotels don't have a great 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:20.319 reputation for being especially clean. In fact, according to the NSF, 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:23.280 the average hotel room is dirtier than a typical home 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:27.559 and airplane and even a school, and that's despite having 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:29.719 an army of housekeepers just working around the clock to 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:32.360 keep things tidy. Yeah, it's interesting to talk about it 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:33.800 and kind of gross. But what do you say we 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.440 take a closer look at hotel housekeeping and see what 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:38.559 sorts of secrets we can turn up. Yeah, but first 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:55.240 let's take a quick break. They're listening to part time Genius, 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.000 So we're talking about the secret world of hotel operations, 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:00.560 all right, mangoes. So before we talk housekeep I do 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.600 want to quickly mention two room features that hotel designers 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:07.199 pay extra careful attention to. That would be the headboard 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.079 and the bed sheets. Now it's actually something I never 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:12.600 would have guessed, but according to industry experts, I don't 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:14.720 know if it was Matt or who matter, there's a 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:16.920 good chunk of a hotel's room budget that goes to 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.200 an impressive looking headboard for the beds. And if you 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:22.480 think about it, that's because the headboard is really one 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:24.480 of the first things that a guest sees when they 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.160 walk into a room, and so the trick actually works 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:30.560 especially well in budget hotels because if fancy headboard also 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.200 has the effect of pulling attention away from the rest 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:35.880 of the furniture in the room, which was probably way 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:40.200 cheaper than whatever they spent on that breathtaking headboard. I mean, 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:42.280 I feel like that's like me as a kid, I'd 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.720 always make my bed because it distracts from, like all 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:48.800 the dirtiness. But what about the veget So what's the 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:51.960 secret there? Well, unfortunately, there are probably all kinds of 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:54.560 secrets lurking in these hotel bed sheets, but the one 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:57.320 I'm talking about specifically in this case is the thread count, 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.400 or the number of horizontal and vertical threads per square 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:04.120 inch of fabric. Because hotel guests typically judge their overall 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:07.560 experience by how well they slept, and so some hotels 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.400 hedge their bets by springing for higher thread count sheets 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:12.600 just to make sure the bed is as comfortable as 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.480 it can be. And that's why even thrifty hotels might 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:18.920 provide some fairly luxurious linen, say three or four hundred 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.160 thread count, and then the price of your hotels often 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:24.600 wrapped their guests and a scandalous six hundred thread count 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.080 sheets or even higher, like you might find some as 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:30.760 high as fifteen. I can't say I'm stayed in that 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.600 hotel before. Yeah, I definitely haven't because I count when 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.320 I'm in there. But since we're on the topic of 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:39.440 bed Lynn's, do you know the housekeeper secret to casing 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.920 a pillow? You mean pulling a pillowcase on a pillow. 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.200 I'm sure they do it the same way we all do, right, Like, 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.680 you tuck it underneath your chin, just kind of weirdly, 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:49.760 and you have to awkwardly pull the pillow case up 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.400 like a soccer pair of pants. Right. Well, I mean 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:54.400 that works fine for our pillows at home, but imagine 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:56.800 trying that same move with pillows from like twenty different 0:15:56.800 --> 0:15:58.920 strangers each day. Oh yeah, that's a good point. I mean, 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:01.040 I wouldn't want to put my face anywhere near that 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:03.320 many pillows in a day. But yeah, so what what 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:06.400 what do they do? Basically, they karate chopped the middle 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:08.440 of the pillow, they fold one side over the other, 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:10.160 and then they just shove it into the case and 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.440 smooth it out afterwards. That sounds so aggressive, but I 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:15.720 kind of like it. I'm gonna try that out. Well, 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:17.520 you know it's it also feels like that would be 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:19.680 a time saver because they could do that so quickly, 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:22.800 and that is something that's critical for housekeepers because they're 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:25.720 always pressed for time. Just looking at the stats on this, 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:28.880 it's pretty wild. So most hotel maids have just half 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.000 an hour to devote to cleaning each standard room. A 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:34.240 suite might get an hour or so, but they're still 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:36.680 having to move super quickly. And what that means is 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:39.200 that on a given day, a hotel made must clean 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:41.760 between ten and twenty rooms in order to meet their 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:45.640 daily quota, and because management holds them to a tight schedule, 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.480 they usually aren't able to clean the rooms as thoroughly 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.560 as they might like to. Yeah, I read that sometimes 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.480 don't get taken care of nearly as often as they 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:56.520 probably like, including things like vacuuming the room or scrubbing 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.880 the bathtub, And that's just because there isn't enough time 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.880 to do these more involved every single day, so they 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:03.920 wind up being pushed back to you know, once a 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:06.280 week or whatever. Yeah, that's right. And you know, while 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.200 we've all heard the horror stories of how bacteria laid 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:11.840 in the hotel remote is or the light switch or 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:14.520 the telephone, and it is worth noting that a lot 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:17.639 of this contamination is the fallout from these hairy schedules 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:20.240 that housekeepers have to keep rather than any kind of 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.400 laziness or oversight on their part. In fact, I think 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:25.359 we talked about this in one of our very first 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:28.840 episodes in our invention that we still haven't marketed yet. 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.920 But it's the hotel remote condom right where you take 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:34.600 you take the shower cap from a hotel I still 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:37.120 do this. Do you do this in hotel rooms whenever 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:39.399 I go into It's one of my tips, Mango, you 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:41.760 should have followed this. But you go in, you find 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:43.679 the shower cap and you put it over the remote. 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:45.840 It's just the life saver, and then you walk around 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.760 with it and flip every light switch with something's wrong 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:50.959 with me, But that's okay. But if you think about it, 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:54.240 people who clean hotel rooms don't have time to test 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.280 how clean a surfaces, and so instead they use the 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:59.359 same system that we do at home, and that's just 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:01.879 to look at it and see if it looks clean. 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:05.320 And obviously this visual assessment leaves a ton of room 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.679 for air and that's why. And this set is a 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.720 little bit troubling, but it's not uncommon for about eight 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:14.159 of hotel room services to hold at least some amount 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:18.280 of fecal Back to eight percent no matter how clean 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:20.680 they might look to the naked eye. But the most 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:23.720 important thing to remember is to never ever use the 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:27.960 glass cups you find in a hotel room under any circumstances. 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:29.600 So I feel like this is the second time you 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:32.520 mentioned this, and I'm really curious what's going on. I mean, 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:35.800 it's just that, like the house cleaners don't clean them. Yes, 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:38.240 the second time I've mentioned it since we started recording. 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:40.960 I was telling Tristan just before we started. But it's 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:43.440 the cleaning that's the problem. And so there was an 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.560 author and a hotel worker named Jacob Tomsky that wrote 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:48.800 a hospitality tell all a few years ago. It's called 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:51.800 Heads and Beds. And in the book, Tomsky points out 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:54.840 that hotel maids don't actually have dish soap and their 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:58.200 housekeeping cards. So, as he explained to USA Today, quote, 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:00.919 some housekeepers will wash the passes in the sink with 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:04.680 hot water and shampoo, but many of them use furniture 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:08.600 polished because it leaves the glasses spot free. How disgusting 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:12.320 is that? I mean that seems gross but also maybe 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.080 a little dangerous too. Yeah, it definitely is. I mean 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:17.919