The essential skill of hygiene is housekeeping, which emphasizes keeping any

establishment immaculately clean. The goal is to provide a clean environment by arranging with
routine cleaning of all common and private spaces and offering other services according to the
kind of establishment, the purpose is to ensure the comfort of all visitors who stay in the
establishment. The hotel's cleaning, maintenance, and aesthetic upkeep are the responsibilities
of the housekeeping department.

The housekeeping department is important since it not only ensures that a guest's room
looks inviting, but also meets their fundamental needs for security and comfort. In order for a
hotel to live up to the expectations of its customers, the housekeeping department must put up
its best personal effort. The housekeeping department, which is part of the back of the house
operations.

The rationale of this narrative is to highlight the importance of the housekeeping

department in the practicum of the BSTM program:

1. Additional Learnings to practicum students.

- Housekeeping is one of the possible entry positions of a Tourism Graduate. This will
enable students to understand the real scenario in the industry if they opt to be
hired as part of the Housekeeping team in hotels and most of all in Cruise ships.
2. Limited slots in hotels
- As we transition from virtual practicum with Rajah Travel Agency last semester. We
opted to have our practicum in different tourism establishments here in the local
setting. Thus, hotels that accepts on the job trainings are limited. Some hotels have
few slots for front office department, concierge and sales department so most of the
time students are assigned in the Housekeeping department. Likewise, some partner
establishments allow rotation to different departments to establish and give endless
possibilities of experience to students.
3. Innate Sense of Service and perfection
- Having an internship will develop sense of perfection to provide quality service.
Everything should be perfectly executed to create an unforgettable customer
experience. Taking initiative is also an important aspect of the job. The ability to
identify and solve problems is determining.
4. Versatility, Resourcefulness and Communication
- Students would need to be patient and polite because students would need to
communicate with customers frequently and respond to their demands and
expectations. In fact, the housekeeper might need to inform and guide guests on the
hotel and its amenities. This implies that students should be able to memorize
information as well. As a result of the position's versatility, students will need to use
their creativity if students want to effectively complete this job. Students must be
flexible to provide assistance to various hotel departments. As an example, assisting the
front desk employees during peak hours, assisting the luggage crew when a customer
has numerous suitcases, and greeting diners at the restaurant.
5. Preferences of Trainees
-Based on the gathered information, some students prefer to experience the
housekeeping department. The following is an excerpt from the student daily journal:
“On our first rotation, we chose housekeeping. Then we were trained on our first day of
duty on what was the standard way of cleaning or attending to guests' concerns. We
were also taught how to bed down and some housekeeping jargon. Sometimes we are
assigned to the public areas, like cleaning the function rooms, TV hallways, and cr. We
enjoy the company of our supervisors; they are joyful during their breaks and very
hands-on when it comes to work. Don't worry ma'am, because we really love to work.
We are thankful that we chose Gateway as a host establishment for our practicum
because we are allowed to be trained in the 3 departments with certificates each. There
will come a time when 14 rooms is just the minimum number of rooms to clean. Yet we
are willing to do anything because we know that this is how real life works. They were
so kind to us that even though we were still cleaning rooms, they would ask us to have
a coffee or snack with them, and sometimes they would let us have a rest.”

6. Practicum in housekeeping in hotels will develop many competencies and qualities.

- First, students will master hospitality standards. Students will apply them to different
aspects such as cleaning, security and etc. Students will know how to identify and
solve problems efficiently. This kind of skills are very useful and not only in the
housekeeping department. Finally, this internship will allow students to discover
rules and codes applicable in a hotel as well as the way other departments work.
Given that the internship will enable students to communicate in foreigners’ students
will have the opportunity to improve their language skills. English, Spanish, German.
Nowadays, it is important to fluently master English, or even a second language.
Working in a team will allow students to exchange and interact with foreign people
daily. In the field, students’ ability to speak would improve rapidly. Of course, it will
also allow students to add a new asset to their CV. Companies are more and more
internationalized and their target markets are spread worldwide. Even in France, it is
a mandatory competency on the job market.
Finally, students will be able to develop a whole new set of cross-disciplinary skills
for their future career. Adaptability, as future frontliners in the hospitality will live in
a country with a different culture and working methods. But also, students’
rigorousness, sense of observation and service… just to mention a few. All these
values will be useful for the students’ future, professionally as well as personally.