Hotel Housekeeping – Cleanings
Spring cleaning doesn’t have to be a dreaded list of chores. It can be a rewarding experience that helps provide some structure and organization in your life.
− Peter Walsh, Professional Organizer, Writer, and Media Personality.
Cleaning is one of the major tasks the housekeeping force performs. It carries out cleanings when the guests are about to occupy their room, while they are staying in the hotel, and immediately after the guests vacate the room. The housekeeping also cleans the public area, which is often shared by a large number of guests.
Cleaning the Check-In Room
The Check in rooms are cleaned when the guest is about to occupy the room. A checklist of room readiness is shared between the guest room supervisor and the guest room attendants. The supervisor inspects the readiness of the room for occupancy.
The guest room attendant performs the following cleanings −
Checking power switches, air conditioner, TV, and other electronic appliances for healthy condition.
Making bed with the fresh linen, pillow cases, and bedside mat.
Cleaning ashtrays and dustbins, replacing if required; and putting fresh paper stripes.
Checking stationery and vanity supplies.Replacing/refilling if required.
Cleaning the bathroom: floor, walls, toilet, shower area, and tub.
Checking bathroom supplies. Replacing the used supplies with the new ones.
Checking the room curtains and drapes for stains, replacing if needed, and closing.
Discarding the used supplies in the guest room.
Spraying the room freshener.
Cleaning an Occupied Room
The room is cleaned when the guest is occupying the room. It includes cleaning and keeping all occupied rooms twice per day on guests’ requests and convenience.
Entering the guest room by following the set procedure.
Clearing the dustbins.
Collecting the used linen and putting it in the linen bag.
Making the bed.
Carrying out the guest room dusting.
Vacuuming of carpet and bedside mats.
Cleaning the bathroom and replenishing the bathroom supplies.
Checking the functionality of light bulbs, television, electric kettle, and intercom device.
Cleaning the Check-Out Room
This cleaning is performed when the guest vacates the guest room and proceeds for hotel check-out formalities. The cleaning involves −
Assembling bed, chairs, settees, and other furniture and placing it appropriately.
Wiping guest room floor with wet mop.
Cleaning the writing tables, assembling and placing stationery appropriately.
Checking under the beds and chairs, and in the locker for any articles the guest left behind.
All personal stuff, documents, articles left in the room (if any) are removed and deposited to Lost and Found desk.
Cleaning all walls of bathroom with wet wipe.
Cleaning all electric appliances such as microwave, fan, refrigerator and others.
Keeping heaters/air conditioners at lowest power consuming option.
Switching off the room light and television.
Locking the guest room door and cleaning area outside it.
Depositing the keys at front office desk.
Periodic Cleaning in Hotel
The task of cleaning is very exhausting. It is divided among a number of housekeeping staff depending upon expertise. Some cleaning such as occupied guest room cleaning requires to be carried out twice on daily basis. The check-in and check-out cleanings are little less frequent.
Further, the cleaning of air-conditioner and refrigerator is less frequent. Thus, depending upon frequency of use of a particular area or device, the frequency of cleaning varies.
Spring Cleaning
This type of cleaning is practiced in the hotels located in cold as well as warm regions. The name depicts cleaning the house in the first few warm days of spring when there is adequate sunlight to reach the corners and the floors of the room. The areas, which are not much accessed, are also cleaned during the Spring Cleaning.
Spring cleaning is generally performed once a year by moving furniture and cleaning the guest rooms entirely for dust, stains, broken furniture, and garbage. It is also called as Deep Cleaning as it is ensured that no portion of the area is left uncleaned.
Cleaning and Keeping Public Areas of Hotel
The public areas are shared commonly among guests. They include −
Keeping Front office, Lobby, and Corridors
Front Office and Lobby is highly frequented. It must be clean at all hours of the day. The housekeeping staff needs to clean desks, fans, ceiling, chairs, and computers. The staff also cleans and disinfects the telephone devices, keyboards, flooring, corridors, and glass doors at the entrance of the lobby.
Keeping the Dining Area
The dining area is the next most frequently visited area. The housekeeping staff puts in good efforts for lighting, chandeliers, and cleaning the ceiling, furniture, and décor items. It also includes spreading the clean dining linen on the dining tables and keeping the floor clean. It is generally done when the area is not busy.
Cleaning the Lifts
The house keeping staff cleans lifts preferably early morning to avoid rush for use. They stop it at the ground floor, its doors are kept open, and it is then cleaned starting from top and working towards bottom.
Cleaning the Swimming Pools
Cleaning of the swimming pools is highly required during summer. It can be conducted by the hotel if it has an in-house expertise, or it can be contracted with an agency. Cleaning of swimming pool involves catching any leaves, purifying the pool water, and cleaning the areas surrounding the pool; including shower and changing rooms.
Cleaning and Keeping the Hotel Garden
These days, the hotels keep their private team of gardeners. Watering and trimming the trees and shrubs, fertilizing the plants, raking the fall leaves, and Arbosculpture (an art of shaping trees into wonderful shapes), is taken care by this team.
Cleaning the Parking Area
It mostly involves hard sweeping the parking space, removing the cobwebs under the parking shades, and putting up appropriate guiding signs.
