Managing Front Office &

Housekeeping – Chapter 4
 Cleaning
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 the Check-In Room
▪ 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.
 Cleaning the Check-In Room
▪ 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.
 Cleaning an Occupied Room
▪ 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.
 Cleaning the Check-Out Room
▪ 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 the Check-Out Room
▪ 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.
 Cleaning the Public Areas of Hotel
The public areas are shared commonly among guests. They include:
• 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.
 Cleaning the Public Areas of Hotel
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 Public Areas of Hotel
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 Public Areas of Hotel
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 the Public Areas of Hotel
Cleaning 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.
 Division Of Guestrooms
Housekeeping teams should be formed to which the same sections of rooms are consistently assigned.
▪ Advantages of allocating same sections for each team
▪ Individual housekeepers take ownership of the rooms they clean
▪ Showing pride for the work
▪ Increases their morale
▪ Teams create a sense of unity
▪ Of common interests and responsibilities (esprit de corps)
▪ Improving attendance

▪ Components of a team
▪ A team supervisor
▪ A houseperson
▪ Four or five section housekeepers
 Division Of Guestrooms
▪ A pictorial representation of all rooms and allocating a certain number of them to
every section housekeeper of each team.
▪ Criteria for guestroom cleaning workload vary from hotel to hotel depending on:
▪ The size of the rooms
▪ The number of furniture and fixture pieces to be cleaned
▪ The level of quality that management wishes to provide

▪ Typically assigned number of rooms

▪ Small rooms – 18 rooms
▪ Medium size rooms – 16
▪ Large or suites - 12
 Division Of Guestrooms
An example, a 400-room property that assigns 16 rooms to one section housekeeper and
that groups the section housekeepers in teams of 5 would have the following
workload distribution at 100 percent occupancy:
▪ Number of teams: 5 (400 /16 = 25; 25 / 5 = 5)
▪ Number of section housekeepers: 25 (400 /16 = 25)
▪ Number of team supervisors: 5 (one per team)
▪ Number of houseperson: 5 (one per team)
 Division Of Guestrooms
To operate for 7 days and a laundry:
▪ The hotel is open seven days a week and the employees work only five
▪ 25 section housekeepers needed to clean the rooms + 5 to operate laundry = 30
workers
▪ 30 workers x 7 days per week of operation = 210 man/days
▪ 210 man/days / 5 days per week employees work = 42 workers needed
 Division Of Guestrooms
The minimum number of teams and workers needed:
▪ Number of teams: 8 (42 / 5 = 8)
▪ Number of section housekeepers: 42
▪ Number of supervisors: 8
▪ Number of housepersons: 8
On any given day that the hotel is full will have teams as:
▪ Teams assigned to guestroom cleaning: 5
▪ One team to operate laundry: 1
▪ Two teams off duty: 2
▪ Total teams: 8
 Classification of Staff
▪ Management
▪ The executive housekeeper, housekeeping manager (assistant to the executive housekeeper), and laundry manager
▪ Salaried and are required to work a minimum of 40 hours each week

▪ Fixed
▪ Janitors and the linen room attendants
▪ Usually, hourly employees who are guaranteed 5 days’ work regardless of guestroom occupancy

▪ Evening
▪ Composed of hourly employees who are guaranteed 5 days of work regardless of occupancy

▪ Laundry & guestroom cleaning teams

▪ The number of hours they are scheduled to work depends on the number of guestrooms sold daily
 Staffing Matrix
Management Regular Team One to Five
1 Executive housekeeper 1 Housekeeping team supervisor
1 Housekeeping manager 5 Section housekeepers
1 Laundry manager 1 Houseperson

Fixed Laundry Team

1 Linen room supervisor 1 Laundry supervisor
1 Janitor supervisor 5 Laundry attendants
4 Janitors 1 Laundry helper

Evening Team Relief Team One and Two

1 Evening supervisor 1 Housekeeping supervisor
2 Section housekeepers 5 Section housekeepers
2 Janitors 1 Houseperson
1 Houseperson
 Scheduling Problem
▪ The housekeeping department must prepare the rooms for incoming guests as soon as
possible.
▪ When one considers that the rooms must be thoroughly cleaned and inspected in
usually a short period of time, it is clear that the scheduling of employees in lodging
properties can be very difficult indeed.
▪ The executive housekeeper must combine the need to provide adequate coverage to
clean the guestrooms effectively with ensuring fairness to employees and achieving
an adequate departmental profit.
 Section Housekeeper Need Table
For example, a 400-room property that has 16 of its rooms
cleaned by one section housekeeper in one 8-hour shift will
schedule the room attendants on a particular week as follows:
Day Occupancy Rooms to be Section
cleaned housekeepers
1 100% 400(400 x 1.0) 25 (400 /16)

2 75% 300 (400 x 0.75) 19 (300 / 16)

 Workloads
▪ The number of rooms to be cleaned by each section housekeeper in an 8-hour shift
varies from property to property.
▪ This depending on factors such as:
▪ the size of the rooms
▪ number of breaks permitted per shift
▪ the time allowed for lunch
▪ the average number of people occupying one room
▪ the standard of cleanliness to be achieved

▪ May range from 12 guest – rooms in suite hotels to 20 in budget motels.

▪ In the budget hotel, allowing one hour for lunch and breaks, a section housekeeper must clean rooms
at a rate of one for each 21 minutes
▪ (21 x 20 = 420; 420 / 60 = 7 hours)
 Section Housekeeper Need Table
▪ Executive housekeepers should compile a section housekeeper need table establishing
the number of room attendants required for each level of occupancy.
▪ The table can also be extended to include the number of hours that section
housekeepers generate per day, per week, and per month.
▪ See next slide
▪ The cost of labor can be determined by multiplying the number of hours by the
average hourly wage paid to section housekeepers.
 Sample Section Housekeeper NeedsSection
Rooms to Be Housekeepers
Percent of Occupancy Cleaned Needed Day Hours/ Day Hours/ Week Hours/ Month
100 400 X 1.00 400 /16 25 X8 200 X7 1,400 X 30 42,000
95 400 X 0.95 380 /16 24 X8 190 X7 1,330 X 30 39,900
90 400 X 0.90 360 /16 23 X8 180 X7 1,260 X 30 37,800
85 400 X 0.85 340 /16 21 X8 170 X7 1,190 X 30 35,700
80 400 X 0.80 320 /16 20 X8 160 X7 1,120 X 30 33,600
75 400 X 0.75 300 /16 19 X8 150 X7 1,050 X 30 31,500
70 400 X 0.70 280 /16 18 X8 140 X7 980 X 30 29,400
65 400 X 0.65 260 /16 16 X8 130 X7 910 X 30 27,300
60 400 X 0.60 240 /16 15 X8 120 X7 840 X 30 25,200
55 400 X 0.55 220 /16 14 X8 110 X7 770 X 30 23,100
50 400 X 0.50 200 /16 13 X8 100 X7 700 X 30 21,000
45 400 X 0.45 180 /16 11 X8 90 X7 630 X 30 18,900
40 400 X 0.40 160 /16 10 X8 80 X7 560 X 30 16,800
35 400 X 0.35 140 /16 9 X8 70 X7 490 X 30 14,700
30 400 X 0.30 120 /16 7 X8 60 X7 420 X 30 12,600
25 400 X 0.25 100 /16 6 X8 50 X7 350 X 30 10,500
20 400 X 0.20 80 /16 5 X8 40 X7 280 X 30 8,400
 Standing Schedules
The manager must juggle several factors in order to protect the interests of the
company, fulfill the individual needs of the workers, and provide guest satisfaction.
▪ To protect the company’s interests, the manager must schedule the minimum number
of workers to achieve an optimum labor cost percentage.
▪ Employees have all types of individual requests; some of them may prefer to have
weekends off, others may insist that they will not settle for less than rotating days off,
others will need fixed days off every week to match those of their spouse.
▪ Scheduling must always be done keeping in mind the ultimate goal of providing
efficient service to the property’s guests.
 Standing Schedules
▪ The first step in housekeeping scheduling is to prepare a matrix showing the
scheduled consecutive days off for the guestroom cleaning teams, laundry teams, and
relief teams.
▪ Shows the scheduled days off for a 400-room hotel that needs a total of five regular
teams for guestroom cleaning, one team to operate the laundry, and two relief teams.
▪ The relief teams cover the days off of the regular and laundry teams and have two
consecutive days off themselves.
 Sample Team Standing Schedule
Team Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

One ON ON ON ON ON OFF / R1 OFF / R1

Two OFF / R1 OFF / R1 ON ON ON ON ON

Three ON ON OFF / R1 OFF / R2 ON ON ON

Four ON ON ON ON OFF / R2 OFF ON

Five OFF / R2 ON ON ON ON ON OFF

Laundry ON ON ON ON ON OFF / R2 OFF / R2

Relief 1 ON ON ON OFF OFF ON ON

Relief 2 ON OFF OFF ON ON ON ON

 Standing Schedules
▪ Must be posted the day before, prior to the end of the morning shift so that the workers
know whether they are scheduled to work the following day.
▪ The estimated occupancy for the day is obtained from the front office, which usually is
able to provide an accurate forecast based on reservations on hand, weather conditions,
events taking place in town, and historical data from the same day in previous years.
▪ On some occasions, it may be found that the actual occupancy of the hotel differs
substantially from the estimated forecast posted on the adjusted schedule the previous
day.
▪ In this case, the opening supervisor should attempt to adjust the number of workers
required to clean the number of rooms actually sold.
 Adjusted Daily Schedule
▪ In most cases guestroom occupancy in the lodging industry is never constant.
▪ Whenever occupancies are below 100 percent, the number of section housekeepers
must be adjusted down accordingly.
▪ The standing schedule must therefore be adjusted to reflect only the number of
section housekeepers needed to clean the rooms occupied.
▪ The adjusted schedule will indicate that one section housekeeper of each team is
given an extra day off on this particular day.
▪ The decision of who stays home when the occupancy is below 100 percent is
generally made by the team supervisor by asking for volunteers among the team
members or by following a sequential order.
 Alternative Scheduling Methods
▪ Four-day work week
▪ Consisting of 10-hour shifts ach working day
▪ Enables housekeeping employees to have more leisure time, to reduce time and expenses commuting
back and forth to work, and to decrease child care by one day per week

▪ Part-time workers
▪ Hiring employees who are willing to work less than 40 hours per week
▪ Usually less reliable because their stake in the job is less substantial than that of full-time workers

▪ Flexible work hours

▪ Allowed to begin and end their shifts at times convenient to them
▪ The coordination of tasks in the department can become a nightmare if the employees are allowed
too much flexibility
The End