A bill requiring daily room cleanings in hotels of more than 200 rooms in Clark and Washoe counties was introduced in the state Senate Tuesday and referred to the Senate Health and Human Services committee.
Sen. Lori Rogich, R-Las Vegas, introduced Senate Bill 360, the Hotel Safety Act, and it was immediately endorsed by the Culinary Union.
“Culinary Union fully supports the health and safety of guest room attendants in Nevada and applauds Sen. Rogich for introducing SB360 in the Nevada Legislature,” Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said in an emailed statement.
The union represents 300,000 workers in gaming, hotel, and food service industries in North America, including 145,000 in Nevada, representing employees at most resorts on the Strip and in downtown Las Vegas.
The legislation also requires that the state Board of Health adopt regulations requiring a hotel operator to ensure that the interior of each occupied guest room at the hotel is visually inspected by a room attendant not less than every second consecutive day during a guest’s occupancy to ensure the safety of the guest and the public.
Hotel guests can opt out of daily room cleaning if they are occupying the room or by notifying the hotel verbally or in writing or by conspicuously displaying a “do not disturb” or “privacy” marker on the door of the entrance to the room.
If a guest opts out of daily room cleaning, the board shall require the hotel operator to maintain written documentation of the guest’s choice to opt out for not less than three years.
The board also was directed to adopt regulations prohibiting a hotel from advising or incentivizing guests to decline daily room cleaning.
Five years ago this week, daily room cleaning at hotels became a requirement as the state closed resorts for 78 days during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the wake of the closures, hotels tried to assure their customers that it was safe to occupy the rooms.
By 2023, the virus had weakened and some resorts viewed the change as an opportunity to lay off employees because room attendants weren’t needed as much.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
