Ho us ekeep i ng
HOTEL Business Review
Housekeeping
Challenges for Hospitality
H
ousekeeping is the edifice of the hotel industry. Without a clean restroom, or a spic and span lobby, the best of facilities and amenities of a five-star hotel are likely to unable to attract discerning guests. It is because without sanitation luxury loses its significance. Similarly, the aesthetic décor of the room wouldn’t appeal to the guest if she/he comes to the room after the meeting and see that her/his bed sheets are still as dishevelled as it was before she/he left in the morning, and the depleted toiletries in the bathroom are not yet replenished. Yes, the major chunk of the revenue of hotels still comes from rooms (though F&B segment is fast catching up), but without good housekeeping standards, the best of hotel rooms will fail to attract repeat visitors. H o w e v e r, i t d o e s n ’ t m e a n t h a t housekeeping is important only for five-star hotels, which are normally characterised by high-end amenities and decor. It is essential for all hotels, but for five-star properties, the housekeeping standards should be nothing short of impeccable, as here you are catering to guests who are likely to have experienced
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high standards of hospitality across the globe and naturally they have become habituated to not settle for anything ordinary.
Much More Than Cleaning Housekeeping in hotels today is a complex and elaborate task and is not at all confined to cleaning and changing the bedding of the guest rooms, and cleaning of rest rooms and replenishing their toiletries as is being commonly perceived by people outside the hospitality industry. But that does not mean that the guests would not appreciate the wonderful laundry service, or for that matter the impeccable security of the hotel where she/he is staying, perhaps not realising that both of these facilities now fall within the purview of housekeeping in many hotels. The laundry service does not only include cleaning the guests’ linens and garments, but also the linens of rooms and also linens of the F&B outlets of the hotels, and maintenance of staff uniforms. At the same time, the now extended role of housekeeping also involves reporting of any untoward elements or about any suspicious person/luggage/activity in order
to facilitate the security concerns of the hotels. At the same time, the housekeeping department needs to ensure that the guests’ privacy is not in any way compromised because of rigmarole of security. Of course, the guest is also unlikely to wonder why the facility is pest free, when the city is full of pests. Yes, pest control of the property is also a housekeeping exercise. Similarly, if the guests get impressed by the wonderful horticulture of the housekeeping property, many of the hoteliers should thank her/his housekeeping staff for that. And if hotel is an environmentally friendly property, the challenges of waste disposal and waste recycling can assume very crucial role in the purview of housekeeping. Housekeeping plays an important role in forming the overall reputation of a hotel among its guests and potential guests.
Facilitating Guest Satisfaction Succinctly, on a broader scale, the role of modern housekeeping in hotels is to facilitate guest satisfaction through quality professionalism along with special personalised touches, thereby contributing
