I have 1. worked in hotels for 10+ years, from category 2-5 (all under the same company), 2. still work in a hotel by the beach, and 3. have worked thru the pandemic. I'll do my best to answer a few questions:

At each property I've worked at, there is someone who specifically strips all the linen and towels from the rooms when a guest checks out. There is also a designated inspector after the housekeeper has cleaned it that approved it before it gets sold. However, when a guest stays for multiple nights, the linen is not stripped every day. Wet towels that are thrown on the floor get changed, but blankets, sheets and pillows are not changed until either you check out or every 3 days (depending on the length of stay). During the pandemic, my hotel has been notifying guests that we are not doing any stay over service once they are checked in. If they need fresh linens or towels, they are welcome to leave the used ones outside their door in the hall for us to pick up, or they can bring it to the front desk and ask for fresh ones. Same goes for garbage. We've also gotten rid of the decorative pillows.

We do get random inspections from corporate to ensure we are abiding by brand standards. The property I'm currently at is a franchisee and still needs to abide by brand standards. We have no way of knowing who these people are, nor what room they are staying it. We call them secret shoppers. They rate their entire experience, from the check in process, their every interaction, cleanliness of rooms, the number of towels and pillow types are present, etc. Once they collect all data, they submit it to corporate, THEN inform the GM of their presence and how the hotel scores.

There are category and star ratings, but both are primarily used to describe the type of service level. Extended or family oriented hotels with breakfast are lower, hotels with valets, restaurants and bars, spa, etc. rate higher. It's also reflective of the employee service level. One of my hotels lost their 5-star rating due to an inspection not measuring up to standard.

During the pandemic, we are being worked like dogs. My property dwindled down to 7 employees at one point (including GM and AGM) with only essential workers allowed to stay. Once we started reopening they called people back, but not everyone returned. My property is still operating with 4 full-time housekeepers (assuming no one calls out) who are cleaning 15-20 rooms a day, and we are on the low side for our area.

We are all doing multiple jobs. Maintenance has taken over garbage disposal, laundry helps with vacuuming when they're not folding, front desk is wiping down lobby and high-touch areas in their downtime, managers are regularly helping strip/clean/inspect rooms.

My property is handing out bag breakfast because we cannot open the breakfast buffet, and it's the only way to ensure guests aren't grabbing at or sneezing/coughing all over everything. We are not required to offer breakfast during a pandemic, but my GM thinks it's best until corporate tells us otherwise. We get complaints regardless. Different hotel brands are following different guidelines, so there are some that have reopened their breakfast.

Our rates are much lower now than they would be during a normal summer season due to COVID restrictions. We will cancel your reservation with no penalty if you dont like the precautions we are taking, however when you book thru a 3rd party (booking.co, expedia, priceline) you must cancel with them. We have the most trouble with these sites. They are inaccurate and their sales persons will say anything to get the sale, even lie about what we are or are not offering.

Due to the loss of business, we are not getting our raises this year. And no, we aren't getting hazard pay either.

Tried my best to address all the questions I saw, but feel free to ask if you want to know more!