A Day in the Life of a Supervisor

Housekeeping can seem like a repetitive, monotonous job, yet its major components can make or break the guest’s impression of the property, while the minor touches can earn a guest’s loyalty. While the primary job of actually cleaning and tidying up a room is delegated to a room attendant, the final responsibility of providing the guest with a spic, span, comfortable and welcoming room is that of the housekeeping supervisor, who has to oversee the work of all the room attendants under his/her charge, detect lacunae as well as find solutions for the same. In the span of just nine hours, it is incumbent upon a housekeeping supervisor to ensure that all the hotel rooms in his/her section are cleaned, restocked and made ready for the next guest, no matter what condition they were left in by the previous guest. The supervisor gets a very small time window to ensure the same, and also have to cater to special requests. For a behind-the-scenes insight into how these multitasking professionals achieve their goals, Ruvini Ranasooriya, Consultant- Housekeeping, Sri Lanka details how she goes about her typical morning shift:

7am: The day begins

• Check and prepare the task distribution sheet for room attendants and supervisors with the desk attendant.
• Check the logbook, and the weekly/monthly planner.
• Note down the mini-bar and guest laundry targets per attendant, and the attendants who have achieved the targets or done better.
• Estimate total workload and the number of staff required for the day.
• Prepare the task distributions sheet by prioritizing rooms that need to be cleaned first.
• Keep the key register ready to hand over the keys and task distribution sheets to the team members.
• Be ready for the room attendants briefing, which includes current occupancy, total number of departures & arrivals, VIP guests, compliments/complaints, special promotions, previous day’s productivity, previous day’s ‘delayed’ rooms and guest waiting times, mini-bar and guest laundry targets, room and linen costs.

7:30am: Team briefing

• The supervisor or the desk attendant distributes the task distribution sheet with the housekeeper’s report and the floor master key, and obtains signatures of room attendants and supervisors. The supervisor solves all doubts.
• Compliments/complaints from the day before are discussed, as well how they have be repeated/ prevented from happening again.
• Appreciate team members who have achieved/exceeded previous day’s targets.

8am: Room inspections begin

• The supervisor tours his section to look for cleanliness and maintenance defects in corridors, and checks for DND signs, makeup- my-room boards or laundry collection boards hanging on the door knobs, and notes them down.
• If an express laundry service is required, the room attendant is alerted to hand over the guest laundry to the linen room immediately.
• Problems noticed in public areas lead to job orders raised for the engineering department.
• Check with the kitchen or room service department for VIP amenities.
• Check that the baby cots and extra beds are in good enough condition to deliver to rooms before the guest arrives.

8:30am:

• Check with the desk attendants about which rooms have been cleaned, and release the vacant ones after inspection to new arrivals.
• Inspect a minimum of 10 rooms every hour, and 50-60 rooms in each shift. Enter starting and ending time of each inspection via room phone for each room. • Check the progress of deep cleaning rooms. Identify areas that need more attention.
• When a checkout message is received, quickly inform the room attendant and make sure that cleaning begins immediately. If the room attendant is unable to start cleaning that room within 20 minutes, arrange another room attendant to clean it.
• Regularly check the room status and compare with schedule to determine whether work is on time or behind time. In the latter case, take immediate action and personally help the attendants who are lagging.

10.30am:
• Ensure that all room attendants do a physical check of rooms for status and number of occupants, and enter this in the housekeeper’s report which is delivered to the desk attendant.
• Check with the desk attendant whether there are any room discrepancies in the report.
• Check for job orders which are not attended to for more than one hour, and liaise with the engineering supervisor for followup.
• Check the mattress, pillow protectors and duvets for stains and tears before beds are made.
• Check the bathrooms for hot & cold water. Check wash basin stopper, flush, tumblers.
• Examine look and feel of towels and linen. Look for signs of misuse of linen by guests.
• Conduct random checks on expiry dates of mini-bar items.
• Ensure that curtain hooks are properly fixed and curtain bands are used to tie the curtains while mopping floors or cleaning windows.
• Conduct deep inspection of two rooms per day by using the brand standard checklist. Score should not be less than 95% of the total points. Any major defect should be informed to the engineering team and fixed within five days.
• Observe room attendants’ job performance. If someone is not following the SOP, observe for a couple of days to see if the mistake is being repeated.
• If training is required, arrange it at a convenient time, and follow up to see whether it is being practised. Do a minimum of two on-the-job training sessions for 10 -15 minutes daily.

1-2pm – Lunch break, followed by supervisor’s briefing.

2-3pm:
• Check with the desk attendant for any guest requests.
• Ensure garbage bins are emptied and cleaned.
• Make sure soiled linen is returned and fresh linen is collected from the linen room by room attendants.
• Update the par levels in service pantries.
• Ensure all cleaning equipment is cleaned and stored properly.
• Check the service pantries to make sure sufficient room amenities, linen and towels, cleaning agents and coloured cleaning dusters are available for the evening’s and next day’s service. Check to see that vacuum cleaners, polishers, steam cleaners and manual cleaning equipment are in good working condition.

3-4pm:
• Analyze the room cleaning and room inspection reports and day closure sheets
• Collect the task distributions sheets and ensure that team members have done all the work allocated to them.
• Update additional tasks required for the next day in the system.
• Hand over task distribution sheet and floor master key to the desk attendant for the next shift.

This exhaustive work plan is only a part of the overall work responsibilities of a housekeeping supervisor. Because at every step of the way, during every time of day, he has to find the time to keep checking on the completion status of previously assigned tasks, while simultaneously moving on to new tasks that also need to be followed up later. He is also the bridge between housekeeping and other hotel departments, and has to pursue their staff for timely responses to low room supply levels or engineering complaints. Most importantly, he has to manage and motivate a team of room attendants whose repetitive work may make them prone to errors. Since this is unacceptable in the customercentric hospitality industry, keeping staff alert, engaged and as close to perfectionist as possible is a challenge that housekeeping supervisors have to rise up to, every single day. They are the unsung heroes of the hospitality industry.