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Room attendant checklist

A room attendant checklist is the list of steps a housekeeper follows to clean a guest room to the same standard every time. This one covers the departure clean, the stayover service and the supervisor’s inspection, with a deep-clean schedule for the jobs that aren’t done every day.

Print it for the trolley, put it in your procedures folder, or download it and change it to your own standard.

Written by the founder of Vedom, who is building it with ten founding hotels. Last updated: 24 September 2026

Download as CSV (opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets)

Room
Date
Attendant
Checked by

Departure clean

After a guest has checked out. The room must be ready for the next arrival.

Enter

Knock twice, say “Housekeeping”, wait about ten seconds, then enter.
Prop the door open and park the trolley across the doorway.
Look around first: anything left behind, anything broken, anything unsafe.

Air and strip

Open curtains and windows. Switch off air conditioning while you work.
Strip the beds and bag linen by type. Check between sheets for belongings.
Empty bins. Don’t push rubbish down with your hand: there may be glass or needles.
Collect used towels and glasses.

Bathroom (top to bottom, cleanest to dirtiest)

Mirror, lights and shelves.
Sink and taps, then shower or bath, screen and drain.
Toilet last, with a cloth used only for toilets.
Floor, working towards the door.
Fresh towels, bath mat and amenities to your standard.

Bedroom

Make the beds with fresh linen to your standard.
Dust from high to low: lamps, headboard, shelves, desk, bedside tables.
Wipe what guests touch most: handles, switches, remote control, phone, safe keypad.
Restock tea, coffee, water and stationery to par. Check the minibar and note what was used.
Vacuum from the window towards the door.

Finish

Stand at the door and look at the room as a guest would.
Check lights, TV, heating or air conditioning and the safe work.
Close windows, set curtains and temperature to your standard.
Report anything broken, and log any lost property with the room number.
Mark the room clean.

Stayover service

A room with a guest still staying. Lighter than a departure, and the guest’s things stay where they are.

Before you start

Respect “Do not disturb”. Follow your hotel’s rule for when to check on a room that has shown it all day.
Knock, announce, wait. If the guest is in, ask when suits them.

Service

Make or tidy the bed. Change linen on the day your standard says, or when the guest asks.
Replace towels the guest has left on the floor or in the bath.
Empty bins, wash or replace glasses and cups.
Wipe bathroom surfaces, sink, toilet and shower.
Restock tea, coffee, water and amenities.
Don’t move or tidy the guest’s belongings beyond folding clothes left on the bed.

Supervisor inspection

Before a room is released for arrival. Change the status only after the inspection.

Check

Bed made to standard, no hair or marks on linen.
Bathroom: no hair, no water marks on the mirror, taps or screen.
Toilet, drain and floor clean.
Towels and amenities complete.
No dust on surfaces you can touch or see from the bed.
Tea, coffee, water and minibar at par.
Lights, TV, heating or air conditioning, safe and phone working.
Nothing left by the previous guest.
Room smells fresh.
Anything to fix is reported, and the room is blocked if it can’t be sold.

Deep-clean schedule

Jobs that don’t happen on every clean. Rotate them through the rooms so each room gets each job on time.

Job	How often (starting point)	Who
Wipe skirting boards, door frames and the top of the wardrobe	Every month	Room attendant
Move the furniture and clean behind and under it	Every month	Room attendant
Wash or replace the shower curtain; clean the shower screen seals	Every month	Room attendant
Descale kettle, shower head and taps	Every month, more often with hard water	Room attendant
Clean windows inside	Every month	Room attendant
Turn or rotate the mattress	As the manufacturer says	Two people
Wash pillows and duvets, or send them to the laundry	Twice a year	Housekeeping team
Clean curtains and upholstery	Twice a year	Housekeeping team or contractor
Shampoo the carpet	Once or twice a year, and after spills	Housekeeping team or contractor
Clean air-conditioning filters and vents	As the manufacturer says	Maintenance

Frequencies are a starting point, not a standard. Adjust them for your occupancy, your brand standard and the manufacturer’s instructions.

Why does the order of a clean matter?

Top to bottom, so dust falls onto surfaces you haven’t cleaned yet. Cleanest to dirtiest, so you don’t carry the toilet to the sink. Towards the door, so you don’t walk over what you have just done. A fixed order also means nothing is forgotten when the attendant is on their fourteenth room.

Use separate cloths for the toilet and nothing else, and make them a different colour so nobody mixes them up.

How long should a departure clean take?

It depends on the room, your standard and whether linen is stripped for the attendant. Rather than use someone else’s number, time your own: pick five ordinary departure rooms, time each from knock to “clean”, and take the middle value. Do it again for stayovers.

That number decides how many rooms an attendant can do in a shift, and how many attendants you need for tomorrow’s departures. The housekeeping mode of the labour cost calculator does the arithmetic.

What keeps room attendants safe?

Gloves for bathrooms and bins, and never a bare hand into a bin bag or under a mattress.
The door propped open and the trolley across it while working.
Bend the knees to make beds, or work from the side of the bed; get help with heavy mattresses.
Report broken glass, needles, or anything that feels wrong, and leave the room if a situation doesn’t feel safe.

How do I make the checklist work for a mixed-language team?

Keep each step short and start it with a verb. Add photos of the finished standard: a made bed, a set bathroom. Translate the checklist into the languages your team reads best, and have a colleague who speaks that language check the translation.

Work out attendant shifts and cost with the housekeeping what-if calculator

General information for hotel operations, not legal, tax or employment advice.

Questions

What is on a hotel room attendant checklist?

The steps of a clean in a fixed order: enter and check the room, air and strip, clean the bathroom top to bottom, make the bed and dust, restock, then a final check before marking the room clean.

What is the difference between a departure clean and a stayover?

A departure clean prepares the room for a new guest: everything is stripped and reset. A stayover is lighter service for a guest who is still staying, and their belongings stay where they are.

How often should hotel rooms be deep cleaned?

Each job has its own rhythm, from monthly for furniture and skirting boards to once or twice a year for carpets and curtains. Use the schedule on this page as a starting point and adjust it for your occupancy and standard.

Vedom is in build

Where to next?

This is the paper version. Vedom is being built so that room status changes on the attendant’s phone and is written back to your PMS as soon as a room is checked, with procedures in each person’s language.

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