Cristina Velasquez has cleaned up almost every mess imaginable in her 21 years as a hotel housekeeper, but the scene awaiting her when she opened the door to a room at the Hilton Garden Inn in Hollywood there. a few months ago still haunts her.

Upon entering she was struck by what smelled like dead animals and the sight of blood on the sheets. A lot of blood. Also, maggots and hypodermic needles. Velasquez reported it to his manager, who simply told him to clean it up as soon as possible. She had a tight schedule. There was no time to investigate.

“It was disgusting,” Velasquez said in Spanish. “I lost my appetite that day.”

The pandemic has added stress to most jobs, but the work of hotel cleaners – already a profession with high injury rates – has become increasingly difficult, with fewer workers facing short deadlines to clean rooms that are more cluttered and dirty than ever.

To reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus, many of the nation’s largest hotel chains have adopted policies that make daily housekeeping optional, letting guests choose how often housekeepers enter rooms. In most cases, that means cleaners don’t come in until after guests have left, leaving several days of trash, grime, and discarded towels to deal with.

Although demand for hotel rooms has returned to pre-pandemic levels in Southern California and other parts of the country, hotels have not replenished housekeeping staff to 2019 levels.

In Southern California, about 70% of housekeepers have been rehired since hotels closed and thousands of workers were laid off at the start of the pandemic, according to Unite Here, Local 11, a union that represents workers in the hospitality industry in Southern California and Arizona. .

Misdeeds reported by housekeepers include mounds of fast food wrappers, piles of dirty towels, half-eaten takeout containers, sticky floors with spilled drinks and, occasionally, feces smeared on the floors. bathroom walls. A housekeeper shared a photo with The Times of a bed covered in hundreds of nitrous oxide capsules, made for whipped cream dispensers but often used by people who inhale the gas to get a quick heady high.

Before the pandemic, housekeepers entered rooms daily, making it quicker and easier to clean and disinfect the daily buildup of clutter and grime, said Kurt Petersen, co-chair of the union that represents more than 32,000 hotel and airport workers. Under the new policies, fewer housekeepers are now required to perform roughly the same number of daily cleanings in the same short time frame as before the pandemic, but the increase in clutter is making these jobs more demanding in workforce, he said.

“The pandemic has been an absolute, uninterrupted disaster for the health and safety of housekeepers,” Petersen said. “Cleaning a room that’s been left untouched for days is not only more difficult and time-consuming, it’s much less safe for guests and workers.”

The new conditions are likely to increase already high injury rates among hotel housekeepers, he said.

University studies and government labor statistics show that housekeepers in hotels suffer from one of the highest injury rates among service industry workers. Many injuries come from lifting mattresses to make beds and moving dusty furniture.

“Changes in hotel room cleaning practices that lead to an increased workload – for example, understaffing, less frequent room cleaning leading to dirtier rooms – are likely to lead to risks increased work-related injuries for hotel room cleaners,” said Pamela Vossenas. , a researcher who co-authored a 2010 study that found hotel housekeepers had the highest injury rate overall and the highest rate of musculoskeletal injuries among hotel employees. studied hotel.

At the end of each shift, Velasquez, 48, said she comes home with back pain from moving mattresses and furniture and pain in her knees from kneeling to clean the floors in the bathroom and shower cubicles.

If guests knew how difficult her job is, she said, they wouldn’t leave such a mess.

Riley Wood, general manager of Aimbridge Hospitality, which operates the Hilton Garden Inn Los Angeles/Hollywood, declined to comment.

A spokesperson for Hilton Hotel & Resorts said the company offers guests “choice and control over the level of housekeeping services they desire” as guests may have “varying levels of comfort with anyone.” one entering their room after check-in”.

Hospitality industry representatives say the new housekeeping policies are aimed at keeping workers and guests safe and are preferred by guests.

A survey conducted for the American Hotel and Lodging Assn. found that 81% of hotel guests feel safer staying at a hotel if daily housekeeping is suspended.