The housekeepers’ have the most dynamic and multi-tasking role in the hospitality industry. Choices and decisions abound their everyday routines. Some of the executive housekeepers who are at the top of their game share with Vijayalakshmi Sridhar what they look for while choosing the right vendors, employees, supplies and solutions.
Though all kinds of choices and decisionmaking are crucial to the housekeepers’ role, making product choices is extra crucial as it is directly linked with guest experiences and brand image. Good quality and cost streamline the choice. Abhaya Bhalekar, Housekeeping Manager, Hyatt Regency, Pune, lists the other parameters. “There is also equal importance given to after sales support and training. We do a demo of all new equipment, chemicals and hygiene products that we intend to purchase. We look for at least three to four vendors for each product and do samplings. If the products give the desired results, we then involve the materials department for getting the most competitive quotations and for negotiating the best no-regret rates from each of the shortlisted vendors. A comparative rate analysis is then done and that product which gives the best results and with the least cost is selected.”
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– Abhaya Bhalekar
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S Rajasekar, Executive Housekeeper, Cida de Goa shares the way the five star resort goes about choosing the bathroom accessories and cleaning chemicals. “In terms of bathroom accessories, the products should match with the hotel’s décor. It should be easy to use with easy availability of the same model and spare parts. In terms of cleaning chemicals, the product should be cost-effective on the RTU (Ready To Use – Product after the suggested dilution) stage. It is also important that the product does the cleaning with less mechanical action, saving time. All products should be well colour coded, so that the same can be easily understood by the team. Above all, a single product should address all the issues and thereby save the team cost and complications.”
In the hospitality industry, the members of staff are the best ambassadors for the brand. They have to be recruited and trained well, in close alignment with the brand ideologies, vision and mission. Sudesh Kumar Singh, Executive Housekeeper, The Gateway Hotel Beach Road, Visakhapatnam tells us how Taj group of hotels go about staff recruitment. “While recruiting the staff, it is very much essential to know the requirement of your hotel and the candidate’s suitability to the kind of role that needs to be filled. They need to be updated with the current systems and procedures in the hotel. The important things that are required in a candidate are: knowledge about the subject, sense of responsibility towards the job, positive attitude and passion to give his best.”
[box type=”shadow” ]All products should be well colour coded, so that the same can be easily understood by the team. Above all, a single product should address all the issues and thereby save the team cost and complications. [/box]
The challenge to meet schedules gets tougher when the hotel is fully booked at peak seasons. Bhavana Alvares, Executive Housekeeper, Vivanta by Taj, Bangalore, tells us what a smart housekeeper does when under pressure. “Smart Housekeepers discuss occupancy patterns with revenue managers before placing orders for guest supplies, room linen and other housekeeping items. Based on occupancy and number of guests expected, the order is placed. This also includes putting rooms out of order during off season. This is known by knowledge of the market scenario and what share your hotel has. Secondly, there are suppliers who have agreed to stock the items for the hotels, thus not burdening the hotels with inventories. The housekeepers can share the consumption patterns with the suppliers and stock up for three months. Hence, the hotel can order for the same once a week thus reducing costs, space and storage areas in the hotel. An example of a brand which Vivanta by Taj works is Forest essential and we have never faced a problem on unavailability of items.”
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– S Rajasekar
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ITC Gardenia is located in the heart of the city and in Bengaluru’s most prominent business hub. The hotel runs busy through the week with an occasional dip over the weekends. Despite the hotel being fully booked, the housekeeping team works tirelessly to ensure that schedules are met in a systematic and organized manner. Swarnalata Mankikar, Executive Housekeeper explains how.
Preventive maintenance: Each day, maximum of five rooms are taken under repair and handed over to the technical services team where preventive maintenance is carried out. These rooms are jointly checked by the product manager and the preventive maintenance custodian and released for late night arrivals.
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we also check the vendors’ chemical composition, Green Seal certification, MSDA compliance and look for how-to-use staff orientation and posters for understanding and the proportion for best results.
– Menu Tognatta[/box]
Extra cleaning: The room attendants are given two extra areas to focus on daily, example; shower cubicle drain, sliding door grooves, etc. At the end of the week, all areas get covered without intercepting with the regular schedule.
Thorough cleaning: Deep cleaning of two rooms happens daily. On sold out days, the allocation moves to the seccond shift employees.
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The housekeepers can share the consumption patterns with the suppliers and stock up for three months. Hence, the hotel can order for the same once a week thus reducing costs, space and storage areas in the hotel.
– Sudesh Kumar Singh
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Outsourced schedules: Contractual associates carry out maintenance of specific areas such as carpet cleaning, glass cleaning, pest control, marble polishing and upholstery changing. There is a specific number of rooms to be covered daily.
Overlap cleaning: Deep cleaning of guest/ back areas. Landscape pebble washing, guest elevator grooves, Extra bed maintenance, store setup, etc are allocated to second shift employees in their two hour overlap time.
Low Occupancy zoning: When the hotel occupancy takes a dip, the product managers along with the Executive Housekeeper decide on taking two floors that have back to back arrivals through the week for repair work. These schedules are tracked daily by floor supervisors and records such as Room History are maintained by the Product managers.
[box type=”shadow” ]The important things that are required in a candidate are: knowledge about the subject, sense of responsibility towards the job, positive attitude and passion to give his best [/box]
In terms of trouble-shooting, she adds, “Housekeeping is considered to be a high expenditure department with minor revenue generating opportunities in Minibar and Guest laundry processing. Hence, it is imperitive that this expenditure is strictly monitored.
Housekeeping is the department that strikes a balance between different departments in a hotel. Experience and expertise guide the housekeepers to walk the tight rope efficiently and meet the guest and brand requirements without any slip-ups.