Chapter 2

Hospitality Facilities Management

Tools, Techniques, and Trends

Hospitality Facilities
Management and Design

Fourth Edition
Competencies for
Hospitality Facilities Management Tools, Techniques, and Trends

1. Describe several types of maintenance.

2. Discuss maintenance management systems, identify and explain the
function of several important forms and documents typically used in a
maintenance management system, and summarize tactics for dealing with
maintenance emergencies.
3. Discuss contract services and outsourcing.
4. Describe computerized and Internet-based facilities management.
5. Explain basic elements of budgeting for POM and utility costs, and discuss
accounting strategies for dealing with other facilities costs.
6. Describe the role of the facilities department in capital projects and
renovations, and explain facilities benchmarking.
7. Outline several considerations involved in managing personnel issues in
the facilities department, summarize training and certification
opportunities for facilities personnel, and discuss building certification.

Slide 1
Facilities Maintenance and Repair

• A significant portion of the property operation and

maintenance (POM) budget is consumed by maintenance and
repair demands
• Maintenance activities are those done to keep something in an
existing state or to preserve something from failure or decline
• Repair activities are those that restore something by replacing
a part or putting together what is torn or broken
• There is value in functioning in a maintenance mode rather
than a repair mode; an appropriate mix of maintenance
methods and capital expenditures is a sound approach to
keeping repair to a minimum

Slide 2
Types of Maintenance

• Routine
• Preventive
• Guestroom
• Scheduled
• Reactive (emergency/breakdown)
• Contract

Slide 3
Routine Maintenance

• Routine maintenance pertains to the general

upkeep of the property
• Routine maintenance recurs on a regular basis
and requires relatively minimal skill or training
• Activities such as grass cutting, leaf raking,
snow shoveling, carpet/floor cleaning, and so
on are considered routine maintenance

Slide 4
Preventive Maintenance

• Preventive maintenance is characterized by inspections,

lubrication, minor repairs or adjustments, and work order
initiation
• Preventive maintenance on equipment is generally performed
using manufacturers’ information
• This type of maintenance may be performed to comply with
code requirements, corporate requirements, and insurance
standards, as well as in response to the usage of the equipment
and the impacts of the equipment’s operating environment
• Preventive maintenance may also result from test and
inspection activities that indicate action is needed

Slide 5
Guestroom Maintenance

• Guestroom maintenance is a form of preventive

maintenance
• This maintenance involves the inspection of a
number of items in the guestroom, filter
changes in air conditioning units, minor
lubrication of doors and other equipment,
repair of obvious small problems, and the
initiation of a work order for more substantial
problems or needs

Slide 6
Scheduled Maintenance

• Scheduled maintenance is the type of maintenance that

requires advance planning, a significant amount of time to
perform, specialized tools and equipment, and high levels of
coordination between departments
• Scheduled maintenance includes preparing equipment for
seasonal changes and performing other activities that are
periodically required to keep equipment operating efficiently
• This maintenance may also involve more substantial
activities, such as replacing major equipment or equipment
components, or replacing elements of the building itself
(e.g., windows)

Slide 7
Predictive Maintenance

• Predictive is similar to preventive maintenance, but

typically relies on and uses more sophisticated
technological methods to increase operational life and
target preemptive corrective actions
• Predictive maintenance replaces older rule-of-thumb or
fixed-time-interval-based maintenance planning with
diagnostic-based planning
• Examples of predictive maintenance include infrared and
ultrasonic testing of electrical equipment, vibration
analysis of operating machinery, fluid/metal analysis, etc.

Slide 8
Reactive Maintenance

• Reactive or emergency/breakdown maintenance is potentially

the most costly and disruptive form of maintenance
• This type of maintenance is typically in response to problems
that have an immediate negative revenue effect (e.g., a
guestroom is knocked out of service) or will have a negative
revenue effect if allowed to continue (e.g., a leaking pipe in a
guestroom)
• Reactive maintenance:
– Usually involves premium (overtime) pay
– Often bypasses the usual parts/supplies purchasing system, leading to
higher costs
– Often escalates as other related problems are found (e.g., a leaking
pipe may also have damaged walls/ceilings)

Slide 9
Contract Maintenance
• Contract maintenance involves outside contractors
• Contract maintenance is undertaken for a variety of
reasons:
– A desire to minimize the use of in-house staff
– A recognition that special tools or licenses are required
– A temporary staffing shortage
– A need to deal with emergencies
– A recognition that the task is too complex for in-house staff
• Elevator maintenance, trash haulage, window cleaning,
kitchen duct cleaning, landscaping work, and HVAC
control calibration are common contract maintenance
services
Slide 10
Maintenance Management Systems

• To effective manage all of a property’s maintenance

task, managers must have a maintenance
management system
• The goals of a maintenance management system are
to:
– Handle the maintenance needs of the property effectively
– Record essential information concerning the property’s
equipment and systems
– Establish performance standards for maintenance workers
– Provide feedback so that upper management can assess
the performance of the facilities department

Slide 11
Forms/Documents Typically Used in a Maintenance
Management System

• Work or repair orders

• Equipment data cards
• Maintenance log cards
• Room data cards
• Inventory records
• Preventive maintenance schedules/instructions
• Rooms checklists
• Material safety data sheets
• Control schematics
• Structural plans
• Mechanical plans
• Electrical plans
• Specialty systems plans
Slide 12
Contract Services and Outsourcing
• Contract maintenance services are commonly used
to supply various services for hospitality properties
• Managing contract services begins before the
contract is put out for bid
• Key provisions in drafting a maintenance contract
include:
– Insurance — No assignment of contract
– Term — Specifications
– Cancellation — Contract fee
– Contractor not
an employee
Slide 13a
Contract Services and Outsourcing
• Properties should use a relatively short contract term,
especially in the early stages of a relationship with a
contractor
• Once a contract is signed, the facilities manager (or
someone else at the property) must make sure that the
contracted work is done properly
• A growing trend in commercial real estate is
outsourcing, a process by which facilities services are
provided not by in-house staff but by contract service
firms; the U.S. lodging industry has not embraced
facilities outsourcing
• Outsourcing can go both ways; a lodging property could
decide to provide facilities services to other businesses
Slide 13b
Computerized and Internet-Based Facilities
Management

• Computerized maintenance management systems (CMMSs) not

only control HVAC equipment operation and building comfort
but also fire protection interfaces, security systems, and
electric power management
• Preventive, scheduled, and guestroom maintenance along with
work orders can all be a part of a CMMS
• CMMSs can bridge the gap between the housekeeping and
maintenance departments
• CMMSs are being used both at the unit level and the
regional/corporate level, enabling regional/corporate managers
to oversee unit-level facilities activity
• Today, many CMMS implementers are not loading their systems
into individual computers at the property level; rather, they are
using the Internet to provide greater access to more people to
more building information
Slide 14
Budgeting for POM and Utilities
• The facilities department’s expenditures for property operation and
maintenance (POM) and utilities are 8 to 9 percent of a U.S. property’s
revenue
• For most properties, salaries, wages, and employee benefits constitute
about 40–50 percent of the POM expenditure
• Contract maintenance costs can constitute 25 percent or more of the
non-labor element of the POM budget
• Utility costs include not only energy (fuels and electricity) but also water
and sewer charges
• When budgeting for POM, the labor portion is approached as it would be
for any department; the non-labor portion is usually adjusted by applying
a percentage increase (or decrease) to the previous year’s portion
• Budgeting for utilities is best handled by dealing with the actual units of
energy purchased (kwh, gallons, liters, etc.) and attempting to secure
price estimates for the coming year from suppliers

Slide 15
Contract Services, Responsibility Accounting, and
Facilities Costs

• There was a time when many contract services were charged to the POM budget
regardless of which department used those contract services; now charges are
assigned to the Contract Services line of the affected departments
• The income of a revenue department is computed by subtracting from
departmental revenue a number of expenses; however, departmental expenses
omit a number of significant costs that a revenue department may incur indirectly
• Managers may ascribe many of the undistributed operating expenses and
deductions from gross operating profit to the revenue department in order to get a
better picture of the actual departmental performance; submetering of utilities
may be a part of this effort
• Arguably, the easiest facilities expense to charge to areas using the service is that
of POM
• Expenses incurred by the facilities department for providing special customer
services (such as for trade shows or weddings) are to be charged to the department
receiving the revenue for these events
• An additional cost-tracking opportunity is to allocate capital expenditure costs to
departments

Slide 16
Capital Expenditure (CapEx) Management

• The management of capital expenditures (CapEx) is a

significant task
• At small properties, the owner or general manager may be
extensively involved in the planning decision and
implementation of capital expenditures; at large properties,
the owner and general manager are also heavily involved,
but the facilities manager may play a more significant role
• Two major managerial functions related to capital
expenditures must be addressed: (1) planning and budgeting,
and (2) execution
• Planning and budgeting for CapEx requires knowledge of the
expected lifetime of various elements of the facility and the
cost of their replacement

Slide 17a
Capital Expenditure (CapEx) Management
• Generally speaking, CapEx activity becomes heightened
beginning in approximately year five of a property’s existence
• A property should have a CapEx plan that addresses at a
minimum its near-term needs (2 to 5 years), with the
management team being at least aware of expected longer-
term needs (6 to 25 years)
• With CapEx expenditures, some years see dramatically higher
expenditures than others, since some CapEx costs can’t be
spread over a number of years
• In some cases, the planning and even the execution of CapEx
at hotels is under the oversight of an asset manager
• CapEx expenditures are made by the owner and represent
large outflows of cash

Slide 17b
Facilities Benchmarking
• Facilities benchmarking involves developing numerical (and other)
standards that allow comparison of a given facility to itself and to
other facilities
• The goal of facilities benchmarking is improved cost control and
better service
• Facilities-related costs and other facilities measurements are best
compared on a per-square-foot/square-meter basis
• The most readily used benchmarking data source is the property
itself; comparing performance with similar time periods in previous
years or monitoring long-term trends in performance is readily done
• The creation of benchmarks for the POM budget can be expressed in
total expenditures per room or as a percent of revenue
• The introduction of computerized maintenance management systems
has significantly increased the ability of managers to use new
benchmarks
Slide 18
Personnel Management in Facilities
• Key concerns in the management of facilities
department personnel include job qualifications,
on-the-job supervision, and employee productivity
• Management personnel in the facilities department
must have some level of mechanical and electrical skill;
the smaller the property, the more the department
manager will have a “hands-on” maintenance role
• Line staff members in the department need very broad
skills in maintenance at the small property level
• Facilities staff members must be reliable and capable of
working on their own; they should not only have trade
training but also training in the property’s standards
Slide 19
Training and Certification
• Providing the necessary training for facilities employees
and managers is not difficult but it does require
commitment, time, and money
• The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute offers
a Maintenance Employee Hospitality Skills Certification
program, along with other instructional materials
• Facilities line staff can benefit from training programs
offered by technical schools, trade associations, and
equipment suppliers
• Training and certification programs for the facilities
department’s management staff are also widely available;
managers need training in not only technical skills but also
managerial and communication skills
Slide 20
Building Certification
• In recent years there has been increasing interest in establishing
standards for “green” or “sustainable” products of many types,
including buildings
• One early building certification program was created by the Building
Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method
(BREEAM) in the United Kingdom; BREEAM also has a presence in
various European Union countries and elsewhere
• BREEAM assesses new and existing structures, awards points, and
rates buildings on a star system
• In the United States, the U.S. Green Buildings Council (USGBC) has
developed a certification program for new and existing buildings that
is referred to as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design)
• The LEED certification program recognizes best-in-class building
strategies and practices
Slide 21