The Role of Housekeeping in Hospitality Operations

1. Role of Housekeeping in Guest Satisfaction and repeat business.

The housekeeping function in a hotel is very important.It is is the biggest
department in any hotel and is a part of the Rooms Division Department which
generates more revenue than any other department in a hotel.The cleanliness
and maintenance of a hotel,the aesthetic appeal of the premises and the state
of the rooms, are major determinants in a guest’s opinion of the property.
Guests expect a clean, safe living environment, and many expect a
personalized service .The housekeeping department not only prepares, on a
timely basis ,clean guestrooms for arriving guests,it also cleans and maintains
everything in the hotel so that the property is as fresh and attractive as the day
it opened for business.The laundry and the linen room takes care of the linen
requirements for the entire hotel.
For many years, the role of the housekeeper was seen as being menial
“woman’s work”. Now it is recognized as a job for the most discriminating
and smart people.They are expected to be professionally qualifed and well
versed in handling man and machines.The areas to be cleaned and maintained
are very vast and requires professionally qualifed hands for their upkeep.The
co-operation and co-ordination of Housekeeping Staff with Front Office and
Maintenance/Engineering departments are very critical for releasing rooms on
time for the guests.
The Housekeeping staff have to ensure good relations with the guests as well
as with other staff of the hotel.Their job is to ensure that the guests feels to be
in a “home away from home”. They have to take care of the special needs of
every individual guest,feed them in guest history,address every guest by his
name and ensure that he gets the same quality of service everytime he comes
back.The major challenge lies in making a hotel room appealing to guests from
diverse cultures and backgrounds and to ensure that the basic needs of comfort
and security are fulfilled.The ethics,motivation and discipline of the
housekeeping staff will be a major factors in deciding the amount of repeat
business in the long run.The housekeeping staff is expected to anticipate guest
needs and thus exceed his expectations.Thus they can help the hotel in
ensuring repeat business.
A housekeepingmanager:
 Must be up to date with the products;
 Must be a counsellor for the staff (housekeeping invariably having the
largest number of staff members of any hotel department);
 Must be ‘systems-literate’ in new technology;
 Must be a project planner for refurbishment and deepcleaning
requirements;
 Must have accountancy skills (the housekeeping budget being very
large); and
 Must be a diplomat (because housekeeping staff members see the guest in
the privacy of the bedroom, and often much more is revealed than is
anticipated).
Because of these varied skills, the role of executive housekeeper has evolved
from that of a ‘flush-and-brush’ person, to that of a senior member of the hotel
management team. Housekeeping executives are becoming more
technologyorientated. Inveentory control and stock records are becoming
dependent upon bar-coding. These bar-codes indicate stock levels, make
stocktaking quicker and easier, and can automatically re-order materials and
products by email when critical levels are reached. Bar-coding can also be
used to monitor servicing of designated areas, and staff can assess the work
required and the cleaning program for the day by swiping a hand-held
computer over the area’s barcode. Supervisory staff can maintain central
records and can, at any time, check the status of a given area. When problems
are encountered-such as brown fluorescent tubes, or damaged furniture-
housekeeping staff members can log the problem on their hand-held computer
and a work order can be generated.Maintenance and cleaning reports-including
records of labourhours, costs, and the cleaning and maintenance status of
particular hotel units - can be generated periodically.Mobile telephones are
another item of technology that can make housekeepers more efficient. These
can be used as pagers when there are urgent messages or tasks, and can also be
used to download work schedules.