week 4- role of housekeeping- 1

Housekeeping

Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed. ©2007 Pearson EducationHayes/Ninemeier Pearson Prentice Hall

Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

Decisions about required number of cleaning employees

Frequency of cleaning

The Role of the Housekeeping Department: Public Spaces

Public Spaces

Lobby areas / public restrooms / front desk areas / management offices / game rooms / exercise areas / pool and spa areas / employee break rooms and locker rooms / selected meeting and food service areas

Major executive housekeeper responsibilities:



Guest Room Areas

Properly cleaned by the housekeeping department

Verified as clean by a second member of housekeeping

Room’s status has been reported to the front desk

Elevators / corridors / stairwells / guest rooms

Room will be assigned when:

Communication role in relaying room status information to front-desk staff and room-maintenance issues to engineering

and maintenance department

The Role of the Housekeeping Department: Guest Rooms



Clean and Vacant

Room is vacant, has been cleaned, and can be assigned to a guest

Occupied Room is registered to a current guest

On-Change Room is vacant but not yet cleaned

Do Not Disturb Room is occupied but not yet cleaned due to guest’s request not to be disturbed

Sleep-out Room is reported as occupied, but room was not used and guest may have left

Stay-over Guest will stay in room at least one more night

Room Status Terminology

The Role of the Housekeeping Department: Guest Rooms (cont.)



Due Out Guest has indicated this is last day he or she will use the room

Check Out Guest has departed

Out of Order Room is unrentable and thus unassignable at this time

Lock OutGuest left personal items in the room but will be denied access until approved to reenter by management

Late Check Out

Guest has requested and been given an extension of regular check-out time

Room Status Terminology (cont.)

The Role of the Housekeeping Department: Guest Rooms (cont.)



Laundry

AreasLaundry preparation areas / laundry supply closets / guest linen, terry, and supplies storage areas

Managing on-premise laundry (OPL) and its effective operation

Housekeeping department and executive housekeeper’s role:

Laundry often represents one of the hotel’s largest expenses.

The Role of the Housekeeping Department: Laundry



Assess quality of room cleanlinessPoint out deficiencies to room attendants, get those deficiencies corrected, and report revision of room status to executive housekeeper or front desk

Have management skills (planning, organizing, directing, and controlling departmental activities) Have commitment to cleanliness and impeccable cleaning standardCreate an appropriate inspection checklist and revise it as necessaryKnow about personal administration, budgeting, laundry sanitation, fabrics and uniforms, room cleaning chemicals, and routinesBe guest-oriented

Executive housekeeper should:

Room inspector’s major responsibilities:

Staffing the Department



Treat them with respect at all timesEnsure they are supervised only by excellent supervisorsHave room cleaning assignment policies that are perceived as fair Provide excellent, ongoing trainingProvide a realistic career ladder for room attendantsEnforce housekeeping department policies consistently and without favoritismEnsure room attendant safety through training and appropriate hotel policiesProvide benefit packages that are competitive for the areaPay fair wages

Ways to build highly motivated, dedicated room attendants:

Staffing the Department (cont.)



Housekeeping employees are one of the hotel’s largest groups

Physical nature of jobs

Managing Housekeeping: Safety

This group’s accident rates generally the highest in the hotel

thus

Equipment and Supplies

RuleHousekeeping employees should handle only those machinery items and supplies they are properly trained to handle.



Chemical handlingCleaning proceduresCorrect lifting techniquesProperly entering guest roomsContending with guest rooms containing: Firearms / uncaged animals / individuals perceived as threatening / ill or unconscious guests / drugs and drug paraphernalia / blood and potential blood-borne pathogensGuest serviceGuest room securityLost and found procedures

Areas of training concern:

Managing Housekeeping: Safety (cont.)



Inexperienced executive housekeeper relies exclusively on minutes per room

Total # of minutes worked by room attendants / Total # of guest rooms cleaned = Minutes per room

Experienced executive housekeeper relies on both minutes per room and knowledge of guests and sales patterns

Size of guest rooms / amenities in rooms / actual number of rooms to be cleaned / amount, if any, of deep cleaning

Scheduling the number of room attendants depends on:

How to establish room attendant schedules:

Managing Housekeeping: Employee Scheduling



Check how much of each item is in use, in storage, on order

Executive housekeeper computes monthly product usage reports

Sheets (all sizes) / pillowcases / bedspreads / bath towels / hand towels / washcloths / soaps / shampoos / conditioners / sewing kits / glass cleaners/ furniture polish / acid-based cleaners / glassware / cups / coffee and coffee filters / in-room literature / telephone books / pens / paper pads

Inventory items maintained by executive housekeeper:

Values of monthly inventories:

Managing Housekeeping: Inventory Management



Waldo Hotel Product Usage Report

117 Total Monthly Usage

877 unitis Count on: __________________

850 units Count on: __________________

Plus

144 unitis Purchased in month

994 unitis Total in service

Less

______________________________

Date: __________________________

Item:__________________________

For Period: ______________________

Prepared by: ____________________

Department:_____________________

January 1

February 1

Housekeeping King-sized sheets

Managing Housekeeping: Inventory Management (cont.)



Hotel must safeguard mislaid property until rightful owner returns Hotel must hold lost property until rightful owner claims it Hotel not required to find abandoned property’s owner Property left behind in room or found in lobby to be treated as mislaid or lost Establish how long any mislaid/lost property to be held before disposing it

Three types of unclaimed property:

Managing Housekeeping: Lost and Found

Law and/or policy requirements:

Mislaid Property Owner has unintentionally left item(s) behind

Lost Property Owner has unintentionally left item(s) behind, then forgotten them

Abandoned Property Owner has intentionally left item(s) behind



Date item was returnedOwner’s name/address/ telephone numberHousekeeping manager returning itemMethod of returnDate property was declared to be abandonedName of hotel employee receiving abandoned property

Date item was foundDescription of itemLocation where item was found (room number, if applicable)Name of finderSupervisor who received item

Managing Housekeeping: Lost and Found (cont.)

When item is found:

Written Report

When returned to rightful owner or disposed of:



Effective guest room cleaning is heart of housekeepingdepartment

Determines long-term success or failure of propertySleeping area: The first part seen by guest when entering roomBathroom area: Closely inspected by guests for cleanliness

Forms basis for a guest’s initial impression of property

Public Space Cleaning

Guest Room Cleaning

Facility Care and Cleaning



GMs should know what to look for when inspecting the hotel

GMs must inspect public space, guest room, and laundry

operation areas regularly

GMs should not evaluate effectiveness of their

housekeeping departments based only on lower costs per

occupied room or fewer minutes per room cleaning

(these factors are not always better!)

GMs’ roles in facility care and cleaning:

Facility Care and Cleaning (cont.)



Collecting

Operating an effective on-premise laundry (OPL) is a multi-step process.

Laundry

Delivering

Sorting/Repairing

Washing

Drying

Finishing/Folding



Collecting

Laundry (cont.)

Dirty linen and terry should never be used as guest room cleaning rags.Bloodstained linen or terry must be placed separately in a biohazard waste bag (pre-sort in guest room).Biohazard waste bag should be on every housekeeping cart.

Sorting Once in OPL, laundry is sorted both in terms of fabric type and degree of staining.

Washing

This is the most complex part of the laundering process.Monitor a) length of washing time, b) wash water temperature, c) chemicals, and d) agitation length and strength.

Operating an effective on-premise laundry (OPL):



Drying

Drying is simply a process of moving hot air (140–145 degrees F) through fabrics to vaporize and remove moisture.Fabrics that are dried must go through a cool-down period in the dryer before they are removed from it.

Finishing/Folding Space required for finishing laundry must be adequate.

Storing

Many fabrics must “rest” after washing and drying.24-hour rest time needed for cleaned laundry.Housekeeping department should maintain laundry par levels of three times normal use.

Delivering Storage areas containing these items should be locked.

Laundry (cont.)

Operating an effective on-premise laundry (OPL) (cont.):

week 4- role of housekeeping- 1

Documents

vacant room

guest room areasproperly

room attendants

guest rooms cont

roommaintenance issues

report revision of room

communication role

executive housekeepers