HOUSE KEEPING TERMS

HOUSEKEEPING TERMINOLOGY

Housekeeping

Housekeeping is defined as the provision of a clean, comfortable, safe, and aesthetically appealing
environment

Back of the house

The functional areas of the hotel in which employees have little or no guest contact, such as the
engineering and maintenance department, laundry, and so on.

Deep Cleaning

Intensive or specialized cleaning undertaken in guestrooms or public areas, often conducted according to
a special schedule or on a special project basis.

Departure Room

A room from which the guest has departed, settled the account, returned the room keys, and left the
hotel. It is also called a check out room or vacated room.

DND Card

A ‘do not disturb’ card is hung outside the room to inform hotel staff or visitors that the occupant does
not wish to be disturbed.

Faucets

Another term for taps.

Floor Pantry

A service room provided on each floor for GRA’s to store cleaning agents, equipment, guest supplies,
guestroom linen, and maid’s cart

Inventory

Stocks of merchandise, operating supplies, and other items held for future use in a hospitality operation.
Linen

Material woven from fibres of the flax plant.

The term ‘linen’ is also used loosely to denote daily launderable articles in the linen room

Upholstery

Textiles, padding, springs and other materials used for decorating furniture and rendering it more
comfortable.

Water Closet

Sanitary fitting consisting of the toilet bowl and the cistern.

Amenities

Services or items offered to guests or placed in the guestrooms for convenience and comfort at no extra
cost.

Graveyard Shift

Night Shift

Chamois Leather

Chamois leather is used mainly in cleaning and polishing.

Originally skins of chamois goat antelope were used, but now they are usually skivers, that is, split skins
of sheep or simulated leather.

Chamois leather is used wet for cleaning windows

SOP

Standard operating procedure.

A document of a standing nature that specifies a certain method of operating or a specific procedure for
the accomplishment of a task.

Occupancy

The number of rooms actually in use/occupied.

Vanity Unit

A unit comprising a wash basin and mirror, surrounded by a flat area where soap, dental kits, shaving
kits, and tooth glasses are kept.
Damp-dust

A method of cleaning where the item to be cleaned is wiped with a damp cloth.

Guest Loan Items

Guest supplies not normally found in a guestroom, but available upon request-for example, hair dryers
and ironing boards.

Sani-bins

Small metal or plastic containers with lids, kept in toilets for the collection of soiled sanitary towels.

Toothglass/Gargling glass

A glass placed on the vanity unit as a guest supply and used for gargling.

Hand Caddy

A portable container for storing and transporting cleaning supplies, carried on a room attendant’s cart.

Linen Chute

A passage in the form of a tunnel for sending soiled linen from the floor pantries of all floors to a central
place near the laundry, from where it can be collected by the laundry staff

Scanty baggage

A room status indicating a room that is occupied by a guest with small, light luggage.

Antiseptic

An agent that makes the environment non-conducive to the growth and reproduction of disease-causing
microbes.

Buffing

Polishing, say, the floor with a low-speed polishing machine.

Builders

A builder is defined as a compound that has no surface-active properties but increases the bulk and the
efficiency of a detergent.

Burnishing
Polishing the floor with a high-speed floor machine to achieve an extremely high gloss.

Carborundum

Silicon Carbide, used as an abrasive.

Caustic Alkalis

Very strong alkalis such as Sodium hydroxide (caustic soda)

Crib

A cot for babies, provided to guest on request.

Crinkle Sheet

A distinctively woven sheet used to cover and protect the blanket.

It is now called a third sheet.

Dutch Wife

Another term for the sewing kit provided as a guest amenity.

Duvets

Quilts filled with down feathers or synthetic fibres.

Also referred sometimes as comforters.

Lacquer

Coloured varnish made of shellac dissolved in alcohol.

pH Scale

A scale that indicates the acidity or alkalinity of substances.

Quats

Quaternary ammonium compounds, used as disinfectant.

Surfactants

Surface-active compounds that impart a good wetting power, emulsifying power, and suspending power
to detergents.

Terrazo
Flooring which consists of marble, granite, and other decorative chips set in cement.

WC

Water Closet; a toilet bowl and flush.

Wicker

Wicker is derived from the shoots of willow plants.

It is used for making woven items such as bread baskets, flower baskets, mats etc.

Squeegee

A manual cleaning equipment with a rubber or metal blade and a long handle, used for removing excess
moisture from hard surfaces such as floors and window panes.

Kaolin

China Clay

Tarnish

A discouloration caused by a chemical reaction between a metal and substances found in water, air and
food.

Different metals undergo different types of tarnishing.

Veneer

A thin coating of finer wood on another wooden surface

Ottoman

Sofa without a back.

SPATT

Special Attention

H.W.C.

Handle with care

ROOM STATUS CODES

O or OCC : Occupied

Comp. : Complimentary

DND : Do not disturb

SB : Scanty Baggage

V/C : Vacant & Cleaned

CR : Checked & ready

OOO : Out Of Order

DNCO : Did not check out

CO or C/O : Check-out/vacated/departure room.

UR : Under-repair room

NL or NB : No luggage/no baggage

DL : Double