• 18
  • June
    2011

Many hotel maids are solicited by male patrons. A spokeswoman for a union that represents 100,000 hotel industry workers stated that they are hearing many new stories regarding sexual harassment. This casts a spotlight on the hundreds of assaults, many of which go unreported.

A hotel housekeeper in California who has been working as a housekeeper for 11 years said that her job often becomes a nightmare because of guests and their sexual harassment.

In her 11 years on the job, she remembers being sexually harassed at least six times, usually being offered money for sexual favors. She believes that guests assume that a person in her line of work has no values, or that a person in her line of work is so hard-pressed for money that she would abandon her values - both of which are untrue.

A hotel security management consultant said that lewd gestures and comments from hotel guests are not uncommon.

A spokesman for a group concerning the hotel industry believes that much of the harassment stems from the word "maid" which brings to mind a stereotypical sexual fantasy and suggests a subservient status.

This is not the case. Though many housekeepers are afraid of retaliation if they complain about guests' actions, high profile cases such as the recent arrest of the head of the International Monetary Fund will likely lead to more workers speaking out. Housekeepers who are part of a union will likely not need to worry about retaliation. Sadly, many housekeepers are still worried because they do not want to lose their job over the complaint of a customer. In addition, because many hotel maids are immigrants, they worry about whether their word would stand up against the word of paying customers.

Source: ABC News, "Hotel Housekeepers Share Tales of Sexual Harassment," Andrea Canning and Christina Caron, 1 June 2011