Nobody talks about this enough.
The housekeeping manager who starts at 7am and is still on the floor at 8pm. The supervisor who skipped lunch again because two room attendants called in sick and the arrivals list is full. The chambermaid who has been on her feet for nine hours in 38-degree heat, moving from room to room, floor to floor, with a trolley that weighs more than it should.
Peak season fatigue is not a weakness. It is a reality of this job — and it hits every level of the housekeeping department.
Let us be honest about what it actually looks like.
You wake up already thinking about the day. How many checkouts. How many stays. Whether the linen will be back from the laundry in time. Whether the new staff member will hold up or fall apart by noon. You get to the property and the first problem is already waiting for you at the door.
By 10am you have spoken to the General Manager, the Front Office, two guests with complaints, and three of your own staff who each need something different from you. You have made decisions, absorbed pressure, and kept your face calm — because that is what the job requires.
By 2pm you have had half a coffee and something that passed for lunch in under ten minutes standing up.
By 6pm your body is telling you to stop. Your mind is still running the checklist.
And somewhere in the background — your phone. A message from home. A family member who needed you today and got a short reply instead.
This is the real picture of peak season housekeeping management. Not the brochure version. The floor version.
So how do you do it?
One step at a time. That is how you get through it.
And remember the 10,000-hour rule — popularised by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers — the principle that mastery in any field comes from approximately 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. Every shift, every problem, every decision under pressure — it is adding up. The managers running 60 people and 300 rooms did not start there. They earned it, season by season.
Experience teaches you when to accelerate, when to slow down, when to hold steady, and when to decide fast. Repetition sharpens your instincts. And one day — without noticing exactly when — you are operating on a different level. Not because the job got easier. Because you got better.
Free to browse — Explore the training library →
© HMTS — Stavros Papageorgiou. All rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced, distributed, or used for training purposes without written permission.
0 comments