- The exam is 150 questions in 3 hours with a 70% passing score and a required proctor.
- The application, online study guide and exam bundle currently costs USD $530.50; renewal is USD $204 every five years.
- Eligibility needs a management-level housekeeping role plus one year as a department head, with specific reductions available.
- Four competency areas: Housekeeping Operations, Financial Management, Leadership, and Human Resources Management.
What This Credential Is (and Is Not)
The Certified Hospitality Housekeeping Executive (CHHE) is an AHLA-endorsed certification administered by AHLEI (the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute). It is aimed at executive-level housekeeping professionals, not entry-level room attendants or supervisors. The acronym is shared with unrelated credentials in other fields, so make sure any fee, date or score figure you read refers to the hospitality housekeeping executive certification and nothing else.
If you are new to the term, our explainers on what CHHE is and what CHHE stands for cover the basics. This page is the compressed version: the facts you should be able to recite before you sit for the exam.
Exam Facts at a Glance
Everything below comes from the current issuer product listing. Where the issuer has not published a detail, this page says so rather than guessing.
| Item | What the Issuer Specifies |
|---|---|
| Number of questions | 150 |
| Time allowed | 3 hours |
| Passing score | 70% |
| Proctor | Required |
| Delivery | ExamFlex, online or print, with an approved proctor |
| Retakes | Two retake purchases within one year from application approval |
| Item format | Not specified by the current product |
| Scored vs. unscored split | Not publicly disclosed |
| Pass rate | Not publicly disclosed |
A note on question format
Older descriptions of this exam mention multiple-choice items, but the current product listing does not specify an item format. Treat the format as unconfirmed, prepare for applied, scenario-style reasoning rather than pure memorization, and confirm the details in your ExamFlex materials after your application is approved.
Eligibility: Who Can Apply
CHHE is an experience-gated credential. The current issuer requirements are:
- A qualifying executive or management-level housekeeping role, and
- One year as a department head, and
- AHLEI application approval before you can proceed.
Two things can eliminate six months of the time requirement: holding an Executive Certification, or holding an accredited academic degree. Whether you can stack both reductions is not established, so do not assume you can cut the requirement by a full year. If you are unsure whether your title qualifies, ask AHLEI before paying. The full walkthrough is in our CHHE requirements guide.
Fees, Retakes and Renewal
Initial cost
The current official price is USD $530.50 for the bundle that includes the application, the online study guide and the exam. The issuer has not disclosed a member versus non-member split or a standalone exam-only price, so if you see a different number elsewhere, verify it against the issuer's listing. For a fuller budget view, see the CHHE certification cost breakdown.
Retakes
The product allows two retake purchases within one year from application approval. The current retake fee has not been verified, so budget conservatively and confirm the price before you need it. The one-year clock starts at approval, not at your first exam attempt, which is a good reason to schedule your sitting soon after you are approved.
Renewal
Certification renews on a five-year cycle at a current official fee of USD $204. Current issuer guidance requires 50 recertification points within five years, and again every five years thereafter. Those points are not automatically equivalent to CEU hours, so do not assume a training certificate you earned for another purpose counts one-for-one. Detailed evidence rules follow the current issuer program, so check the recertification guidance before you start collecting documentation.
| Cost Item | Current Amount |
|---|---|
| Application + online study guide + exam bundle | USD $530.50 |
| Retake fee | Unverified |
| Renewal (every 5 years) | USD $204 |
The Four Competency Areas
The issuer publishes four exam competencies. These are the headings you should organize your review around, but they are not an official weighted blueprint. Percentages, scored-question allocations and a blueprint revision date are unpublished, so do not trust any site that gives you an exact percentage split. For a deeper look at each area, see our CHHE exam domains guide.
Domain 1: Housekeeping Operations
The core of the executive role: running a department that keeps rooms, public areas and back-of-house spaces clean, safe and ready.
- Room and public-area cleaning standards, inspection systems and quality control
- Staffing models, scheduling and productivity standards for a housekeeping department
- Inventory control for linens, supplies, chemicals and equipment
- Safety, chemical handling and guest-room security practices
- Coordination with front desk, engineering and other departments
Domain 2: Financial Management
Executives are judged on controlling cost without letting standards slip, so expect applied reasoning about budgets.
- Departmental budgeting and forecasting
- Labor cost control and linking staffing levels to occupancy
- Purchasing, par levels and supply cost management
- Reading operating statements and understanding variance
- Capital planning and replacement decisions for equipment and soft goods
Domain 3: Leadership
The shift from supervisor to executive is largely a shift from doing to directing, and this area tests that mindset.
- Setting department goals and communicating expectations
- Coaching, delegation and developing supervisors
- Handling conflict, change and guest-service recovery
- Building a team culture around quality and accountability
Domain 4: Human Resources Management
Housekeeping is a labor-intensive department, so workforce management is a major concern.
- Recruiting, selecting and onboarding staff
- Training programs and performance evaluation
- Retention, motivation and turnover reduction
- Employment law basics, discipline and documentation
- Scheduling fairness and managing diverse teams
Key Takeaway
Because no weighting is published, treat all four areas as fair game and avoid skipping one because it feels less central to your day job. A veteran operations leader who has never built a budget from scratch should give Financial Management extra attention; a finance-savvy manager should drill inspection systems and productivity standards.
What the Issuer Has Not Published
Part of exam readiness is knowing which claims you should not trust. As of the sources reviewed (September 29, 2026), the following are unverified or undisclosed:
- An official weighted exam blueprint or outline year
- The scored versus unscored question split
- An observed pass rate
- The current retake fee
- Calculator and open-book policies
- Detailed remote-proctor rules
If you encounter a pass-rate number or a domain percentage chart online, treat it as unverified unless it cites the issuer. Our pages on the CHHE pass rate and how hard the CHHE exam is explain what can and cannot be said responsibly given the available data. On calculator and proctor policy, confirm directly in your ExamFlex instructions before exam day rather than assuming.
Sequencing Your 40 Review Hours
The issuer's self-paced review material runs approximately 40 hours. That is a study-time figure, not a required minimum, and many experienced managers will need more time in the areas where their day-to-day work doesn't reach. A practical way to spread the material is to front-load the area that is furthest from your daily routine, then use the closing weeks for mixed practice. The detailed plan lives in our CHHE study guide; here is a compact version.
Your weakest domain
- If you come from operations, start with Financial Management: budgets, labor cost, par levels, variance
- If you come from a finance background, start with inspection systems and productivity standards
Human Resources Management
- Hiring, training, evaluation, discipline and documentation
- Retention and turnover reduction strategies
Leadership and Housekeeping Operations
- Coaching, delegation and conflict scenarios
- Quality control, safety and inter-department coordination
Timed mixed practice
- Run sets at roughly 72 seconds per question to match the 150-in-180 pace
- Review misses by domain and revisit the lowest-scoring area
You can run timed sets in the CHHE practice test section of this site. Because the exam is proctored and timed, practicing under similar conditions matters more than rereading material a third time.
Who Hires CHHE Holders
The credential targets people already in or moving toward executive housekeeping roles. Typical employers and roles include:
- Hotels and resorts: executive housekeepers, directors of housekeeping and rooms division leaders
- Large lodging and casino properties: multi-department housekeeping operations with big staffs and budgets
- Healthcare, senior living and institutional facilities: environmental services and housekeeping leadership roles where hospitality standards apply
- Management companies: regional or portfolio-level housekeeping oversight
For listings and role types, see our overview of CHHE jobs. If you are weighing whether the investment pays off, the CHHE salary guide and the ROI analysis take a closer look. No specific salary figures are quoted here because none are verified in the issuer data.
Frequently Asked Questions
The current issuer product specifies 150 questions in a three-hour exam. The scored versus unscored split is not publicly disclosed, and the item format is not specified by the current product.
The current issuer product lists 70% as the passing score. A proctor is required. See the passing score guide for how to translate that into a practice target.
The current official application, online study guide and exam bundle is USD $530.50. A member versus non-member split and an exam-only price have not been disclosed. Renewal every five years is currently USD $204. The cost breakdown has more detail.
Yes. The current product allows two retake purchases within one year from application approval. The retake fee has not been verified, so confirm it with the issuer before you plan your budget.
Renewal runs on a five-year cycle and requires 50 recertification points within five years, and every five years thereafter, plus the renewal fee. Points are not automatically equivalent to CEU hours, so follow the current issuer's recertification guidance for what counts.