Housekeepers are battling hotel owners’ efforts to eliminate daily room cleaning, a longtime staple of the American hospitality experience.

Many hotels, after suspending housekeeping at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, now clean only when guests request it. The practice began over infection concerns, and some guests still prefer not to have staff in their rooms during stays. The cutbacks also reflect staffing shortages, lower occupancies and hotel owners’ desire to reduce expenses, hotel analysts say.

Housekeepers...

Housekeepers are battling hotel owners’ efforts to eliminate daily room cleaning, a longtime staple of the American hospitality experience.

Many hotels, after suspending housekeeping at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, now clean only when guests request it. The practice began over infection concerns, and some guests still prefer not to have staff in their rooms during stays. The cutbacks also reflect staffing shortages, lower occupancies and hotel owners’ desire to reduce expenses, hotel analysts say.

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Housekeepers generally oppose the reduced cleaning schedules. They worry that the move will eliminate jobs and make the already physically demanding work even tougher for those who remain. Unite Here, a union representing hotel workers in the U.S. and Canada, has negotiated agreements with hotels in New York City, Boston and other cities that require owners to maintain daily cleanings.

“This is just a new iteration of reducing services and lowering customer expectations,” said D. Taylor, international president of Unite Here. “It has nothing to do with Covid.”

Legislators in San Francisco, Nevada and New Jersey have passed laws requiring automatic daily cleaning of hotel rooms. The new provisions outline stringent sanitation measures and add protections for workers.

Hotel owners say they are in a bind. Industry revenue started to recover in the spring but remains well below pre-pandemic levels. Many properties are having a hard time finding enough housekeepers to clean rooms daily. Hotel employment is still down, with 17% fewer hotel and motel workers on the job nationwide last July than two years ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Brenda Holland, a housekeeper at the DoubleTree Seattle Airport, worked full time before the pandemic but said the hotel now calls her in only once or twice a week.

Photo: Brenda Holland

Gregory Miller, a lodging-stock analyst for Truist Securities, said the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing labor issues in the hotel industry. Now, wages are rising along with demand. While corporate travel hasn’t fully recovered, pleasure travelers are booking rooms and willing to pay high rates, so leisure hotels are increasing wages to attract workers.

“It’s a very challenging environment, if you’re a hotel manager or owner, to figure out how to staff your hotel,” Mr. Miller said.

Industry challenges vary widely depending on location. In New York City, where business travelers and international tourists have been slow to return, many hotels remain closed and workers unemployed. Rich Maroko,

president of the Hotel Trades Council union, said about 15,000 hotel workers—half his membership—are waiting to be called back to work.

The HTC negotiated coronavirus-safety protocols at the beginning of the pandemic that included explicit provisions requiring daily room cleaning, but some hotel operators still switched to cleaning rooms only when guests check out, Mr. Maroko said. The union fought against the changes and successfully reinstated daily room cleaning at about a dozen New York City hotels, according to the HTC.

Operators in bustling resort destinations, by contrast, are understaffed and raising wages to attract workers. Jason Kern, general manager of the oceanfront Embassy Suites by Hilton in St. Augustine, Fla., said he wanted rooms cleaned daily to prevent trash from piling up and stains from setting. But the hotel has had a hard time keeping housekeepers during the pandemic and is only lightly cleaning rooms during stays if guests request it.

Mr. Kern said he had raised wages twice this year—housekeepers now make $13 an hour—but he is still 15% understaffed in the department compared with 2019. Three-quarters of guests staying three nights or longer are now requesting room cleanings, he said, up from 20% last year. Less than half of guests staying two nights or fewer request cleaning.

Housekeeping frequency can also depend on price point. Luxury hotels continue to offer daily service, said

Michael Bellisario, senior research analyst covering hotels at Baird Equity Research. “It would be kind of weird if I’m staying at a Four Seasons and no one comes and cleans my room,” he said.

With some of its brands, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. adopted a policy during the pandemic that requires rooms to be deep-cleaned in between guests and on the fifth day of extended stays, a company representative said. Guests can request more frequent cleanings, and Hilton’s luxury brands will continue to receive automatic daily housekeeping.

Choice Hotels International Inc.

began a housekeeping-by-request pilot program in the summer of 2020, and surveys found that a majority of guests didn’t miss daily housekeeping, according to the company. Choice-branded hotels are now providing housekeeping when requested for shorter stays, and after every third night for longer stays. The company said it is looking to continue the approach.

In Seattle, housekeeper Brenda Holland said she and her co-workers at the DoubleTree by Hilton Seattle Airport only clean after guests check out. Ms. Holland, 27 years old, worked full time before the pandemic but said her hotel now calls her in only once or twice a week.

Ms. Holland cleans 13 rooms over a shift, often changing sheets on 26 beds, and said she was now taking prescription medication for shoulder pain. She makes $18.64 an hour and no longer qualifies for health insurance because of her reduced hours.

“It’s backbreaking work,” Ms. Holland said. “Before we were tired, but not like this.”

The hotel didn’t return requests for comment. A spokesperson for Hilton, which owns the DoubleTree brand, said staffing levels at its properties are best assessed by individual hotels.

Write to Kate King at Kate.King@wsj.com