How to use this hotel housekeeping checklist
A hotel housekeeping checklist works best when every room is cleaned in the same order. Clean from top to bottom, so dust falls onto surfaces you have not cleaned yet. Go from dry tasks to wet ones, and from the cleanest areas to the dirtiest, so you never carry dirt back into a clean space.
Stock the cart before the shift starts, with linen, amenities, chemicals and cloths for each room on the board. A missing item means a trip back to the linen room, and those trips add up across a full floor.
Before you start
Knock, announce yourself and wait before entering. Open the curtains and, where you can, a window or the balcony door to air the room. Turn on all the lights so you can see what needs attention.
Remove trash, dishes and room service trays. Strip the bed and collect all used towels, and put them straight into a linen bag. Do not drop soiled linen on the floor or use it to wipe anything. While stripping the bed, glance at the mattress seams and sheet corners for any sign of bed bugs.
Bedroom checklist
Make the bed with fresh linen, following your hotel's standard for corners, top layers and pillows. Then dust from the highest surfaces down: lamps, headboard, shelves, desk, nightstands.
Wipe the high-touch points every time: door handles, light switches, the TV remote, the phone, the thermostat, the safe, hangers and drawer pulls. Clean mirrors and glass, check under the bed and inside drawers for items left behind, and restock coffee, water and stationery. Vacuum last, working from the far corner toward the door.
Bathroom checklist
Apply cleaner to the toilet, sink, shower and tub first, so it has time to work while you do the rest. Clean the shower walls, glass and fixtures, then the tub, sink and counter, and the toilet last, inside and out, with its own cloth.
Polish the mirror and the fixtures, check for hair on every surface, and mop the floor on the way out. Set out fresh towels to your par per room, fold them to your standard, and restock the amenities.
Linen handling checklist
Linen is where many small problems start. Count the soiled linen as it leaves the room, and keep stained or torn pieces in a separate bag, so they are rewashed or retired instead of returning to a guest.
Never use a guest towel or sheet as a cleaning rag. It ruins the linen and adds chemicals your laundry then has to remove. Keep wet towels from sitting in closed bags for hours, especially in humid weather, because that is how mildew starts. Send soiled linen down at regular times so it is ready for the laundry pickup.
Checkout rooms and stayover rooms
A checkout room gets the full checklist: all linen changed, every surface cleaned, and the room reset for a new guest. A stayover room is lighter. Make the bed, replace used towels, empty trash, tidy the bathroom and restock, while leaving the guest's belongings where they are.
Follow the guest's choices on stayovers. Many guests skip daily linen changes, and a towel left on the rack usually means the guest will use it again.
Final inspection
Before you leave, stand at the door and look at the room the way a guest will. Check that the bed is smooth, the towels are matched, the lights all work and the air conditioning is set to your standard. Then smell the room, because guests notice odors before they notice anything else.
Many hotels add a supervisor check on a share of rooms each day. Their notes, compared against this checklist, show where training is needed.
Common questions
What is the correct order to clean a hotel room?
Air the room and remove trash and linen first, make the bed, then dust from top to bottom, clean the bathroom, and vacuum or mop last on the way out. Then do a final inspection from the door.
How long should it take to clean a hotel room?
It depends on the room type, its size and whether the guest is checking out or staying over. Most hotels set a time target for each room type and adjust it as housekeepers learn the checklist.
How often should hotel linen be changed?
Sheets and towels are changed for every new guest. For guests staying several nights, each hotel sets its own policy, often changing linen every few days or when the guest asks.
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