Are Hospitality Management Services Prime for Housekeeper Lawsuits?

If you are in the business of providing hospitality management services for one or more hotels, the recent reported assaults of two housekeepers in New York should serve as a wake-up call. Not only are the safety of your guestroom cleaning staff and threats of bad publicity of major concerns, but also the potential lawsuits that may arise as a result. Although the number of incidents where a member of the hotel staff is assaulted is rare in our experience, it is still important to reexamine current policies, procedures and training to insure the safety and well-being of those employees. That said, what answers to the following questions if an outside hotel consultant were brought in to evaluate your current housekeeping, upkeep and management operation would you give: Do your housekeepers openly communicate problems that they encounter while cleaning rooms and what is done as a result of those concerns? If a room cleaning attendant is harassed, touched or verbally abused by a guest, what are your managers and supervisors instructed to do? Have hospitality management services been changed or updated to deal with the most current threats in our industry today such as a potential in-room assault? Do your room cleaners automatically prop open the door and block the entrance to the guestroom with their cart when servicing it? Are you considering adding “panic buttons” to be worn by your housekeepers as a method to alert someone in security or management of a problem? Does going to the method of working in teams or in tandem to clean your guestrooms and suites make sense based on staff scheduling and labor costs and is it feasible? If you operate predominately vacation and get-away type destination lodging properties and are faced with a lawsuit, what would a resort expert say contributed or prevented your housekeeping personnel being assaulted such as the incidents in this article? Don’t get caught with an unexpected incident involving an assault at your hotels. Consult these hospitality management services resources on the subject of housekeeper safety if are an owner and operator. Also, read other blogs on related subjects. Or, please share your posts here with our readers as to programs and practices you have implemented to keep your staff safe.