Within
the rooms division, housekeeping primarily communicates with the Front Office
and Engineering to provide ready rooms for sale, at the shortest possible
time. Team work is the key to successful
hotel operations. Housekeeping also
co-ordinates with every other departments like Food and Beverage, Purchase,
Personnel, Sales & Marketing.
1.1 Housekeeping
and Front Office
The
Front desk keeps the Housekeeping informed of check outs. The housekeeping in turn cleans and clears
the room for sale on a priority basis.
This is more so important if the occupancy is high and the rooms are
booked back to back. At most properties,
the front desk is not allowed to assign guestrooms until the rooms have been
cleaned, Inspected and released by the housekeeping department.
Following
are the reports sent by the front desk to the housekeeping to help in the above
mentioned activity:
i.
Night Report:
Also sometimes called the Occupancy Report; this report shows the updated
occupancy of the hotel for the day as per the Front Office. This is sent early in the morning, every
day. This report helps the housekeeping
to plan the work for the day.
ii.
Occupancy Forecast: sent on a daily, weekly,
monthly and yearly basis. This helps the
housekeeping to plan the work for the day, week, month and year ahead. For eg:
Planning of duty rotas, annual maintenance, spring cleaning etc.
iii.
Daily VIP Arrival list & VIP in house list: For placement
of extra amenities and services.
iv.
Long term forecast of VVIP Arrival list. For example: The arrival of a Prime Minister would
require advance information to meet with the special requirements.
v.
Daily anticipated Departure List : To plan out the work for the day. This also avoids the chances of cleaning up
rooms more then once during the day.
vi.
Daily Arrival list: To prepare the rooms before the scheduled arrival of the guests.
vii.
Group Arrival list: Information regarding group
arrivals, airline crew, layovers. This is required to direct maximum
housekeeping staff during their check outs and check ins.
viii.
Room Change list: helps to rectify the problem
in the room and ensure that the room is ready for sale. To ensure that the laundry is delivered to
the right room.
Following
are the reports sent by housekeeping to the front desk:
i.
Occupancy Report: It shows the physical status
of rooms. Sent to the Front desk twice a
day. This is tallied with the Front
Office status, so that any discrepancies can be rectified to prevent further
loss of room revenue.
ii.
Under Repair Rooms: Sent to the front desk
daily. Gives a list of rooms which
cannot be sold and the duration for which the room cannot be sold.
Under
Repair Report
Date:
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S.N
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Room
Number
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Reason
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Taken
On
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Expected
Date of Completion
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Remarks
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Signature
1.2. Housekeeping and Engineering
The
housekeeping department works closely with the Engineering department to ensure
that proper preventive maintenance procedures are carried out effectively. Since daily cleaning duties require that
housekeeping personnel enter almost every guestroom everyday, the housekeeping
department is in a position to identify maintenance needs and initiate work
orders for engineering. There are three
kinds of maintenance activities:
· routine maintenance
· preventive maintenance
· scheduled maintenance.
Routine
maintenance include tasks which relate to the general upkeep of the property;
occur on a daily or a frequent basis and require minimum skills. Guestroom cleaning, carpet cleaning, trimming
lawns and changing fused bulbs are some of the routine jobs done by the housekeeping.
Preventive
maintenance consists of inspection and work order initiation in case of a
problem. Leaking faucets, cracked
caulking around bathroom fixtures, if attended to immediately, can control
maintenance costs by preventing greater problems.
The
Maintenance Work request Form, if not computerized, is filled in triplicate by
the housekeeping. The original and a
copy is sent to the engineering. The
second copy is retained in the book itself.
The engineering, after attending to the problem, sends back a copy of
the request to the housekeeping with the necessary remarks.
Preventive
maintenance, sometimes identifies problems which are beyond the scope of a
minor correction. The necessary work is
then scheduled by the housekeeping and the engineering. (Normally during off season or whenever there
is a dip in the occupancy). Eg: Painting
of rooms, servicing of air conditioning, carpet shampooing etc. This may
require the rooms to be taken Under Repair and this has to be done also in
co-ordination with the Front Desk.
1.3. Housekeeping and Food and
Beverage
Food
and Beverage informs the housekeeping about parties and conferences through the
Function Prospectus. This gives the
housekeeping the necessary information regarding the linen required, flower
arrangements etc. The housekeeping also
ensures that the halls are kept clean for the function.
Housekeeping
co-ordinates with the Food and Beverage for F & B Linen Inventory, cleaning
of F & B outlets, pest control etc.
Sample Maintenance Work Order
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Maintenance Request
S.N.1234
Date………………..….Time...........................
By.....................................................................
Location............................................................
Problem..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Assigned
To......................................................
Date Compl.................Time
Spent...................
Completed By
..................................................
Remarks..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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1.4. Housekeeping and Purchase
Housekeeping
co-ordinates with the purchase department for the purchase of linen,
upholstery, drapery, furnishing, guest supplies, uniforms, cleaning supplies,
equipment etc.
1.5. Housekeeping and Security
Housekeeping
is the only department which can enter a guestroom even in the absence of the
guest. This makes it very sensitive for the department incase of thefts. To
protect the department from allegations, it is very necessary to work in close
co-ordination with the Security. Looking for and reporting suspicious
activities to the Security is of importance.
1.6. Housekeeping and Sales and
Marketing
Sales
and marketing informs housekeeping, about the occupancy forecasted for the
entire year which is again broken up into months. This enables the housekeeping to budget for
the necessary expenses and schedule manpower..
Housekeeping
also co-ordinates with all the departments in providing uniforms.
2.Team Work
Team
work is very important if departments have to function together to meet guest
expectations. Your work is more
enjoyable, and the job goes better, when you get on well with the people
there. When you do your job well, so can
those who work with you. And the guests
get the best service.
Building
a strong team
Everyone
contributes to good teamwork. Everyone benefits from a strong team. Here are some of the things you can do.
· Be please to work with
Be polite and good-tempered to everyone, even when you
are under pressure. It takes little
effort to say 'please' and 'thank you'.
If you have to interrupt what someone is doing, or have kept the person
waiting, say 'sorry'.
· Be ready to help
Some of the tasks you find easy may be difficult to
others, especially to someone new to the job.
A few words of explanation, or a helping hand can make all the
difference and not delay your work at all.
· Do your job properly
Do your job to the best of your ability. Don't leave tasks unfinished or badly
done. No one appreciates having to do
your job as well as their own.'
· Be punctual
Get to work on time.
If you are delayed or ill, telephone your supervisor as soon as
possible. Knowing what's happened makes
it easier to rearrange duties. It also
stops people worrying unnecessarily.
· Be understanding
Consider, and respect, other points of view, even if
you don't agree with them. There may be
a policy or business reason why some things are done differently from your
previous experience.
· Tackle problems quickly
Try to sort out problems before they become
serious. If you are unhappy about
something, talk to the person who might be able to help. It is better to present your point of view
than leave others to guess what is wrong.
· Communicate
Pass on information that will help others. Those in reception, maintenance, security, room
service, management rely on you to know
when rooms are ready, or problems have arisen.
· Share rewards
Don't just pass on the bad news or the
complaints. When guests compliment you
on the standards of cleaning or say how
helpful reception was, pass this on.
When guests leave a tip in the bedroom, or give you
one personally, follow your workplace policy for sharing tips. If a number of people have been responsible
for servicing the room and providing freshly laundered linen over the guests'
stay, it will cause ill-feeling if one person keeps all the tip.
To
sum up Good teamwork
· SAY hello ........please......thank you
.....sorry...........
· USE names of people at work; guests and colleagues
· HELP with difficult tasks
· TAKE pride in your work.
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