line cook

front desk agent

housekeeper

night auditor

dishwasher

Hay Creek Hotels

If you're considering working as a housekeeper for the Wolfeboro Inn/Hay Creek Hotels, there are a few things you should know which you probably won't find out from reading the ad, and may not find out during the interview.

First, although the ad lists perks and incentives as part of the rewards package, most of the benefits are only available if you work 35-40 hours, and regular housekeepers aren't scheduled for 35-40 hours. Only the supervisor is scheduled for 35-40 hours, so if you're signing up for insurance and paid time off, think again. Additionally, the perks only apply if you actually work 40 hours per week. Did you see the note that Wolfeboro is highly seasonal? In the off season, expect to be sent home early a lot. When the job listing says that you might work until 2 or 3, depending on how many rooms are you have to clean, the range is more like 1 to 4:45. There are days when you'll be given two rooms to clean (even during the summer), and days when you're the only housekeeper on and you have seventeen rooms to clean by 3 because they're all arrivals, and it's against corporate policy to mark rooms as unavailable even if the housekeeping department is short-staffed.

This was not communicated to me during the interview with the HR manager.

As far as other rewards and incentives, the reward system really isn't worth much. Rather than bonuses and raises, the only method of showing appreciation (that I saw) is the "Delight Dollars" method, which is filled out by a manager in praise of exceptional work (rarely), which can be entered into a raffle during the all-staff meetings. The prizes are fine (stays at fancy hotels and such), but the problem is that Delight Dollars are rarely given to housekeepers, all-staff meetings happen less often than once per quarter, and the odds of "winning" something are low. There was never any monetary incentive that I encountered.

When the ad says "regular shifts," this is simply untrue. Unless you complain mightily, your schedule will be different each week, and even if you complain mightily, your schedule is subject to change without verbal communication or confirmation. You're expected to read the printed-out schedule and show up for your shifts, so if the scheduled end-of-day suddenly goes from 3 to 4, you're expected to be there until 4.

This was also not communicated to me during the interview with the HR manager. I can't help but feel that failing to communicate such pertinent information was more than a slip of the mind.

Corporate Hay Creek Hotels is not invested in the Wolfeboro Inn, much less its housekeepers. Despite the fact that we were told that it's Hay Creek policy that all staff staying in a Hay Creek hotel must tip their housekeepers, corporate employees infallibly failed to tip their housekeepers. This includes the interim general manager, who stayed in a room at the inn while working there. Between the housekeepers, we cleaned his room at least four times and were never tipped. 

(The exception to this is when the general manager gave a presentation at an all-staff meeting, and tipped his most recent housekeeper to illustrate a point.)

The management is currently working to adjust housekeeper schedules to allow for half an hour for lunch instead of twenty minutes. Please note: lunch breaks shorter than half an hour after a period worked of five or more hours is illegal in the state of New Hampshire, where the inn is located. During the five months I worked for the inn, housekeepers were only allowed to take an unpaid twenty-minute lunch break.

This really isn't a single-income job. There are tips, and sometimes they're good (some of my co-workers have made $30 on one room), but much more often, it's a pile of loose change or nothing at all. Don't factor the tips into your budgeting. If you're married or a dependent, the position might work for you. The high schoolers and weekends-only members of the team seemed to have fairly regular schedules based on their other obligations, but if you indicate that this is your full-time job, you may be expected to make this your primary life responsibility. The problem is, you won't make enough money at 35 hours, but your schedule isn't predictable enough to pick up a second job.

However, despite the corporate shenanigans and HR pettiness, despite the poor pay and lack of useful recognition, despite the lack of support from upper management and the constant turnover of housekeepers who just don't care - there are employees at the inn who really care and are trying hard to save a sinking ship. The current housekeeping supervisor is fair, reasonable, and has a strong moral core, and the housekeeping manager is trying. Some of the other staff (the folk who are more townie than corporate) look out for each other and the housekeepers.

All in all, this is a tough gig. Hay Creek needs to change its policies. I don't know, maybe taking care of your staff is a better incentive than Delight Dollars.

I worked at the Inn for a little over 2 years, and for the last year I spent working in housekeeping. During that last year, I saw the housekeeping staff have at least 4 turn overs and watched 4 supervisors come and go. I was the senior housekeeper when I left and got a pay raise once. Most new housekeepers worked there an average of around 3 months. 

I also saw many upper management changes such as 5 different general managers during my 2 years and at one point there was no general manager for months. 

When hired, you will be told a lot of promises but don’t count on that being the truth. You may be told there are daily free lunches provided by the Tavern and that is apart of your pay, and that is why it’s only $15/h starting pay (which is the lowest anywhere around the Lakes Region for a housekeeping position). You may also be told that you receive tips from rooms and that’s aleo apart of your pay. Most days I took home $0 in tips (and i usually had 7-12 rooms to clean during busy months) Somedays you may be lucky to bring home a $20. 


As for the job itself, it would be an “okay” job if you had the materials you need to PREFORM said job. For months, we didn’t have enough vacuums, or even working ones for that matter…I was quite mortified and didn’t feel good at the end of a workday knowing I couldn’t do my job properly. There was always a lack of linens, towels, etc. Majority of the linens are old and ripping or stained. The rooms were also recently renovated and we were never provided with vacuums that word on hard floors while I was there. (The new rooms are hard floors..) We were also always understaffed while I was there. You could hardly complete rooms as you had to constantly get freshly cleaned linens because there wasn’t enough to turn over the entire hotel. Not only that, but you are consistently SLAMMED in the summer months and you can’t move your schedule around at all. I was having to do overtime every week and had 1 day off most weeks. Sometimes I worked 9 days straight with 1 day off in between!

Also, I am the type of housekeeper to do everything to the standard i.e I don’t cut corners but it was allowed. Some housekeepers don’t change pillow cases, some don’t mop, some don’t even clean the toilet bowl. The list goes on.

It gets better. Don’t rely on this job come the winter. During the winter, they only needed 1-3 housekeepers. The supervisor has to have 40 hours at least a week so I only got 1-2 days a week in the winter, which is fine, because I have college. BUT, when it did start getting busy during the school year, no matter how many times I told management I could only do 1-3 days a week to swing my school schedule, it was ignored time and time again and my studies struggled. 

New management in general were pretty unsupportive. The working conditions for housekeepers, while I was there, was very poor. Hallways weren’t cooled in the summer and you can hardly breathe when working, and I am young and even I struggled. The only air conditioned parts of the hotel that I knew of were the back offices and the guest rooms. Most days I didn’t have time for my 20 minute unpaid lunch (and housekeepers are the only staff that are required to take an unpaid lunch by the way). For months last summer, the ceiling in the housekeeping room was dripping with water. We had to walk through water daily. We had bins that would fill with water and a part of my job was to empty the bins if they got full. I was making $15/h to walk through a flooded laundry room and work tirelessly with no break. For months. The Inn used to have employee incentives but as of recently, it seems like that all went away. 

Overall, the Inn was consistently understaffed ever since the first manager I had left. All but about 4 coworkers that started with me are still there today and there’s more leaving. Not a very happy place to work in my experience. The best part of the job were the people I worked with that weren’t upper management. Never had a problem with coworkers. 

Hotel is pretty, has potential but can definitely see why they cannot keep help. Laundry room is a disaster, management is a joke. Got one day of training, was just then thrown into the mess of an unorganized business. Management praises helping when needed but was watched and left to struggle and dismissed when asking questions, co-workers are unreliable, rude and not trained correctly therefore things are not getting done right. Workload for one person is overwhelming and chaotic, really just nearly impossible. Unpaid 20 minute lunch but cannot leave property, lunch is provided yes, but no menu to go off of for staff so its really just a 50/50 if you’ll even eat that day. Overall demeanor is just chilling. Very little communication among all staff members and when the day is coming to a close, you think you did well despite not having the supplies, linen, and the help you need you get questioned and scolded as to why more isnt being produced. News flash housekeeping is impossible with no full time employees and or laundry person. Was not thrilled being invited upon a sinking ship per say, but empty promises did not end there. They paint pictures of this glorious wonderful job with a hardworking team, yet when asked for help teamwork does not actually exsist.

In a short time, I have experienced support in my learning from all levels of management within the company. There are a lot of policies that are specific to the corporation, which offers protection and teamwork from the corporate office to assist in more challenging or delicate situations when they arise. Having said that, the individual inn has a core group of tight knit staff and the overall feeling at work is cheerful. I would recommend anyone wishing to explore hospitality give us a try.

Hay Creek Hotels values colleagues' contributions which lead to the overall success of the company.
The company culture is alive and well and not only a tag line.
Property and company goals are clear and the alignment amongst all staff is strong.
Corporate leadership is very accesible and supportive.
The property portfolio is outstanding with unique properties each having a sense of place. Not the "cookie cutter" approach as seen with other brands where only location is point of differentiation.
Hay Creek properties are each unique in their own way and representing the location where they are.
Highly recommend looking at Hay Creek Hotels if you are looking for what true hospitality is versus the big box, manuals only approach of most other groups out there. 

I worked for Hay Creek for many years. I put in a lot of my valuable time, and stupidly did things like personally purchasing items for the benefit of the establishment and staff without receiving any reimbursement or even acknowledgement, because I was invested and genuinely wanted to see the business succeed. New ownership took over and every employee became an object and no longer a human being, and beside displaying a strong work ethic and pride in workmanship, they wont hesitate to cast you aside, leave you stranded, and will denote your worth at any time. This company is a succubus of joy, Don't work here... seriously, I warned you!

I was hired as an executive chef in Jackson NH. The kitchen was in disrepair, no one wanted to work there so it was difficult to find staff. The GM was old school in the wrong way as a manager, there was nepotism in management. Because I am a professional of 35 years with an impeccable resume, I came into this position to make the changes I was told by Haycreek needed to be done, instead I was railroaded out of my position by the in house management and Haycreek remained silent without investigating the matter. As a professional chef and currently a corporate chef I can say without a doubt that this company is the worst organization I ever had the displeasure of working for. STAY AWAY!

At first it is a wonderful job, if you love a fast past constantly changing workplace like I do. I’m young so that was my first mistake, I began to be over worked and completely ridiculed by upper management. They have no sense of respect, and no compassion towards what you have going on in your personal life. If something happens they still expect you to be there, come in on off days and some will even switch you to different departments. The job itself is a dream come true besides back breaking labor, if you can deal with being torn down and constantly dealing with  condescending people maybe it’s the place for you. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Shelter Harbor Inn is a great place to work. Management and Owner make for a stress free environment.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I have been here for years and I have not been stressed once. Everyone is kind and helpful. Great team to work with.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Shelter Harbor  Inn focuses on its customers and employees making it an ideal place to work.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
The typical day at SHI is stress free. Loving your job and having amazing customers makes goin to work easy.

A typical day at work consists of a million phone calls, staff, and guests all coming at you at once. You have to be quick on your feet and think of solutions to every conceivable problem under the sun. This job has taught me to be extremely patient and calm when under real pressure. 

My coworkers are truly friendly and happy people, they make the day a little better. The best part of the job is meeting new people everyday and putting smiles on peoples face. But the hardest part about my job is not being able to please everyone, some people will never be happy. And a good management team doesn't hurt either. :)

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Line cook 4 salaries reported	$21.25 per hour
Front desk agent 3 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Housekeeper 4 salaries reported	$17.50 per hour
Night auditor 1 salary reported	$22.50 per hour
Dishwasher 2 salaries reported	$16.50 per hour

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