cauth cinderella.docx

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CINDERELLAINBABYLON:

THEREPRESENTATIONOFHOUSEKEEPINGANDHOUSEKEEPERSINHOTELBABYLON

CINDERELLAINBABYLON:

THEREPRESENTATIONOFHOUSEKEEPINGANDHOUSEKEEPERSINHOTELBABYLON

DrCandiceHarris

SeniorLecturerinManagement,

FacultyofBusiness,AUTUniversity

PrivateBag92006

Auckland1142

NEWZEALAND

candice.harris@aut.ac.nz 

DrHelenTregidga

SeniorLecturerinAccounting

FacultyofBusiness,AUTUniversity

helen.tregidga@aut.ac.nz 

DeniseSchitko

SeniorLecturerinHospitality

FacultyofAppliedHumanities,AUTUniversity

DavidWilliamson

SeniorLecturerinHospitality

FacultyofAppliedHumanities,AUTUniversity

david.williamson@aut.ac.nz 

 PapersubmittedtotheCAUTHE18thInternationalResearchConference10-13February2009,Perth,Australia–Stream:

Tourism&HospitalityandChangingPerspectives 

WordCount:

5450

Keywords:

Housekeeping,HotelBabylon,Ethnicity,Sexualisation,Denigration

CinderellainBabylon:

TheRepresentationofHousekeepingandHousekeepersinHotelBabylon

Thispaperlooksattherepresentationsofhousekeepingandhousekeepersinthepopulartelevisionseries‘HotelBabylon.Thepaperdiscussessomepossibleeffectsoftheimpressionconstructedofthisareaofhotelemploymentandsuggeststhattheimageofahospitalitycareerinhousekeepingisunderminedandundervaluedbythisconstruction.Thepapertakesareflectiveapproachandlooksathowlanguageandimageinthe‘HotelBabylon’seriesareconstructedregardingthehousekeepingdepartmentandworkers.Thepaperpositsthatimageofhousekeepingworkandthoseemployeesisoneofmainlymigrantworkers,sexualizedvictimsanddenigratedemployees.Thepapergoestosuggestthathousekeepingisinfactoftenthelargestandmostimportantdepartmentinhotelsasthemajorityoftheirincomeisderivedfromthesaleofrooms.Thepaperarguesthatitisironicthattheemployeesresponsibleforthelargestrevenuegeneratingareaofthehotelaresostronglydenigrated,wheninfacttheyshouldberecognizedaskeyemployees.Intermsofhotelandhospitalitygenerally,thisstudysuggestsmorefundamentalconcernsaboutsustainingservicequalityandemploymentrelationshipsinatightlabourmarket.

Introduction

HotelsoccupyafascinatingplaceinthesocialimaginationoftheWest.Inmanywayshotelsaresynonymouswithsex,romanceandadventure—linkedinpopularculturewithclandestinemeetingsofspiesandlovers,withweddingnights,honeymoonsandillicitortransitorysexualassignations（PritchardandMorgan,2006）.

Badbehaviour,youwouldthink,isparforthecourseintheluxuryhotelbusiness:

ademandingguesthere,adrunkenguestthere,anillicitcouple,somebrokenglasses.Butwhatthehotelstaffreallyhastoputupwithfromguestswhoareshellingoutbetween£350and£3,500anightwouldshockeventhemostjadedofsouls.Anditisusuallythechambermaidswhoareatthesharpend（BBC,2006,p.1）.

Recentcontributionsontheinteractionbetweenworkandtourism（Harris,2002;Ryan,2002;Uriely&Reichel,2000）challengetraditionalnotionsoftourismandtravelasout-of-the-ordinaryindulgentexperiences（Small,HarrisandWilson,2008）.Formany,internationallyhotelsareaworkplace.Highemployeeturnoverwithinthehospitalityindustryhasbeenacceptedasthenorm,creatinga‘turnoverculture’（Deery,2002）inwhichorganizationalstructures,managementandemployeesshowacceptanceofturnoverbehaviour.Figuresdiscussedatthe2006NewZealandHotelCouncilConference,puthotelemployeeturnoverashighas60%.Thishighturnovercanbeattributedtothelowwagespaidandalsoduetotheindustrybeingcharacterisedbyhistoricalpractices,basedonstereotypesandmythssuchas‘youworkinhospitalityuntilyougetarealjob’,typifyingaweakpsychologicalcontractbetweenworkersandhospitalityworkplaces.

ThispaperexaminesrepresentationsofbothhousekeepingandhousekeepersinthepopulartelevisionseriesHotelBabylon.Thepaperalsonotessomepotentialeffectsofthisknowledgeproducedabouthousekeepingandhousekeepersinrelationtojobappeal（andhencerecruitment）andemployeeturnover.HotelBabylonisacontemporaryandwidelyshownprogrammeshowingthelifeandinnerworkingsofahotelandthepeoplewhoworkinit.Wepositthatthisprogrammeisrepresentinghotelhousekeepingworkandhousekeepersasahotbedofmigrantworkers,sexualactivityanddenigration-servingtoconstructtheimageofahospitalitycareerinhousekeepingasundesirabletomany.Thisimage,wesuggest,mayunderminestaffretentioneffortsin‘real’hospitalityworkplaces.Webeginwithareviewoftheliteratureonhotelhousekeeping.Theapproachtakeninthispaperisthenoverviewed.Findingsarethenpresentedanddiscussedfocusingonthreethemesthatemergedfromouranalysis.Wenotethepotentialeffectsofrepresentationssuchastheseonthehousekeepingsectorofthehotelindustry.Weendthepaperwithsomeconcludingcomments.

HotelHousekeeping

Asthemajorityofhotelsare‘accommodationled’withmostrevenuederivedfromthesaleofrooms（MedlikandIngram,2000）,housekeepingisarguablythemostimportantdepartmentinhotels.Giventheimportanceofhousekeepingitwouldbereasonabletoexpecttheseworkerstoberecognisedasakeypartoftheoperation.However,housekeepingworkisoftenstigmatizedbecauseofitsassociationwithpersonalservitude（Purcell,1993;AshforthandKreiner,1999）.HousekeepersundertaketasksthatHughes（1971）terms‘dirtywork’,thussymbolisingalackofdignityandstatusandpotentialdegradationoftheworker.

Scherzer,RuguliesandKrause（2005）suggesthousekeepingis‘characterizedbyapredominantlyfemaleworkforce,repetitivephysicaltasks,lowjobcontrol,lowwages,increasinguseofcontingencyemployment,andfewopportunitiesforcareeradvancement’（p.1）.Wood（1994）states“itisconventionaltoregardcleaningworkas‘unskilled’despitethefactthatanargumentcouldbemadeforregardingsuchworkasrequiringacomplexbalanceoftaskorganisation,theapplicationof（thoughlow-level）technologyandtechnologicalprocessesandtheknowledgeoftheseprocesses”（p.62）.

Housekeepingisgenderedwork.Thelargestproportionoffemaleworkersarefoundinthe‘dirtiest’andoperativehoteljobsrequiringdomesticskillsforwhichwomenareinherentlyskilled（AdibandGuerrier,2003;Kinnairdetal,1994）.“Cleaningworkinthehomeisnotusuallyvaluedbymen,beingtakenforgrantedorviewedasawife’sduty,aviewthathasarguablybeentransferredtothepublicperformanceofcleaninginpaidemployment”（Wood,1994,p.62）.Wood（citedinHunter-Powell&Watson）concludes“chambermaidsrankamongstthelowestofthelowinhotelwork,treatedasacheapandeasilyreplaceableresourcebyemployersandoftenspurnedbytheirfellowemployees”（p.299）.Traditionallywomenareemployedinrolesthatareconsideredtorepresenttheirdomesticrolesusingthesameskillsbase（Kinnaird,KothariandHall,1994）.

Ashousekeepersusuallyworkindependentlyandautonomouslytheymaybevulnerabletoharassmentfromguestsorotherworkers.Althoughitisusualforroomcleaningtotakeplacewhentheguestisnotintheroom,occasionallytheguestsmayreturnbeforetheroomhasbeencompletedmeaningthestaffmemberisalonewiththeguestintheroom.Furthermore,HunterPowell&Watson（2006）suggest“thebehaviourofsomeguestsmaybeaffectedbytheirfreedomfromtheconstraintsofhomewhilestayinginahotel”（p.303）.

Housekeepersperformveryphysicaltasks.Itisgenerallyacceptedthataroomattendantwillcleanaroomin30minutes.Withmanyhotelshavingtwodoubleorkingsizebedsperroom,30bedsmayrequiremakinginaneighthourshift.Thisrepetitousbendingandliftingcancauseoccupationalinjuryiftherehasbeennoinstructionregardingbestpractice.FaulknerandPatiar（ascitedinHunter,Powell&Watson,2006）suggestthatotherroutineactivitiessuchaspushingladencleaningtrolleysandmovingfurniturecanalsoresultinspinalandjointinjuries.Scherzer,RuguliesandKrause（2005,p.489）show“roomcleanersmaybeatanelevatedriskforoccupationalinjuriescomparedwithhospitalityworkersatlargeandtheservicesectoringeneral”.Theirfindingsputtheinjuryrateforroomattendantsatfourtimeshigherthanthenationalincidencerate.

Furthermore,housekeepingisoftenconsideredanentrylevelpositionwhichattractsimmigrantworkers-oftenwithEnglishasasecondlanguage.AmandaCooper（spokespersonforalabourunionistheUSA）notesthatthehotelindustry,particularlyinhousekeeping,isdominatedbyimmigrantsandHunter,PowellandWatson（2006,p.300）observethathousekeepingoperationsinLondonandothermajorUKcities“areoftendominatedbymigrantandethnicminoritygroups”.TheaboveresearchreflectsfindingsfromLucas（1995）whoinfersethnicminorityandmigrantworkersareclusteredinthelowestgradedworkinthehospitalityindustryandthatitiscommontofindthattheworkersinhotelsaredrawnfromthesameethnicminorityormigrantgroups,particularlyinthe‘ghettoofhousekeeping’.

ApproachandMethod

Thisanalysisaimstoexamineknowledgeconstructedwithinatelevisionseries,namelyHotelBabylon,andconsiderthepotentialeffectofthatknowledge.Todosoweconsiderrepresentationsofhousekeepingandhousekeepersinfiveepisodesofthetelevisionseries.Here,inthissectionofthepaper,weoutlinetheresearchsiteandcontext,andtheanalyticalmethod

ResearchContext

ThetelevisionseriesHotelBabylonwasselectedasthesiteforanalysisforthisstud