The D.C. Council passed emergency legislation that paves the way for Mayor Muriel Bowser to set new cleaning and maintenance standards at hotels. The vote was 11 to 2. According to the labor union representing many hotel workers, UNITE HERE Local 25, one byproduct of the legislation, which will likely mean hotels have to provide more routine cleaning services, is that housekeepers who continue to be laid off or scheduled fewer hours are able to return to work.

Hotel regulations have not been updated in more than 65 years, per Local 25, whose organizers pushed for the legislation. Introduced by Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen on behalf of Mayor Muriel Bowser, the legislation would authorize the mayor to regulate the cleaning and maintenance of hotel and motel rooms.

Councilmembers Brooke Pinto of Ward 2 and Mary Cheh of Ward 3 were the only ones to vote No. Pinto called the measure an “overstep,” hoping for a hearing on the issue given that hotels are still recovering from the economic effects of the pandemic. Cheh expressed concerns over the environmental implications of daily room cleaning.

Allen responded to concerns, noting that the mayor will work with stakeholders to write the regulations and that the Sierra Club rejected the hotel industry’s environmental argument because housekeepers use more products when they clean rooms less frequently. He also emphasized hotel jobs are “good jobs” mostly held by women of color and immigrants — and that the Council previously spent COVID relief dollars on hotels to protect these jobs, not companies’ bottom line.

Automatic, daily room cleaning used to be the industry standard prior to the pandemic. After reopening from pandemic closures, some hotels like the Washington Hilton did not resume automatic daily cleanings, as DCist/WAMU reported in March. A Hilton spokesperson told DCist/WAMU that their hotels aimed to offer guests “choice and control.” The Hilton spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the emergency legislation.

Local 25, meanwhile, argues the decision is influenced by profit, citing Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta’s phone call with investors in February of last year where he said the company aspires to create “higher margin businesses” and “labor efficiencies” in housekeeping post-pandemic.

Meanwhile, countless housekeepers in D.C. remain laid off or are still experiencing reduced hours. One of those workers is Amal Hligue, who told DCist/WAMU that her schedule cuts mean she no longer qualifies for family health insurance, leaving her husband uninsured.

“If we could work five days a week over three months and they are busy I could have insurance for my family again,” says Hligue in a statement to DCist/WAMU in reaction to the news of the bill. “It’s very good for everybody. All these people who are coming to DC, they need service.”

The legislation could also help housekeepers who say their jobs are now more strenuous because reduced cleanings mean that many rooms are only cleaned at checkout, after multiple days of mess accumulates. The mayor is expected to issue a regulation once the bill becomes law that requires hotels to clean rooms on a daily basis unless a guest declines, as cities like San Francisco do. Given the hotel industry’s resistance in other cities, (the hotel association filed a lawsuit against San Francisco over its mandate) D.C. may see pushback.

“As we begin to see a return to pre-pandemic tourism levels, it is imperative for both safety and consumer protections that guests be provided routine and enhanced housekeeping and maintenance of communal spaces in hotels and motels unless the guest opts out of cleanings,” Bowser said in a letter to Mendelson dated April 1.

Demanding daily housekeeping at your hotel stay helps DC residents get back to work. https://t.co/yhKoUykHYn

— Muriel Bowser (@MurielBowser) March 16, 2022

Local 25 also expects the mayor to issue regulations requiring hotels to inform guests of the status of their accommodations if they change after booking (such as a gym closure) and their right to cancel a reservation based on that information without penalty.

John Boardman, Local 25’s executive secretary-treasurer, says that if the mayor issues her regulations as expected, D.C. will have among the highest standards for hotel cleaning and maintenance nationwide.

While the legislation is not aimed at returning housekeepers to work, that will be a likely result. Boardman gives the example of complying with food safety regulations, while not necessarily about job creation they mean restaurants have to hire barbacks and dishwashers.

“The main concern of the District are the consumers who are visiting here getting what they thought they would get and getting what they paid for,” Boardman tells DCist/WAMU.

“What we’re saying is put the standard in place. There’s a legitimate reason for doing that. It protects the public and it protects the image of the District of Columbia. If employment effects flow from that standard, so be it,” he added.

Cutting daily room cleaning results in a 35-40% reduction of the housekeeping workforce, according to Boardman. Unlike last month when dozens were laid off, no one at the Washington Hilton is currently laid off, he says. That is only because guests — a significant number of whom are affiliated with North America’s Building Trades Unions — started requesting daily room cleaning once learning that it wasn’t automatic, he adds. The union has been campaigning outside the hotel to make guests aware that they need to request the service. Many non-unionized hotels dropped the practice, he adds — those account for the majority of the 132 hotels in D.C.

As Hligue has experienced, cuts to daily room cleanings also impact benefits, which are tied to the number of hours they work. “So they lose health care, they lose contributions to their pension, they lose contributions to the dental, legal and optical plan. They aren’t covered by short and long term disability,” Boardman says.

The Council hoped to secure jobs for laid-off workers last year, passing legislation that required large hotels to offer newly-available jobs to the workers they let go of during the pandemic first. Cutting automatic, daily room cleaning circumvented the law.

This story was updated to clarify that the Sierra Club supports daily room cleaning. The organization has not come out in support of the emergency legislation.