HOTEL HOUSEKEEPING More than clean rooms

Organization Housekeeping organizations are as varied as there are types and sizes of hotels. Executive housekeepers may occupy greater or lesser positions in any organization. Some may report directly to the general manager of chief of maintenance, while others might even hold corporate executive positions.

Organization The number of floor supervisors or team leaders is dependent on the number of rooms each room attendant might be expected to clean in a period. The US standard for rooms cleaned by one room attendant in one eight-hour period varies from 13-20.

Personnel and Jobs in the Housekeeping Department Various jobs one might find in a hotel housekeeping department: The executive housekeeper assumes complete direction, operational control, and supervision of the housekeeping, laundry, and recreation departments. The housekeeping manager assumes primary responsibility for guest room cleaning and servicing and acts as the primary assistant to the executive housekeeper.

Personnel and Jobs in the Housekeeping Department The floor supervisor responsible for the quality of work performed in the sections to which their room attendants are assigned. make inspections and reports. The senior housekeeping aide responsible for basic training of section housekeeping aides supervision of utility housekeeping aides who might perform specific tasks such as shampooing carpets, washing windows, or performing project work.25

Personnel and Jobs in the Housekeeping Department The night supervisor assumed total control of the department after the major rooms and hotel cleaning evolution for each day has been concluded. The linen rooms supervisor In charge of the main linen room operations. Responsible for maintaining and operating the communication link to the front desk, engineering, and to each guest in need of housekeeping attention.

Personnel and Jobs in the Housekeeping Department The laundry manager – assumes primary responsibility for operation of the hotel’s in-house commercial laundry. The guest room attendant – primarily responsible for guest room cleaning and servicing. The section housekeeping aide – assumes the regular and daily cleaning of corridors, elevator cabs and landings, stairwells, service areas, floor linen rooms, vending areas, and other public spaces.

Personnel and Jobs in the Housekeeping Department The laundry supervisor supervises the activities of the laundry attendants and the workload process and production. The recreation supervisor assumes responsibility for all recreation areas of the hotel.

Personnel and Jobs in the Housekeeping Department Other employees: Utility housekeeping aide Linen room attendant Lobby housekeeping aide Seamstress Laundry attendant Housekeeping trainer

Importance of Housekeeping The two most cited reasons for a guest not returning to a hotel are a dirty guest room and slow check-in

Room Assignment Housekeeping departments are generally the largest in any hotel This intensive labor makes up a large portion of the room cost. Proper planning begins with effective deployment of housekeepers, which begins with a review of reports

Housekeeping PMS Reports Each morning the housekeeping department run a series of reports from the PMS that dictate the expected guest room activity for that day These reports are the same as those used by the front office: The arrivals report The departure report The in-house report The exceptions or out of order report These reports are used to direct the housekeepers for that day

Housekeeping PMS Reports (Cont…) The departures report is used to direct the housekeepers to those rooms first: these rooms get first priority to clean The arrivals report is used to allocate vacant/ready (VR) rooms for new guests The in-house report lists the rooms that people are currently occupying, these rooms must also be cleaned but are lower on the priority list for the housekeepers The out of order report identifies what rooms the housekeepers should avoid as they are not suitable for sale anyway

Housekeeping PMS Reports (Cont…) These reports are used by housekeeping to assign the workload of each housekeeper Rooms are assigned based on their current status code The understanding is that rooms with departing guests take longer to clean than those rooms currently occupied Rooms that are vacant and clean do not need to be cleaned again

Housekeeper Allocation Based on the number of rooms that need to be cleaned that day, the housekeeping management is said to “break out the house”: this process divides the rooms to be cleaned into sections The assignment of rooms to each housekeeper is called a section, which usually consists of 16-18 guest rooms This number is based on an expectation of cleaning two vacant/ready rooms per hour Housekeeping is said to turn a room when it goes through the act of cleaning it for resale

Housekeeper Allocation (Cont…) The proper allocation of housekeepers is vital to getting every room ready for occupancy by the stated check-in time (which can be anywhere from 2:00pm-5:00pm) Given that checkout time is anywhere from 10:00am-1:00pm, this span of 3-4 hours is what housekeeping is given to clean every room in the hotel on a given day The room status codes are used to gauge which rooms are ready for sale, if a guest checks out early, the housekeepers are able to prepare the room for any guest who may arrive early

Housekeeper Allocation (Cont…) Because arrival and departure times are hard to gauge, most hotels cannot guarantee an early arrival time to guests, and often discourage guests from checking out late by using a fee

Housekeeping Operations (Cont…) The floor supervisor is responsible for checking on the housekeepers throughout the day to remove dirty linen from their carts and to restock them with cleaning supplies In addition to supporting the housekeepers, the person must maintain the cleanliness of the guest hallways

Housekeeping Guest Room Standards Each guest room must meet the cleanliness standards set by management, the requirements may differ between configurations and designations Housekeepers are trained to meet these requirements however random inspections are carried out to review their performance

Housekeeping Management Each morning in housekeeping begins with the assignment of sections and a general discussion of issues of the day The managers will discuss with housekeepers items that might impact them, such as: Groups in-house Known early arrivals or late departures and VIPs Chemical handling guidelines/MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet, which lists how to properly use and store the chemicals and their harmful effects) “Task of the day” – also referred to as a deep clean, the managers will designate a different cleaning item to pay special attention to

Turndown Service Hotels that have been rated fours star and above are required to offer their guests turndown service This is a process by which the guest room is made warm and inviting for the evening, which is normally conducted between 6:00pm and 9:00om A turndown agent should be able to complete 40 turndowns in those three hours The turndown service can entail many things and can be a very detailed process at the finest hotels

Turndown Service (Cont…) Generally, turndown service includes: Closing of draperies Soft music Corner folding of bedspread away from pillow An amenity presentation (such as chocolates, fruits, welcome card from General Manager) Soft corner lights are lit A “room tidy” is conducted (which is no more than a quick cleaning such as removing rubbish liners, emptying ashtrays) Some hotels place a breakfast door hanger next to the amenity presentation