Some of you may remember that last fall I wrote a piece on “Public restroom etiquette”.  If you missed it, you can go back on my website (www.denisefuller.com) to October 9, 2015 and read it.  Now that we are coming down to our last couple weeks here, I want to write about “Hotel, motel, and resort etiquette”… any place that provides clean, white linens for your stay.  I will refer to them as a resort below since Sun N Fun is a resort, but it applies to all.

1. Women: if you wear makeup, be sure to pack those makeup removal pads.  Do not wipe your mascara, blush and lipstick off with the white washcloth provided by the resort.  It stains the wash cloth.
2. Younger women: if you get blood on the sheets, it would be nice if you could remove the soiled sheet and run cold water or hydrogen peroxide through the stain till it comes out.  Then call for housekeeping to remake the bed and remove the treated sheets.
3. Older folks: if you have a problem with fecal incontinence, wear Depends.  If you make a mess around the toilet, clean it up as best you can with paper towels, handy wipes, or even toilet paper and then let housekeeping know what happened so they can sanitize the area.  Oh, and if you have to change your Depends, don’t throw it away in the bathroom.  Look for a dumpster outside where the odor can dissipate.
4. Young folks: you want to dye your hair blue or pink?  Don’t use the resort’s towels to dry your hair afterward, and don’t lay your freshly dyed hair on a white pillowcase.  Bring your own towel and pillow from home if you plan to dye your hair while on vacation.  Better yet, dye it well before you come on your trip.
5. Mothers with babies: don’t use the resort’s wash cloths to clean your baby’s bottom.  Pack baby wipes and use them.
6. If the family goes out to play in the dirt and comes back to the resort to clean up, only use the towels and washcloths after you’ve washed the main part of the dirt off your body under running water.  And if you left a muddy mess on the floor, ask housekeeping if they could send someone with a mop to clean it up.  Do not use your towels to mop up dirt and mud.
7. If you are provided with a furnished kitchen and you decide to make your famous spaghetti sauce, do the initial washing of the sauce pan with a sponge or paper towel.  Save the dish rag for washing things that won’t leave stains.
8. If someone in the family gets sick around the toilet, either call housekeeping to clean it up or do an initial cleaning with paper towels, handy wipes or toilet paper, and then call for housekeeping to come and sanitize the area.  Just don’t use the resort’s white towels to clean up the mess.
9. If you are dissatisfied with the establishment, register a complaint with the management or leave a bad review on Tripadvisor.  Do not, and I repeat, DO NOT wipe your baby’s poopy bottom with a pot holder and put the pot holder back in the drawer with the big spoons.  This really happened to one of our housekeepers and when she found it she got sick.

The thing is, you may think you’re saving housekeeping trouble by cleaning your messes up with the linens provided, but housekeeping would much rather bring their cleaning rags and mops to clean up your messes than have to spend time trying to treat stains on the linens.  Worse yet, some of these stains won’t come out even with treating and the linens have to be discarded or used for rags.

And if you take your anger at the establishment out on the housekeeping staff, remember that the housekeeping staff is probably overworked and underpaid.  They generally aren’t the ones who deserve to be punished.  Even if you feel the housekeeping staff did a poor job of cleaning or seemed grumpy, consider the possibility that the problem is more systemic.

If, on the other hand, you feel the housekeeping staff did a good job of cleaning your place, it never hurts to leave a thank you note or turn in a comment card commending their work.  A few kudos make an otherwise thankless job a bit more bearable!