Housekeepers Bask in Well-Deserved Recognition

Many housekeepers and environmental services (EVS) staff received the recognition they deserved last week during International Housekeepers Week.

At UofL Health in Louisville, Kentucky, doctors, nurses, and other appreciative staff lined the halls carrying balloons and offering applause as EVS staff began and ended their shifts, WHAS-TV reports. 

“I was becoming teary eyed,” said Bill Lands, the director of EVS at the hospital. “When you saw everyone walking down there…a lot of the housekeepers had tears in their eyes for what happened.”

One housekeeper who spent the last 16 years cleaning said the recognition made her smile after months of double shifts and working short-staffed.

“It made us all feel like we were nobodies,” Wise said of the work during the pandemic. “But yesterday, they showed us we are somebodies. Yes they did.”

Housekeepers at Walt Disney World in Florida were the focus of week-long recognition, through a series of social media posts including the following from the Walt Disney World Cast and Community page:

“It’s International Housekeeping Week! For many guests, their Disney trip begins at a resort hotel, and this team goes above and beyond to ensure rooms are prepped and ready to welcome them ‘home.’  On behalf of the more than 65,000 Cast Members back to work—a huge thank you to ALL our housekeepers for their hard work, passion, and dedication to making magic for our guests!”