Joe McInerney says he can count on one hand the times he’s heard of an assault against a housekeeper. But, says the president of the American Hotel & Lodging Association who’s worked in the industry for 50 years, two of those have come in the last two months.

And one, as you’ve probably heard, involved a prominent French politician and the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He has been charged with sexual assault and attempted rape of a housekeeper at the Sofitel New York in Manhattan. The other incident came two weeks later on May 29 and a mile away at the equally luxurious Pierre hotel, and involved a prominent Egyptian banker who is also accused of sexually assaulting a housekeeper.

The alleged attacks have drawn intense media coverage and brought the issue of hotel housekeeper safety to the front pages of newspapers across the country. No one believes assaults like these are commonplace, but the attention has raised questions about whether housekeepers face sexual harassment on a regular basis. Hotel companies have responded by reevaluating their guidelines to cleaning rooms and reiterating their seriousness about employee safety and sexual harassment claims.

Media Firestorm
The two incidents in May had all the ingredients necessary to create a perfect storm of media attention: two prominent figures accused, against working-class women, in five-star Manhattan hotels, just two weeks apart. They also come on the heels of several well-publicized union disputes around the country, from strikes in Chicago at Hyatt hotels to a bill proposed in California to improve housekeeper working conditions.

The issue has even become a talking point on cable news. McInerney did a segment on CNN with anchor Brooke Baldwin last month discussing housekeeper safety.

Housekeepers, with the help of Unite Here, have come forward with stories of harassment and fears about bringing those to management’s attention. More than 100 housekeepers showed up in uniform at Strauss-Kahn’s arraignment and on June 2 housekeepers gathered in eight cities to speak out against sexual harassment. Unite Here is calling for new safety protocol and in New York, legislation has been proposed mandating panic buttons for housekeepers. Hotel brand and management companies have remained largely quiet on the issue, opting to provide general statements rather than accept interview requests.

Stephen Boggs, InterContinental Hotels Group’s director of corporate communications, answered with the most detailed response, which in part read:

“We take the safety of all our employees and guests seriously and thus have training that provides guidelines and recommended procedures when working in a guestroom … While all of our franchised properties in our system are independently owned and operated and IHG does not control day-to-day operations of these hotels, we do provide training materials to our hotels as a good safety practice.”

He later added that IHG reviews “our safety and security measures on a frequent basis to ensure they are the best they can be. When an incident like this situation happens, we, like most responsible employers, review the procedures again.”

Responses from Hyatt, Carlson, Wyndham and Hilton were brief, but all very similar, and several other brand and management companies either declined or did not respond to requests for interviews.

On the other hand, Unite Here, which represents approximately 100,000 hotel workers, has been very vocal. Annemarie Strassel, a spokesperson for Unite Here, agrees that assaults are “rather uncommon,” but adds housekeepers face a “pervasive pattern of sexual harassment.”

“I hear from women at all levels of hotels who are routinely solicited for prostitution, or have men exposing themselves or coming to the door half dressed,” says Strassel, adding that many housekeepers feel management doesn’t want to hear these allegations because of the belief “the guest is always right. “

McInerney disputes that: “The hotel industry knows that if anyone is harassed, touched or verbally abused, management will deal with it. Housekeepers are part of our family and without them we couldn’t run these hotels.”

He believes the union has fanned the flames of this issue to gain a bargaining advantage going forward. “If this is such a big deal, why hasn’t it come up over the last 10 years,” he asks.

Strassel says the incidents have sparked a conversation that has led to the discovery of a deeper problem and the issue could lead to the bargaining table in the future.

A Fine Line
Is this being driven by the union to better its bargaining position in current and upcoming negotiations, or do legitimate concerns exist that need addressed?

“I have never felt threatened, but I’ve felt uncomfortable,” says Jackie White, a room attendant for 23 years at the non-union Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis and a guest runner for the past seven years. Her uncomfortable moments include half-dressed men answering the door, invitations to have a drink and having to turn down the bed while a guest watches.

Security expert Anthony Roman says propositioning is the most frequent occurrence in his experience working security for Helmsley Spear and its former portfolio of New York hotels. “It is generally benign, and the guest backs off very quickly when the maid expresses no interest and says no,” adds the chairman of A.C. Roman & Associates, a Long Island-based global security and investigation firm.

If true, hotel operators need to provide as much training as possible to make sure housekeepers aren’t put in those positions and that they know to report the incidents immediately.

At the Hyatt Regency, White says she would have no problem going to management if something serious did happen.

Industry Response
After the alleged attacks, both the Pierre and Sofitel in New York have reportedly agreed to equip their housekeepers with panic buttons. Richard Spigler, president of the Carlyle Suites and Savoy Suites Hotels in Washington DC, announced a partnership with TTI Guardian to install a wireless alarm system throughout his properties and each housekeeper will wear a wireless badge that looks like a typical nametag. A simple press of a button on it will send out an alert for immediate help, but also pinpoint the location of the worker.

At the Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis, White now carries a whistle and all the housekeepers there have been given the same option. McInerney believes those solutions can work, but mandating them would be a mistake and a knee-jerk reaction.

Two other industry veterans, consultant Jana Hesser and Tamara Markham, the vice president of operations for Hotel Equities, were both surprised at the recent incidents and question whether panic buttons are the answer. They both believe staff safety begins with proper training and constant reinforcement, a belief echoed by McInerney.

“This has been an overreaction to something that hasn’t been a major problem,” McInerney says. “This is a wakeup call for everyone to take a look at their policies and procedures and make sure employees know you’re there to support them.”

Behind Closed Doors
At Hotel Equities, which manages approximately 50 hotels across most major brands, training begins at its Hotel Equities University and continues with web-based training, manuals and videos and ongoing updates at daily shift meetings.

Markham says the company’s housekeeping protocol is based in part on the guidelines suggested by the brand companies. Employees are trained to put the housekeeping cart directly in front of an open door so there’s no space for anyone to easily enter. They should always be working in one room at a time, and never leave to go get something, so the room is always attended with the cart in front of it.

As the result of an update sent by a major brand last month, Hotel Equities is putting in place a tweak to its procedures at those properties. While working in the bathroom, housekeepers will now close the bathroom door. Markham believes this will keep them safer when they are most vulnerable while the rest of the room remains open.

If guests return while a housekeeper is working, they must present and prove the key works. The housekeeper should ask if the guest can return when the room is made up, or offer to leave and come back to finish later, Markham says. If the guest is just picking something up or wants the housekeeper to continue, it is up to the housekeeper if they feel safe.

“We do not want anyone in an uncomfortable position,” Markham says. Hesser, the principal of Stamford, CT-based Quality Management Services, says it’s critical from the start of training to make sure room attendants know they do not have to remain working in the room when a guest returns. “By no means do they have to stay if they feel uncomfortable or compromised,” says the hospitality consultant.

IHG, according to Boggs’ statement, advises room attendants to excuse themselves when a guest returns and come back to finish when it is unoccupied, or wait for another team member for assistance or to prop open the door if continuing. When the room is unoccupied, IHG recommends attendants work with the door closed and the cart in front of it.

Roman suggests a three-pronged approach, beginning with proper administrative policies and procedures for executives, management and the housekeeping staff, to continued training for all three and then a technology overlay, which could include a wireless tracking system.

He believes housekeepers should clean in tandem — not in the same room, but they should be scheduled to work in adjacent rooms at all times so a scream or a bang on the wall could be heard. And when in doubt, the best policy for housekeepers is discretion. “If made to feel uncomfortable,” he says, “they can leave and come back, or return with a supervisor or another housekeeper. That should be permitted and encouraged.”

Strassel of Unite Here says housekeepers are recommending several solutions: increased security, working in teams, replacing the traditional dress uniforms with pants and the union fully supports the legislation introduced by the New York State legislature to provide panic buttons to employees.

Guidelines vary from brand companies to management companies to properties, but the basic approach is similar across the board. With staffing levels diminished in many cases as a result of the recent recession, cleaning in tandem or additional security personnel may not be realistic at all property levels, but that doesn’t mean employee safety has to be abandoned.

It starts with proper training and making sure employees know they do not have to work in uncomfortable situations. If employees do feel harassed, or worse, they need to immediately report it to supervisors who are trained to respond.

“We revisit this on an ongoing basis, but when issues emerge it’s always a good time to make sure we’re active in training and retraining,” says Markham. “You can never be too safe.”