What is a hotel laundry service?

What is the difference between self-service and valet laundry?

Self-service. Many hotels, especially apart-hotels, serviced apartments and mid-range properties, set aside a guest laundry room with washing machines, dryers and often an ironing board. The guest runs the machines, supplies or buys detergent, and pays at the machine — commonly by coin or by card — rather than through the room bill.

Valet. With valet service the guest fills in a laundry form that lists each item and its price, places the items in the bag provided, and housekeeping collects them and returns them folded or on hangers within the turnaround the property announces. Dry cleaning, which cleans garments with solvent rather than water and is used for pieces whose care labels call for it, normally travels on the same form. Some properties pass the work to a commercial laundry partner rather than cleaning on site.

The two are not mutually exclusive, and coverage varies. A limited-service hotel may offer only a self-service room, a full-service city hotel may offer valet only, and a resort may run both plus a pressing service for garments that only need smoothing. Packages and serviced residences sometimes include a set amount of laundry in the rate, in which case no separate line appears on the bill.

How much does hotel laundry service cost, and how quickly does it come back?

Valet laundry is normally priced per item on a laundry list kept in the room, with a shirt, a pair of trousers and a dress each carrying its own figure. Prices vary by property and destination, and a hotel may instead sell laundry by the bag, by the day or as an add-on to a room package. Self-service machines are either free to guests or paid at the machine.

Turnaround is set by the property. The common arrangement is same-day return for items handed in before a cut-off time printed on the form, with anything later returning the following day; handling at weekends and on public holidays can run to a different schedule, and an express option, where offered, usually carries a higher price.

Billing follows one of two routes: the charge is posted to the room folio, or it is settled directly at the time of service. When it goes on the folio, laundry appears as a line item beside the room rate, food and drink and other incidentals, and it becomes part of the bill the guest checks before settling up — see the hotel folio and billing checklist for what to look for at check-out.

Do hotel laundry charges earn hotel loyalty points?

Whether a laundry charge earns points depends on how the programme defines eligible charges and on how the charge is routed, not on the service itself. The Marriott Bonvoy Loyalty Program Terms & Conditions, updated October 2026, set out the test for stays at Marriott Participating Properties. [2]

Marriott Bonvoy defines Qualifying Charges as charges incurred during a stay in a guest room at a Participating Property by a member, as the registered guest, on their folio, and on up to two additional guest rooms with the same check-in and check-out dates. The listed categories include the qualifying room rate, food and beverages, direct-dial in-room telephone and fax, and in-room movies and video games. [2] The member must give their membership number at the time of reservation or at check-in, must stay in one of the reserved guest rooms as the registered guest, and must pay for the charges. [2]

Two attribution rules matter for services that are not run by the hotel itself: food and beverage outlets managed or operated by a third party may not be eligible for earning, and charges incurred at outlets that are not located within the Participating Property are not Qualifying Charges at all. [2]

At All-Inclusive Resorts and at properties the company designates as all-inclusive, Qualifying Charges include spa, golf and other resort-run activities when those are managed by the property, and taxes, service charges and gratuities that form part of the qualifying room package rate. In certain limited cases, taxes, service charges, gratuities and fees related to other incidentals charged to the room bill may also be eligible. [2]

Exceptions and limits

• Machine payments. Where laundry is paid for in the laundry room, the money never reaches the folio, so there is no stay charge for a programme to assess.
• Second rooms. Extra rooms count for Marriott Bonvoy only where they share the member's check-in and check-out dates, and only up to two of them. [2]
• Missing credit. Under the Marriott Bonvoy rules, missing-credit requests must be received within one year of the applicable activity unless the programme rules or supplemental terms state otherwise. [2]
• No cash value. Marriott Bonvoy points, awards and other member benefits have no cash value and may not be sold, bartered, transferred or exchanged except as the rules expressly permit. [2]
• Tax. Members are responsible for any taxes and disclosures connected with earning or using points, miles and awards. [2]
• Programme scope. The earning rules above are Marriott Bonvoy's; another hotel programme may define eligible charges differently, and a charge that is billed to the folio is not automatically eligible everywhere.

Frequently asked questions

Are hotel laundry charges added to the room bill?

It depends on the property: valet charges are usually posted to the room folio, while self-service machines are typically paid at the machine. A folio charge is what Marriott Bonvoy assesses when it decides whether a stay charge is a Qualifying Charge. [2]

Do laundry charges earn Marriott Bonvoy points?

Marriott Bonvoy counts Qualifying Charges as defined in its programme rules, which cover charges the member incurs as registered guest on the folio, subject to the membership-number, registered-guest and payment conditions; charges from third-party-run outlets may be excluded. [2]

Can laundry for a second room earn points?

Marriott Bonvoy includes up to two additional guest rooms with the same check-in and check-out dates as the member's room, provided the membership number is given at reservation or check-in, the member stays in one of the rooms and the member pays. [2]

How long does hotel laundry take?

Turnaround is set by each property. Same-day return usually depends on handing items in before the cut-off printed on the laundry list; anything later comes back the next day, and weekend or holiday service can follow a different schedule.

Is hotel laundry service the same as dry cleaning?

No. Laundry generally means washing in water, while dry cleaning uses solvent for garments whose care labels call for it, and hotels usually price the two separately on the same list.

Related pages

Glossary: all frequent flyer terms, hotel service charge. Guides: hotel folio and billing checklist, hotel pre-booking fee checklist.

Sources

Sources accessed on 18 October 2026. The earning rules described here are those of Marriott Bonvoy; other hotel programmes, including World of Hyatt, Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards and Accor ALL, are not covered.

1. Marriott Bonvoy Loyalty Program Terms & Conditions, checked 18 October 2026