Housekeeping models are shifting as the industry progresses through the COVID-19 pandemic, and operators are met with balancing guest preferences with the current labor market.

Hilton recently announced it is moving to an opt-in model for daily housekeeping at its non-luxury U.S. properties. On July 8, a Hilton spokesperson on said, "Our guests have told us that they have varying levels of comfort with someone entering their rooms after they have checked in."

Other brands with similar policies include Marriott International, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Extended Stay America.

Sheenal Patel, CEO of Arbor Lodging Management, expects all brands will move to an opt-in housekeeping model.

Arbor Lodging Management manages properties under Marriott, Hilton, IHG Hotels & Resorts and Hyatt Hotels Corp. brands as well as independents.

Patel said the labor market has structurally changed, in the sense that properties have fewer housekeepers, due to many leaving the industry and limited immigration.

"All in all, we have less people to be able to work in our hotels. We have to figure out a way to still be able to provide the service our guests want and need," he said. "My view is that ... changing how we're doing housekeeping requires less housekeepers, but if every hotel out there stayed as is, we would have struggled even more to fill all those positions."

From a dollars perspective, Arbor Lodging Management has been increasing wages across the board for its housekeepers.

Sanjay Bedi, senior vice president of operations at third-party management company Real Hospitality Group, agreed that it's possible the labor issue would be worse if daily cleaning was still required at all hotels.

He said pay structure has not changed with the opt-in model. What has changed is the number of rooms a housekeeper cleans per day.

Pre-COVID-19, an executive housekeeper was assigning 15 or 16 rooms per day, balanced between check-out rooms and stayover rooms.

"Now that they clean only check-out rooms, the number of rooms an executive housekeeper is giving housekeepers is much less," he said. "We introduced incentives for the housekeepers if they wanted to clean more rooms."

Jason Reader, senior vice president of operations at third-party management company Remington Hotels, said on the surface, that could seem like a long-term issue. But the reason he feels it won't be is because he has yet to go to a hotel, even pre-COVID-19, that has been fully staffed with housekeepers.

"It's actually always the opposite. They're always looking to hire," he added.

For properties such as airport hotels, where the stayover rate already isn't that high, the housekeeping model remains fairly unchanged, Reader said.

He said the more common pay model for housekeepers is an hourly wage, though some are paid per room.

Wages have increased across the board in the hotel industry, he said, but the hotel industry has always lagged others, such as Amazon, in terms of hourly pay.

In most cases, Patel said guests prefer the by-request-only housekeeping.

"We're not getting any negative feedback from guests that we're not around on a regular basis because we're telling them; it's about communication," he said. "If they want service, they still can get it."

Patel said his properties have formulated a quick process for daily housekeeping, which includes taking out the trash, straightening up the bed, vacuuming and cleaning surfaces but not changing out sheets. Changing the sheets is what takes up the most time, he said.

After the guest checks out, a deep clean will then take place.

"Even when there is a stayover [cleaning], it's not affecting labor for us significantly," he added.

Stayover cleaning in the past took 17 to 20 minutes, whereas now it's about 12 minutes.

The responsibility, he said, is on owners and operators to educate guests on how services are changing.

"No guest should be unhappy," he added.

Bedi said in many shapes or forms, opt-in housekeeping is already present across the brands whether it's an official policy or not.

"It's really to respect both parties — the guests and associates," he said. "I've seen it in all major brands."

He said the objective for an opt-in housekeeping model wasn't solely to address the labor shortage, but to be able to provide a sanitized room while limiting person-to-person contact.

"Overall the policy will evolve as people's fear of the virus itself starts going away and more people get vaccinated," he said.

Reader said the opt-in model could vary depending on the segment. If it's a leisure-heavy resort in the Florida Keys, it may require a different set of practices.

With wage pressures high and cost to operate hotels rising, he said hotel operators must prioritize efficiency wherever possible. In housekeeping, an opt-in model can save money for hotel owners and give consumers power to choose.

If Arbor Lodging Management could hire three more housekeepers for each of its properties, it would. But that availability isn't there, Patel said.

This opt-in model allows companies to more efficiently utilize the limited labor they do have, he said.

Throughout the pandemic, managers, supervisors, and in some cases corporate leaders, have been cleaning rooms.

"Being able to have more flexibility allows our managers and supervisors to focus on what their jobs should be otherwise, and that's going to help our overall efficiency of the hotel," he added. "A manager's [and] property leader's job also is to make sure our folks are engaged, happy and that they feel good about their work."

Every hotelier is struggling with morale at their properties, with a large portion of that due to team leaders wearing multiple hats and being stretched thin, he said.