Turndown service
Turndown service is an evening housekeeping visit that prepares an occupied guest room for the night: tidying, folding back the bed covers, closing the curtains, emptying bins and refreshing used towels.
Also known as: turn-down service · evening service · night service
Turndown service is a short evening visit to an occupied room that gets it ready for sleep. It is common in upscale, luxury and resort hotels, and some properties offer it only on request. Typical tasks:
- Fold back (“turn down”) the bed covers and arrange the pillows
- Close curtains or blackout blinds and set the lighting low
- Empty bins and clear used glasses and room service trays
- Replace used towels and bath mats and tidy the bathroom
- Restock water and amenities, and place slippers and a bathrobe by the bed
- Leave a small touch, such as a chocolate or a note with tomorrow’s weather, if that is the house standard
Example
At 18:30 a room attendant on the evening shift starts the turndown list for floors 5 to 8. Room 712 shows a Do Not Disturb sign, so the attendant skips it and notes it for a later check. Room 715 asked earlier for extra pillows, so those go in with the turndown. Rooms where guests declined turndown at check-in are left alone.
How it differs from neighbouring terms
- Stayover service: the main daytime service of an occupied room, more thorough than turndown.
- Departure clean: a full clean after check-out to prepare the room for the next guest.
- Guest request: an on-demand ask, such as extra towels, that is often combined with turndown.
- Room status codes: turndown applies to occupied rooms, and a DND status means the room is skipped.
Turndown is one of the evening duties of housekeeping.
Where TaskLoop fits
Turndown is a predictable evening workload that collides with unpredictable requests. TaskLoop shows all open requests and department workload in real time, so the evening supervisor can see what is open, who has it and what is overdue. See housekeeping.