Over 250 delegates flew in from Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Indonesia and Vietnam, apart from across the Indian sub-continent, to be part of the 4th International Housekeepers Summit 2019 at the Jaypee Hotel & Convention Center, Agra. In store for them was a knowledge packed and conversation-filled itinerary carefully curated by the Asian Housekeepers’ Association and Virtual Info Systems Pvt. Ltd Clean India Journal brings you a brief synopsis of the two-day session, one-day sightseeing, the spectacular Asian awards, business meetings, live demo and much more…
The host association for IHS2019 was i-PHA. The member associations of AHA include:
I-Professional Housekeepers’ Association, Sri Lanka Housekeepers’ Association, Maldives Housekeepers’ Association, Dubai Housekeepers Association, Doha Housekeepers Group, Kuwait Housekeepers’ Hub, Saudi Arabian Housekeepers’ Association, Bahrain Housekeepers, Oman Housekeepers Group, Executive Housekeepers’ Group of Bangladesh, Nepal Housekeepers Group, Vietnam Executive Housekeepers’ Association, MAHIR-Malaysian Association of Housekeepers, Indonesian Housekeepers’ Association, Association of Singapore Housekeepers.
Although they had travelled long distances, both the national and international delegates lost no time in getting to know each other as well as the city of Agra during the city tour to the iconic Taj Mahal and the majestic Agra Fort. This set the momentum for the two-day Summit on “Total Quality Management 2.0”, the theme of IHS2019.
August 29 began with much excitement as many clicked joyful photos with their friends and colleagues at the selfie corner, made new acquaintances, renewed old ones, inspected the product range on display, mingled with vendors, and interacted with one and all in the housekeeping, facility management and laundry segments, right from the student level to the MD of the hotel.
The summit was inaugurated at the august hands of Naveen Jain, Honourable Mayor of the City of Agra. He was very impressed by the arrangements and said, “You have done an excellent job in organising the International Housekeepers Summit. It is a great start to emphasising the importance of housekeeping in every sphere of life.” The delegates responded with a thunderous applause.
The first session, led by corporate trainer Panch Iyer, set the tone for the theme as he laid out ways and means in which housekeepers could adapt TQM for their work, and inculcate an attitude of always pursuing excellence in their team members.
Giving the housekeepers hands on information on tried and tested practices, experts from the airports, malls & multiplexes, estates and other properties shared inferences of implementing TQM in housekeeping and facility management.
Pamini Hemaprabha – Complex Executive Housekeeper – Mina Seyahi Complex, Dubai said, “TQM is something I had heard about at the beginning of my career. We need to refresh our knowledge about it time and again. The session was very informative. After I go back, I will retrain my team accordingly.”
Apart from speaker-led sessions, IHS 2019 was also replete with panel discussions in which panelists expressed and debated a wide range of views about very relevant topics such as digitalising housekeeping and overcoming the perennial crunch of time in delivering a quality experience to guests.
Maldivian delegate Imran Mohamed found the tips and tricks very useful: “The speakers all have practical experience, it is not bookish knowledge they are sharing. When they share their experience, it is very helpful for us to grow.”
The sessions were interspersed with live demonstrations, during which delegates congregated in the centre of the summit hall to witness the latest technology in action. Talking about the importance of these sessions, delegate Prabhat Shukla said that it is because of such demos that people become aware of the advances made in product design. “Someone from a Tier-II city may not know; such a summit is a common platform for everyone to observe and ask questions,” he said.
Networking was what occupied every spare minute. Mohamed said that although the Maldivian delegation was sizeable, many of its members did not know each other. The summit gave them an opportunity to share their country-specific knowledge among themselves, as well as with delegates of other nationalities.
