AARP Hearing Center
The condition of your hotel room can make or break your stay. Hotels are the most popular accommodation for travelers 50-plus, according to AARP’s 2025 Travel Trends survey, in which nearly 60 percent of travelers say they plan to stay in a hotel or motel when they travel this year.
We spoke to Margaret Walker-Shaw, director of housekeeping, environmental services and uniform control at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, about the hotel room experience. Walker-Shaw, 68, began her career as a housekeeper at the Ritz-Carlton, Chicago, and over three-plus decades rose through the ranks at Four Seasons Hotels, where, as corporate director of housekeeping, she trained the luxury brand’s housekeeping teams in 48 countries. Walker-Shaw managed 7,000-plus suites at The Venetian, which is among the largest hotels in the world, before landing at the Bellagio in 2023. She’s certified by the Indoor Environmental Healthcare and Hospitality Association, a division of the lead trade association for the cleaning industry. She helps organize the association’s Housekeeping Olympics, held annually in Las Vegas, and is a longtime competitor.
Here, Walker-Shaw shares her pro takes on guest room attendant (GRA) duties and guest expectations.
This “As told to” interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
First: Look for red flags
The first thing to check is the bathroom floor. Make sure you don’t see any hair or stains, and that the toilet looks clean. Beyond that, the bed should be nicely made with clean sheets. Because I’m in this business of cleaning, I check out the whole room. I also look at the vents and check behind the drapes.
Expect a snug fit
In hotels, you don’t have fitted sheets. When you send sheets to get laundered, the final step is to send [them] to a piece of equipment called an ironer, which is so hot it will melt the elastic on the fitted sheet. So we do flat and make it a fitted sheet with hospital corners.
Bed-making, I think, is one of the most important parts of the job. I’m the best bed maker in Las Vegas. I love it. I used to carry a dime with me, and at the end of my bed-making I’d toss it on the bed to see it pop. And it did. I can make a bed without lifting the mattress. The new way of doing it, they use something now called a sheet tucker. It’s a paddle-like piece of equipment. You want a bed that is made firmly, tightly, and looks presentable. The guest’s first impression is important, and the bed is generally the first thing a guest will see when they open the door.
