Vania Arana, a hotel worker in Spain and president of the Las Kellys Cataluña union, revealed in an interview with La Sexta that workers in this sector can receive between 1 and 1.50 euros for each room cleaned, with workloads reaching up to 29 rooms per day, resulting in monthly salaries of only around 820 euros. Originally from Peru, Vania arrived in Spain in 1992 with training as a secondary school teacher, but ended up entering the hotel sector in 1996, working through temporary employment agencies and different establishments in Catalonia.
One of the hardest moments in her career occurred in 2014, when a hotel in Barcelona dismissed several workers and increased the workload of the remaining employees. According to Vania's account, these women worked 30 rooms a day without breaks, without eating and without drinking, under constant pressure to quit from exhaustion. The workers took legal action and the conflict ended with an agreement that allowed the dismissed workers to be reinstated and several professionals to be hired directly.
Vania also warned about the physical and psychological consequences of this profession, marked by repetitive movements, constant strain, and pressure to meet very short time limits per room. According to data cited by El Español, from Comisiones Obreras, 95.9% of room attendants show symptoms of anxiety, while about four in ten show depressive symptoms. "We are a sick collective. We go to work with support belts, ankle braces, and pills for the pain," she stated.
Las Kellys, the organization of which Vania is president in Catalonia, has been advocating for better working conditions, recognition of certain occupational diseases, and changes to the external contracting model used by some hotels. The article notes that the salaries and conditions described refer to Spain and should not be automatically transposed to Portugal, but Vania's testimony shows the reality of a profession essential to the tourism sector, but often invisible to those who simply enter a hotel room that is already prepared.
