Linen is an integral part of any hotel operation and ensuring an adequate supply of clean linen is available is the responsibility of the laundry department. The responsibility for co-ordinating the linen operations lies with the housekeeping department. Chaired by Salil Fadnis, Deputy General Manager, Sahara Star, Mumbai, the session on ‘Approach to Laundry’ commenced with Umapathy Amirtham, Rooms Division Manager of The Leela Palace, Chennai, tracking his journey from Laundry to Housekeeping. This was followed by a panel discussion on trending models in laundry highlighting the pros and cons. Representing varied viewpoints the panel members were Shweta Suryawanshi, Housekeeping Manager at The Ascott Limited. Sagar Sodha, Zonal Head- West at Jyothy Fabricare Services Ltd. Sandeep Jadhav, Laundry Manager, Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resorts, Accor Hotels. Janet Smailes, Trainer & Food Safety Consultant, Food Hygiene Consultants Maldives
Editor in Chief Mangala Chandran felicitating Association heads: (from left) Chef Salil Fadnis for WICA; Nitin Nagrale for HPMF and Kundan Attarde for AWESOME
Housekeeping over the years has changed, said Salil Fadnis. “Earlier laundry used to be a part and parcel of the hotel but over the years with the multinational chains coming into India, the cost factor in laundry services became prominent. India started embracing outsourcing. Different models of outsourcing came into practice. Sahara Star Mumbai has the first-of-its-kind outsourcing, where the laundry is outsourced, linen is rented and above all it is within the premises. This model is working very well with us, that gives a good balance as well.”
Concluding the session, Sunil Ralph, Vice President & Head Administration, India, Essar Steel India Ltd, Akash Dharamsey, Director, ADD Laundry Concepts and Pancham Narkar, Housekeeping Manager, Grand Hyatt, Mumbai, said that the ‘Point of Focus’ today in hospitality is housekeeping. More so because the rising occupancy corelates with guest experience which is primarily taken care by the housekeeping. Hence, the need for every hotel is to involve housekeepers right from the project state to the operations to ensure that it meets housekeeping demands in terms of maintenance and accessibility.
Elaborating further in the vote of thanks, Mohana M, Editor of Clean India Journal while thanking the gathering said that the structure of hospitality is undergoing change and “as the corporate housekeepers have expressed that there will come a time when all will be managers and will work in various departments as per requirement. In short, each and everyone in the hotel would know the job function of each department. This include the general manager too.”
Finally, Vasanth Trivellore Pattangi, Chief Empowerment Officer, delivered the final talk on ‘Staying Motivated’ and moving from good to great! As he put it, “When you know yourself, you are empowered. When you accept yourself, you are invincible!”
We thank all Associations for partnering with us and making this Summit a grand success.
Thank you: Indian Professional Housekeepers’ Association, Doha Housekeeper Group, Indonesian Housekeepers Association, Kuwait Housekeeper Hub, Maldives Housekeepers Forum, Malaysian Association of Housekeeper, Professional Housekeepers Group UAE, Vietnam Executive Housekeepers Association, Sri Lanka Housekeepers Association, Western India Culinary Association, Hospitality Purchasing Managers’ Forum, Laundry Dry cleaning Association of India & AWESOME.
Draft of Whitepaper on Redefining Housekeeping in the Corporate Strategy
There were ambitious plans made to present the whitepaper during IHS2017. When the able team – Anuradha Khot, Laxmi Todiwan and Trupti Mahajan – set out to work on the whitepaper way back in 2016, collating information and doing an analysis was a big challenge.
Nonetheless, the team through short survey made a draft of the whitepaper by listing down the five major elements that will govern housekeeping in the future
- Sustainability – a new way of doing things
- Technology – an approach to unified communication
- Training – to develop personal leadership
- Resources – where luxury is not at the cost of environment
- Procurement – as a major cost determinant
The team presented the findings so far in a brief session. The draft of the whitepaper will be made available online at www.ihs2017.com
