Staying in a Hotel Room? Don’t Forget to Show Appreciation
Ahh, vacation. There’s nothing like getting away from the responsibilities of home to stay in a nice, clean hotel room…where someone else takes out the trash, cleans the bathtub and changes your sheets. The little things really do make a difference, right?!
Give Thanks for Service Workers While Traveling
Did you know that you can make your own trip even more enjoyable by doing something as simple as being grateful? According to UCLAHealth.org, gratitude comes with a number of health benefits, including better sleep, reduced stress and less anxiety / depression. Sounds like a worthwhile practice to me!
One way you can do this is to leave a Thank You note for housekeeping staff when checking out of your hotel room. Head on over to my Shop where you can purchase a PDF printable to leave in your hotel room to show thanks when traveling. It’s an easy way to show that you care.
Of course, other ways to appreciate hotel staff include:
- Leaving a monetary tip
- Picking the room up a little before you leave, just to make the cleanup job somewhat easier
- Treating the staff kindly, even if you have an issue that needs dealt with
- Trying to keep quiet in the room so as not to create a headache for staff or other guests sleeping in the hotel
- Abiding by hotel smoking / parking / swimming pool ordinations
- Saying “thank you” to the breakfast room staff and not hoarding food
Going above and beyond makes a difference…truly!
In conclusion, I’ll share about one experience my parents and I had that truly made us thankful for excellent hotel staff. Several years ago, we stayed in San Antonio, Texas during the winter. We headed to San Antonio to escape some of the colder winter weather for a few weeks. However, we hadn’t anticipated the winter weather following us!
Essentially, it was the year when frozen temperatures contributed to rolling blackouts across Texas and a number of other states in the US. Our vacation turned into a new type of experience as we hunkered down in our hotel and prepared to wait out the storm. To help explain the seriousness of the situation, many gas stations didn’t have gas (so we couldn’t leave) and roads weren’t prepared for winter driving (so even if we did try to leave, we’d have to deal with icy roads).
In the midst of this, the hotel we stayed in did a phenomenal job of taking care of their guests. They tried to make sure we had blankets and anything we needed to stay warm. We lost power a number of times, but they kept calm and even set things up so we could use the swimming pool water to flush toilets if needed. They cooked food for guests to eat at no extra charge and set the dining area downstairs up with hot coffee and food so we could stay fed when restaurants were closed and we were marooned. Truly, they showed empathy and did everything they could to help us. Now that’s hospitality!
Anyway, I hope you see that hotel staff deserve our thanks and appreciation. Whether you stay for one night or a week, take time out of your vacation to show that you care. It’ll make everyone’s day a little bit brighter…yours and theirs!