The reason I ask is because it’s just been announced by the hotel trade that fewer hotels are adding chests of drawers to their guest rooms. (If you’re reading this in America, you may refer to them as ‘dressers’ for reasons best known to yourselves).
Those that do have chests of drawers in their rooms are finding that these items of furniture are the first to go when rooms are being refurbished and renovated.
This is a trend that might well be worth copying if you are a short-term-rental host, using Airbnb or similar services.
When we consider why hotels are doing away with drawers, it may be that those very reasons could be helpful to we hosts to help us run our rentals smoothly. The reasons are fourfold.
- Very few guests stay for long enough to actually unpack and put their clothes in drawers*
- For hotels or hosts that are just starting furnishing their rooms, not including drawers is a good way to save money without short-changing the guests
- It saves time at turnover because no one has to check all the drawers for items left behind by guests. (And guests leaving one or two items can cause problems in itself)
- Fewer items in the room mean less cleaning!
This does bear out what I’ve found in our own rentals. The drawers are rarely used as far as I can tell. In several years, looking after three rental apartments and being ‘first on the scene’ as it were when they guests leave, I know that only once have I found that the guests have left anything behind in the drawers.
To confirm this, I place the sachets of potpourri in each drawer in a specific location in the drawers – they have very, very, very rarely been disturbed.
However, this doesn’t mean that your guests don’t want storage space; they do. AAA issue ratings for hotels – they are referred to as Diamond Ratings. The maximum number of stars awarded is five. So if you see that a hotel is a ‘Five Diamond’ establishment you can be sure that it’s been thoroughly inspected by the Triple A inspectors and found to be exceptional.
AAA is aware of the recent trend of doing away with hotel drawers for guests and a spokeman is quoted as saying:
“At the Four and Five Diamond level, we are generally looking for upscale attributes for a closet or storage space. There is no specific requirement for drawers, instead we look for additional ‘features’ for the closet or hang space.”
This features are cheaper for hosts to provide and easier to clean at turnover time.
Even guests who are trsvelling on business need plenty of creative storage space. Often, they have more clothes because of the need for them to look professional and ultra smart for meetings and interviews. They may also have materials with them needed for demonstrations and so on. They could have brochures and promotional material. They will certainly have their laptop, possibly and iPad too and of course, their phone.
If you provide enough space for them to store their items, they won’t need drawers.
For the traveller who is staying with you for pleasure, the chances are high that you already provide a lot of what they’ll need. For example, we’re in a coastal resort so supply items guests will need for the beach.
So don’t feel that you have to provide drawers for your guests – hotels don’t.
* Of course, if your experience is that guests stay for longer than a week or so, then you might find that your guests do like to ‘unpack’.
ARTICLE BY:
Jackie
JJ is originally from the UK and has lived in South Florida since 1994. She is the founder and editor of JAQUO Magazine. You can connect with her using the social media icons below.