The events of the past year have been a difficult time for everyone, especially businesses in the hospitality industry. With the newly announced roadmap finally revealing the way out of the pandemic, hospitality businesses; specifically hotels, now have a time frame to work to. This is the time to assemble their workforce, make improvements to hotel housekeeping methods and ensure their infrastructure is ready to support the resurgence of guests.
People will be keen to start travelling and visiting new places, and there is no doubt the demand for hotels will be high. After all, people have spent months and months at home; the first thing they would like to do is have some time away.
As a tech company working to provide hotel hygiene solutions, we aim to support hotel businesses and the hospitality industry in the transition back to normality. Through extensive research we have compiled a list of hotel housekeeping practices which your business should look to adopt if it has not done so already.
#1 Adopt innovative technology
A recent YouGov survey commissioned by Tweaq found that nearly three quarters (71%) of Brits believe their toilet seat at home is cleaner than a door handle.
It can cost $2.90 per day for a hotel housekeeping service to disinfect each door handle; however, by installing Rise door handles in your hotel you can save money on your cleaning bills. It will also make guests confident in your hotel housekeeping initiatives as they will be able to see the efforts you are putting into improving hygiene first hand.
Rise’s IoT technology will revolutionise your hotel housekeeping as you will be able to track usage, battery levels and be able to schedule refills of sanitising liquid ahead of time.
#2 Invest in Staff Training
Ensuring your staff is fully trained in hygiene practices and have completed the correct awareness training can be beneficial to your business. Proper training will enable your staff to manage guests more effectively, ensure high standards of health and hygiene are maintained and significantly improve the experience of your guests.
#3 Take care of your cleaning equipment
Vacuums, dish-washers, washing machines and dryers keep your hotel clean, but it is also a good hotel housekeeping practice to ensure they are regularly cleaned too. Changing filters in vacuum cleaners regularly can improve their effectiveness. Ensuring dish-washers and laundry machines are run on cleaning cycles at least twice a day will guarantee every item a guest comes into contact with has been extensively cleaned.
#4 Introduce New Checklists
Another good hotel housekeeping practice would be to create more procedures for staff to follow. This could be a personal cleaning regime as staff arrive at the hotel and begin their shift with further cleaning intervals throughout the day. Checklists make following new procedures easier to keep on top of and will allow each member of staff to track their progress.
#5 Make Sanitation Products Accessible
Guests may want to do some of their own housekeeping and hotels should facilitate this and make cleaning products accessible to everyone. While guests will know hotel staff clean every room extensively, this is purely for peace of mind and maximising your guests’ experience. Guests will be more likely to return if their needs are taken care of and they feel safe in your hotel environment.
Although life may be returning to normal, the public’s attitudes towards public health and hygiene will have changed. People are now more aware of their personal hygiene and the standard of cleanliness in the environment around them than they were before the pandemic. Hotels will need to cater to this change in attitude by improving hotel housekeeping methods and showing guests that their health is the business’ utmost priority.
If you found these hotel housekeeping practices useful and to discover more, find out about the Importance of Hotel Sanitation.
28/06/2021/