Managing Front Office Operations 9th Ed. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in Hospitality Operations

1. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Competencies for The Role of Housekeeping in Hospitality Operations
1. Describe the role of the housekeeping department in
communicating room status.
2. Explain the relationship between the housekeeping and
maintenance departments and identify typical cleaning
responsibilities of the housekeeping department.
3. Explain how executive housekeepers use such tools as area
inventory lists, frequency schedules, performance standards,
and productivity standards to plan the work of the
housekeeping department.
4. Discuss equipment and supply inventory issues, and distinguish
between recycled and non-recycled inventories.
5. Summarize the issues involved in a dilemma many hotels face:
whether to cut back or eliminate housekeeping supervisors.
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2. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Communicating Room Status
• Each night, a front desk agent or property management system
produces an occupancy report that lists rooms occupied that night
and guests who are expected to check out the next day.
• The executive housekeeper consults the occupancy report and
schedules occupied rooms for cleaning
• As guests check out of the hotel, the front desk notifies
housekeeping so that guestrooms can be cleaned and readied for
arriving guests.
• Ten-day and three-day forecast reports indicate how many rooms
are projected to be occupied each day, helping the executive
housekeeper prepare staff schedules. Continued
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3. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Communicating Room Status
• At the end of each work shift, the housekeeping department
Continued from previous slide…
prepares a housekeeping status report based on a physical check
of each room.
• The housekeeping status report is compared to the occupancy
report, and any room status discrepancies are investigated.
• Keeping room status information up to date requires close
coordination/cooperation between the front desk and
housekeeping staffs.
• In an automated room-status system, housekeeping and front
office staff have instantaneous access to room status information.
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4. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Occupancy Report
• Prepared by:
Front desk
• Indicates:
Rooms occupied that night
Guests expected to check out next day
• Used by:
Housekeeping to schedule next day’s room cleaning
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5. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Housekeeping Status Report
• Prepared by:
Housekeeping
• Indicates:
Current status of each hotel room
• Used by:
Front desk to assign rooms to arriving guests
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6. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Housekeeping and Maintenance
• In most midsize and large lodging operations, housekeeping
personnel report to the rooms division manager, while
engineering and maintenance staff constitute a separate division.
• Differing lines of accountability can become a barrier between
housekeeping and maintenance staffs.
• Teamwork is essential between housekeeping and maintenance
staffs, and managers should devote attention to improving the
working relationship between the two staffs.
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7. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Communicating Maintenance Work
• Room attendants are counted on to recognize and report
guestroom deficiencies or malfunctions so that they can be
addressed before they lead to guest dissatisfaction.
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8. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Potential Guestroom Maintenance Problems
• Sleep set
• Heating/air conditioning
• TV, radio, phone
• Bedspreads
• Lighting
• Door
• Toilet
• Vanity and tub
• Towels
• Bathroom walls and door
• Water temperature
• Ventilation
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9. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Types of Maintenance
• Routine maintenance
General upkeep
• Preventive maintenance
Inspection
Minor corrections
Work-order initiation
• Scheduled maintenance
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10. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Routine Maintenance
• Routine maintenance activities are those that relate to (1) the
general upkeep of the property, (2) occur on a regular (daily or
weekly) basis, and (3) require relatively minimal training or skills.
• Routine maintenance activities occur outside of a formal work
order system; no specific maintenance records are kept for these
activities.
• Examples of routine maintenance activities: sweeping carpets,
washing floors, cleaning windows, cutting grass, cleaning
guestrooms, shoveling snow, replacing burned-out lightbulbs.
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11. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Preventive Maintenance
• Preventive maintenance consists of three parts: (1) inspection,
(2) minor corrections, and (3) work order initiation.
• For many areas of the hotel, housekeeping personnel perform
inspections in the normal course of their duties.
• Most minor repairs often can be handled while the room
attendant is cleaning the guestroom.
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12. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Scheduled Maintenance
• Scheduled maintenance tackles problems and needs that are
beyond the scope of a minor correction.
• Scheduled maintenance activities are initiated based on a
formal work order (or similar document).
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13. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Equipment
• Engineering personnel keep data files and history records on all
equipment.
• Equipment data files contain:
Technical data
Manufacturer’s information
Item’s cost
Special instructions
Warranty information
Storage of manuals/drawings
• Equipment history records contain:
Logs of inspection/maintenance performed
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14. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
General Housekeeping Responsibilities
• Guestrooms
• Corridors
• Public areas (lobbies, public restrooms)
• Pool and patio areas
• Management offices
• Storage areas
• Linen and sewing rooms
• Laundry room
• Back-of-the-house areas
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15. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Additional Housekeeping Responsibilities at Some Properties
• Meeting rooms
• Dining rooms
• Banquet rooms
• Convention exhibit halls
• Hotel-operated shops
• Game rooms
• Exercise rooms
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16. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Planning the Work of the Housekeeping Department
• Area inventory lists
• Frequency schedules
• Performance standards
• Productivity standards
• Equipment and supply inventory levels
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17. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Area Inventory Lists
• Planning the work of the housekeeping department begins with
creating inventory lists of all items within each hotel area that will
need housekeeping’s attention.
• Area inventory lists ensure that the rest of housekeeping’s planning
activities address every item that housekeeping is responsible for.
• Area inventory lists are long and detailed.
• Separate inventory lists may be needed for each different type of
guestroom.
• When preparing an inventory list for a guestroom, managers should
follow the sequence in which room attendants will clean items and
supervisors will inspect items; this enables the executive
housekeeper to use the lists as the basis for developing cleaning
procedures, training plans, and inspection checklists.
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18. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Frequency Schedules
• Deep-cleaning tasks are listed on frequency schedules that
indicate how often the tasks should be performed.
• Tasks on frequency schedules should be transferred to a
calendar plan and scheduled as special cleaning projects.
• Deep cleaning of guestrooms should coincide with low
occupancy periods if possible.
• Deep cleaning should be coordinated with the maintenance
department’s extensive repair work in guestrooms.
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19. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Performance Standards
• Performance standards are required quality levels of performance.
• Performance standards state not only what must be done, but how
the job must be done.
• Performance standards are the key to consistency.
• The most important aspect of developing performance standards is
to gain consensus on how cleaning and other tasks should be
carried out.
• Performance standards should be communicated through ongoing
training programs.
• Inspection helps ensure that performance standards are met.
• The executive housekeeper should review the housekeeping
department’s performance standards at least once a year and make
appropriate revisions as necessary.
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20. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Productivity Standards
• Productivity standards determine the acceptable quantity of
work to be done by employees.
• Productivity standards vary in relation to the unique needs
and requirements of each hotel and each type of hotel
(economy, mid-market, luxury).
• Productivity standards should be set only after a hotel has
been operating for a while.
• It is a challenge to balance performance standards and
productivity standards; quality and quantity check and
balance one another.
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21. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Equipment and Supply Inventory Levels
• Employees must have the necessary equipment and supplies
to get their jobs done.
• A hotel’s purchasing system must consistently maintain the
necessary amounts of items in housekeeping inventories.
Continued
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22. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Equipment and Supply Inventory Levels
• There are two types of housekeeping inventories: recycled and
Continued from previous slide…
non-recycled:
• Recycled inventories
Linens
Housekeeping equipment
Guest supplies (equipment)
Par number
• Non-recycled inventories
Cleaning supplies
Guest supplies (small items)
Purchase ordering system Continued
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23. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Equipment and Supply Inventory Levels
Continued from previous slide…
• The minimum quantity is the fewest number of purchase units
that should be in stock at any time; the maximum quantity is the
greatest number of units that should be in stock at any time.
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24. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Supervisor Dilemma
• The state of the economy has prompted a trend to eliminate middle
managers, including housekeeping supervisors.
• The challenge if a hotel eliminates housekeeping supervisors is to
make sure guestrooms still meet the hotel’s cleaning standards.
• Most hotels do not eliminate room inspections entirely, just reduce
them (inspecting from one to five rooms per room attendant per
week).
• If a hotel eliminates housekeeping supervisors, the job descriptions
of room attendants are changed to make the attendants
responsible for the cleanliness, readiness, and status updates of
their rooms. Their pay may be adjusted as well, or bonuses may be
paid for exceeding quality standards.
Continued
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25. Chapter 10: The Role of Housekeeping in
Hospitality Operations
Supervisor Dilemma
• Some hotels retain one supervisor in order to be a trainer to
Continued from previous slide…
room attendants; others designate room attendants to train.
• Hotels that eliminate housekeeping supervisors often give
room attendants the responsibility of keeping guestroom
status up to date.
• If a hotel wishes to cut back or eliminate its housekeeping
supervisory staff, it should involve its room attendants in the
design of the new program.
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