The importance of Hospitality services lies in the fact that the overall impression created by any hotel is based to a large extent upon the perception about its cleanliness. The Housekeeping Department determines whether guests are comfortable during their stay and whether they will wish to return. It also wields one of the most powerful marketing tools – WOM advertising. Statistics reveal that guests rate cleanliness as the top priority when making a choice of the hotel. Avril Sule, a veteran in hospitality training and Associate Professor at the Sheila Raheja Institute of Hotel Management, traces the changing perspectives of hotel housekeeping.
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The level of rooms to staff ratio are justified by the fact that it is difficult to find trained staff and even more difficult to retain them once they have been trained.
– Sonia Mital
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The organizational chart of the housekeeping department indicates a set of levels that exists in the hierarchy. A flat structure in the hierarchy makes for quicker upward and downward communication and is less rigid, thereby promoting a better team spirit. In larger organizations with multi-level designations, the formal communication channel may actually impede sending and receiving of messages. At lower levels, certain categories of staff perform tasks across many areas. For example, a houseman may work on several floors and report to more than one floor supervisor which may create a gap in the completion of task or an uncertain work schedule. The day-to-day co-ordination of departments is often filled with strife when it comes to cleaning check-out rooms and releasing them to the Front Office. Back-to-back occupancy frequently coincides with shortages of cleaning staff. Yet another departmental conflict exists with the engineering department where a pending list of maintenance tasks to be completed seem unending, requiring continuous follow-up.
The staff ratio is dependent on a number of variables such as the type and area of spaces in the hotel and the extent of the facilities being offered. Indian hotels known for their outstanding level of hospitality, have a far higher staff ratio than their western counterparts. Says Sonia Mital, Executive Housekeeper, Ramada Powai, “It is essential for hotels to research and rationalise their room to staff ratio. Properties ought to consider hotel size and match it with the appropriate quantity of manpower. Five-star hotels observe a room to staff ratio of about 1:2, while four and three-star segment hotels average at 1:1.6 to 1:1.75. On the other hand, the ratio for upscale luxury hotels in India remains quite high. They still operate on a ratio of 1:3 to 1:4.” These levels of staff ratio are justified by the fact that it is difficult to find trained staff and even more difficult to retain them once they have been trained.”
Option of outsourcing
One main housekeeping problem is how to get people to do the tasks properly. In order to deal with this, the Indian hospitality industry which was once perceived as a protected fortress, has recently opened its doors to the trend of outsourcing of few of its operations. Although this could be a solution for a labour intensive department like housekeeping, shifting the focus to getting quality work done without labour implications is not an easy switch over. After all, outsourcing companies are intended to allow client to focus on their core business. In a hospitality organization, keeping the place clean is the core business. Outsourcing provides a better economic balance to the housekeeping department where there is invariably a high level of staff turnover. Also, there are always those tasks like façade cleaning, horticulture and pest control that are best left to the experts. Architectural design can be a challenge to making outsourcing the only option.
“Fifteen years ago, the Hyatt Regency Mumbai was one of the first buildings in the international airport area to have a complete glass façade. Designed at an angle that defies cleaning it posed many challenges. Over the years the glass cleaning has been outsourced to a cleaning agency,” says Nupur Lalvani, Housekeeping Manager – Hyatt Place – Pune.
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– Vaishali Sinha
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“Most housekeeping departments find a balance between what can be handled internally and what must be farmed out to a professional, based on manpower, skills and time. Today’s building designs are innovative and energy-efficient but they involve considerably more complex shapes and detailed architectural features such as cantilevered glass elevations and double-skinned climate walls. These make cleaning more challenging.” says Vaishali Sinha, Director Housekeeping, Meluha The Fern, Mumbai.
Guest rooms are the main focus of the housekeeping services provided in a hotel. In an attempt to keep up with competition, a wide range of complimentary items are now being provided. These have complicated the process of guest room cleaning. Vacuum cleaners may have provided some relief to guestroom attendants. Hotels now have several brands to choose from to suit specific tasks and their budget.
Mechanization for cleaning in public areas is absolutely essential. The performance and productivity standards of cleaning tasks are taken to a higher level and dignity of labour is maintained. Each GRA cleans an average of 15 rooms in a morning shift and this may vary according to the type of room.
The onslaught of epidemics across the globe brought about a focus on hygienic standards of cleaning. Since then, washroom products have been researched and marketed creating the niche that is now known as washroom hygiene.
Maintaining inventories of the various products stocked by the housekeeping department essentially needs to be computerized. But this is not the only area of computerization. The creator of the software Kazzam, Manish Jain states, “There existed the need to have an absolutely fair and justified modus operandi for the appraising of housekeeping staff. This led to the origin of the early draft of Kazzam – a comprehensive housekeeping solution.”
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– Nupur Lalvani
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To provide a basis for training and to ensure performance standards, SOPs are created.
With advanced technology, these procedures are no longer documented in manuals that collect dust on a shelf. Instead they are audio-visually represented on computers and laptops so as to be easily accessible and easy to understand and update and also provide an excellent tool for training.
Linen control has also been a matter of concern. Staff using guest linen for cleaning purpose continues to be a practice regardless of the type of hotel and which part of the world it is located in. Several attempts to curb this practice through training have proved futile. Housekeepers work with linen keepers and in-house laundry managers to maintain the quality of wash and lengthen the lifespan of the linen. This may not be possible when the laundry is outsourced.
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In the current scenario, training is extended to cover safety, security and even disaster management. There are various safety as well as security measures in place
– Meghana Tendulkar
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A great deal of what can be achieved is dependent on the budget allocated by the management. Frequently, the department’s budget is curtailed leaving no choice but to sacrifice quality of services. That the management chooses to sideline the role of housekeeping
happens all too often which not only hampers operations but is also a demotivating factor.
Getting the labour intensive section of the hotel performing some of the most mundane tasks, it is imperative to keep the morale of the staff at its highest level. Incorporating team building exercises & employee of the month awards and applying ergonomics in all aspects of design, tools & equipment are some of the ways in which housekeepers seek to boost employee morale.
In the current scenario, training is extended to cover safety, security and even disaster management. According to Meghana Tendulkar, Executive Housekeeper – Hotel Marine Plaza, “There are various safety as well as security measures in place
a. For Public Areas
2. Controlled access to guest floors with key cards and coded access
3. Baggage scanning at the entrance
4. Metal Detectors
5. Body Frisking at the entrance
6. Sniffer Dogs for Explosives (restricted to bigger
hotels)
7. Following the Standard Operating Policy for carrying Arms & Ammunition, contraband items etc.
8. Guest Lifts coming down and opening on ground level in case of power failure.
b. For Guest rooms
1. Key card for swiping (no room number mentioned on card so no security threats in case key is lost)
2. Peepholes / Door Viewers on Doors
3. Safety Chains
4. Fire Exit Door Plan in case of exit required in Emergency.
Eco Friendly Measures
The creative abilities of housekeeping staff are put into action when creating flower arrangements. These have been simplified and require less skill. Some hotels use exotic flowers that have a longer lifespan, provided they are correctly conditioned. Some hotels have abolished the use of flowers in an effort to be environment friendly.
“Flower arrangements are being phased out of most of the Hyatt hotels. Hyatt Place-Pune does not have them at all and in Hyatt Regency Mumbai, very simple, small and streamlined arrangements are made usually with anthuriums, orchids and elephant grass,” says Nupur.
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– Avril Sule
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“Housekeepers with the florist try to study the trends in floral patterns internationally and incorporate the same in their hotels. Exotic flowers and greenery like various types of orchids, anthuriums, tulips, lilies, birds of paradise etc, are used,” adds Meghana Tendulkar.
With increasing concern for the environment, ecotels follow stringent environmental practices in order to meet the audit. “From installing solar energy panels, water recycling mechanisms, water treatments plants and rainwater harvesting, hotels will try to build energy saving measures at the time of construction.
Some of the measures that are further adopted are:
a. Using eco-friendly certified products in all areas of the hotel
b. Using CFLs and energy saving equipment
c. Motion sensors in public restrooms
d. Segregation of waste at source. Maintain separation of wet and dry wastes
e. Installing water and electricity meters at source to monitor and control consumption
f. Reuse waste water from rooms and kitchens after treatment for watering gardens and chiller plants
g. Creating consciousness and awareness amongst staff for environment
h. Guest participation in the hotel’s environmental programme.
While many of these serve the purpose of ‘going green’, others come across as strategies to curtail expenses.
As a hospitality educator who has taught housekeeping over a span of nearly four decades, I have studiously worked with syllabus committees, other housekeeping professors and professionals from the industry to elevate the status of Housekeeping to a career of choice. Watching this transformation is extremely heartening. In particular, it has been a matter of pride to know that one of my students has cowritten a book which has become a reference text across the country.
Hotel Management books have been synonymous with food and beverage only. There was a big vacuum for a well researched Indian book on Housekeeping
– Ganapathy Raghubalan
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Ganapathy Raghubalan, co- author of ‘Hotel Housekeeping Operations and Management adds, “Hotel Management books have been synonymous with food and beverage only. There was a big vacuum for a well researched Indian book on Housekeeping and I felt that this was one area that needed to be addressed. This book has been a conscious effort to bridge the gap for Hospitality students as well as the Industry, keeping in mind the syllabus of all the major universities in India.”
As a housekeeper, I look forward to
- Electronic checklists in the form of i-pads for Housekeeping staff
- Automated functions for various housekeeping functions like supplies and inventories, etc.
- Cleaning with Robots
- Using smart phone applications for tracking housekeeping attendant cleaning time, floorwise duty roster for cleaning schedules and comprehensive housekeeping console, which allows floor-wise, and userwise performance tracking. This tracking is useful for guest supplies, laundry, room cleaning and housekeeping inventory information.”
If one were to create a wish list from housekeepers it would be lengthy and endless but Mary Hall, Director of Hallmark Training – Ireland, sums it up in a brief sentiment that echoes the voices of housekeepers everywhere. “My wish for Hotel Housekeeping is that it would command the respect, reward and remuneration that it is effective management merits.”