An Interview with a ColleagueMost guests never see Pani Dąbrowski, our Head of Housekeeping. That is intentional, as she believes hotel maid service should be as quiet and discrete as possible. Trained from her teen years at Hotel Negresco in Nice, she returned home with exacting standards beyond those of our baby grand. I found her yesterday in the laundry room, clipboard in hand, and asked if she would share a bit of expertise and thoughts on the guest experience. It was quick, of course, but I got the following: What is the best way to make a bed? At Hotel Greene, we have many longer-term residents that only pay for housekeeping once a week. Therefore, our service must be special, and a night in a refreshed bed is something that all guests look forward to. First, and this is not negotiable, start fresh by stripping everything off. Next, and I’ve heard of bottom sheets with some kind of elastic— but hotels must not subscribe to such ridiculous modern advances. I use only flat sheets for a base. At the corners, tuck the foot, lift the edge at 45 degrees, tuck again, and drop. Place the top sheet finished-side down against the mattress and leave exactly twelve inches at the top for the fold-back. Layer your blanket and miter them together at the foot. Finally, make sure that the feathers are pushed into the very corners of the pillows. Then step back and admire your work. What is the magic in a proper turn down service? We are not always staffed to offer evening turn down at Hotel Greene, so I speak of my former years on the French Riviera. For me, the most elegant offering with turn down is a fresh bucket of ice. Anyone can throw a chocolate on a pillow. But ice! A glass filled with perfect little cubes in the bath, on the lounge chair in the hotel robe, or even in bed— no liquor required. Summer or winter, that is a detail that feels luxurious. What are your pet peeves? Housekeeping carts in guest corridors. My team knows to roll the cart inside the room while they work. And cords. Horrible, unwieldy, untamed appliance cords visible from everywhere. We coil them tightly as part of every service. It makes the most inhabited room look polished. What is the most interesting item a guest has left behind? Guests forget things, but they also leave things intentionally in hopes that our staff will find a use for their formerly-prized objects. But once, at my prior job, a guest left an unwrapped present in the center of the bed. It was hand-wrapped, not branded from a confectionary or dressmaker, and the card read simply “forgive me.” We were unnerved but excited. For anger or sadness to reach such a level that it extinguished curiosity? It was cinematic. My supervisor disposed of it, unopened, to entomb the sentiment. Finally, do you think guest rooms store memories? Hotel rooms are neutral vessels, sets for wildly personal dramas. Guests may request to return to a particular room, to reawaken a dulled joy or pain. But the room itself feels nothing. Our job is to respect that, to get the room ready for the next guest. To clean it, of course, but more importantly to recognize and celebrate its blissfully passive state.
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