Glossary
Hotel Housekeeper Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential hotel housekeeper terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key hotel housekeeper vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in hotel housekeeper training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Amenities
- Guest supplies such as soap.
- Cart
- The housekeeping supply cart.
- Checkout room
- A room vacated by a guest.
- Cross-contamination
- Spreading germs between surfaces.
- Deep cleaning
- Thorough periodic cleaning.
- DND
- Do not disturb.
- Inspected room
- A room checked by a supervisor.
- Linen par
- Linens needed per room.
- Lost and found
- Items left behind.
- Mitered corner
- A neat, folded bed corner.
- Out of order
- A room not available.
- Room status
- Whether a room is clean, dirty or inspected.
- SDS
- Safety data sheet for chemicals.
- Stay-over room
- A room with a continuing guest.
- Turndown service
- Evening room preparation.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Hotel Housekeeper practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Hotel Housekeeper training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.