Housekeeping and Engineering / Maintenance

     In most non-lodging commercial buildings, housekeeping, engineering, and maintenance personnel generally report to the same department manager.  This makes a great deal of sense because these functional areas have similar goals and methods and must have a close working relationship. In most midsize and large lodging operations, however, housekeeping reports to the rooms division manager, while engineering and maintenance constitute a separate division.  Different reporting responsibilities can become barriers to effective communication between these important support centers of a hotel. 

     In fact, it is unfortunate that support centers often seem to have an almost adversarial relationship. For example, housekeeping personnel sometimes resent having to clean up after various types of maintenance, while engineering personnel may be upset if the misuse of chemical and equipment by housekeeping results in additional work for them.  In order to ensure the smooth operation of both departments, housekeeping and engineering managers need to devote attention to improving the relationship between their departments.

     The housekeeping department often takes the first steps in relation to maintenance functions for which engineering is ultimately responsible.  There are three kinds of maintenance activities : routine maintenance, preventive maintenance, and scheduled maintenance.

     Routine maintenance activities are those which relate to the general upkeep of the property, occur on a regular ( daily or weekly ) basis, and require relatively minimal training or skills. These are maintenance activities which occur outside of a formal work order system and for which no specific maintenance records (tome or materials ) are kept. Examples include sweeping carpets,washing floors, cleaning readily accessible windows, cutting grass, cleaning guestrooms, shoveling snow, and replacing burned-out light bulbs.  Many of these routine maintenance activities are carried out by the housekeeping department. Proper care of many surfaces and materials by housekeeping personnel is the first step in the overall maintenance program for  the property's furniture and futures.

     Preventive maintenance consist of three parts inspection, mirror corrections, and work order initiation. For many areas within the hotel, inspections are performed by housekeeping personnel in the  normal course of their duties.  For example, room attendants and inspectors may regularly check guestrooms for leaking faucets, cracked caulking around bathroom fixtures, and other items that may call for action by engineering staff.  Attending to leaking faucets and improper caulking around sinks and tubs can control maintenance costs by preventing greater problems, such as ceiling or wall damage in the bath below.  Such maintenance protects the physical plant investment and contributes to guest satisfaction.

     Communication between housekeeping and engineering should be efficient so that most minor repairs can be handled while the room attendant is cleaning the guestroom.  In some properties, a full time maintenance person may be assigned to inspect guestroom and to perform the necessary repairs, adjustments, or replacements.

     Preventive maintenance, by its nature, sometimes identifies problems and needs beyond the scope of a minor correction. These problem are brought to the attention of engineering through the work order system.  The necessary work is then scheduled by the building engineer. This type of work is often referred to as scheduled maintenance.

     Scheduled maintenance activities are initiated at the property based on a formal work order or similar document. Work order are a key element in the communication between housekeeping and engineering. 

     Engineering generally keeps data cards and history records on all equipment operated by housekeeping personnel. Equipment data cards contain basic information about pieces of equipment, This information can include technical data, manufacturers information, cost, special instructions, warranty information, and references to other information as well ( such as the storage location of manuals and drawings ). Equipment history records are logs of the inspection and maintenance work performed on  a given piece of equipment.  History records may be separate cards or may be incorporated into the equipment data card. Their purpose is to provide documentation of all maintenance activity on a given piece of equipment. Many properties have computerized these record keeping functions, making it easier for the executive housekeeper to retrieve pertinent information when requesting replacement or new equipment items.

Housekeeping and the Front Office

     Within the rooms division, housekeeping's primary communications are with the front office department, specifically with the front desk area. At most properties, the front desk agent is not allowed to assign guestroom until the rooms have been cleaned, inspected, and released by the housekeeping department.  Typically, rooms are recycled for sale according to the following process.
     Each right, a front desk agent produces an occupancy report.  The occupancy report lists rooms occupied that night and indicates those guests expected to check out the following day.  The executive housekeeper picks up this list early the next morning and schedules the occupied rooms for cleaning.  As guests check out of the hotel, the front desk notifies housekeeping.  Housekeeping ensures the these rooms are given top priority so that clean rooms are available for arriving guests.
     At the end of the shift, the housekeeping department prepares a housekeeping status report based on a physical check of each room in the property.  This report indicates the current housekeeping status of each room.  It is compared to the front desk occupancy report, and any discrepancies are brought to the attention of the front office manager.  A room status discrepancy
is a situation in which the housekeeping department's description of a room's status differs from the room status information being used by the front desk to assign guestrooms.  Room status discrepancies can seriously affect a property's ability to satisfy guests and maximize rooms revenue.
     To ensure efficient rooming of guests, housekeeping and the front office must inform each other of changes in a room's status.  Knowing whether a room is occupied, vacant, on-change, out-of-order, or in some other condition is important to rooms management.  For example, if a guest checks out before the stated departure date, the front desk must notify the housekeeping department that the room is no longer a stay over, but is now a check out, While the guest is in the hotel, the housekeeping status of the guestroom changes several items.  However, not every room status will occur for each guestroom during every stay.
     Promptly notifying the front desk of the housekeeping status of rooms is a tremendous aid in getting early-arriving guests registered, especially during high-occupancy or sold-out periods. Keeping room status information up-to-date requires close coordination and cooperation between the front desk and the housekeeping department.  The two most common system for tracking current room status are mechanical room rack system and computerized status systems.
     The front desk may use a room rack to track the current housekeeping status of all rooms. A room rack slip containing the guest's name and other relevant information is normally completed during the registration process and placed in the room rack slot corresponding to the assigned room number.  The presence of a room rack slip indicates that the room is occupied.  When the guest checks out, the rack slip is removed and the room's status changed to on-change.  An on change status indicates that the room is in need of housekeeping services before it can be made available to arriving guests.  As unoccupied rooms are cleaned and inspected, the housekeeping department notifies the front desk, which updates the room's status to available for sale.
     Problem may also arise from communication delays between the housekeeping department and the front desk.  Communication between these areas may be spoken, written, or conveyed. Spoken communication over the telephone relays information quickly, but without supporting documentation. A written report has the advantage of documenting the information , but is time-consuming since  it must be hand-delivered. A telewriter, om the other hand, communicates and documents information quickly, without requiring anyone to be on its receiving end, Telewriters are especially helpful when front desk agents or housekeepers are busy with other responsibilities and do not have time to place a call or answer the telephone.
     In a computerized room status system, housekeeping and the front desk often have instantaneous access to room status information.  When a guest checks out , a front desk agent enters the departure into a computer terminal.  Housekeeping is then alerted that the room needs cleaning through a remote terminal located in the housekeeping department.  Next, housekeeping attendants clean the room and notify the housekeeping department when it is ready for inspection.  Once the room is inspected, housekeeping enters this information into its departmental terminal.  This informs the front office computer that the room is available for sale.
     While room occupancy status within a computerized system is almost always current, reporting of housekeeping status may lag behind.  For example, the housekeeping supervisor may inspect several rooms at once, but may not update the computer's room status files until the end of a long inspection round.  In a large operation, calling the housekeeping department after each room is inspected is generally inefficient, since answering the phone can be a constant interruption. A delays may also occur when a list of clean, inspected rooms is furnished to the housekeeping office but not immediately entered into the computer system.
     The problems in promptly reporting housekeeping status to the front office can be eliminated when the computer system is directly connected to the guestroom telephone system. With such a network, supervisors can inspect rooms,determine their readiness for sale, and then enter a designated code on the  room telephone to change the room's status in the hotel's computer system.  No one needs to answer the phone, since the computer automatically receives the relay, and there is little chance for error.  Within second, the room's update status can be displayed on the screen of a front desk computer terminal.  This procedure can significantly reduce not only the number of guests forced to wait for room assignment, but also the length of their wait.
     Teamwork between housekeeping and the front office is essential to daily hotel operations. The more familiar housekeeping and front office personnel are with each other's procedures, the smoother the relationship between the two departments is likely to be.

The Sales and Marketing Division

     The sales and marketing staff in a hotel can vary from one part-time person to a dozen or more full-time employees.  These personnel typically have four functions : sales, convention services, advertising, and public relations.  The marketing arm of the division researches the marketplace, competing products, guest needs and expectations, and than develops sales action plans by which to attract guests to the property.  The primary goal of the divisions is to sell the products and services offered by the hotel.

     Housekeeping's important contribution to the primary goal of the sales and marketing division often goes unrecognized.  Successful sales departments maintain high percentages of repeat business. Exhibit 1.4 provides some data on the reasons guests have for returning to a hotel.  Note that the single most important reason a traveler returns to a hotel is the cleanliness and appearance of the property.  The data also indicate that good service is second in importance. Housekeeping staff are among the most visible hotel representatives in this regard. Therefore , an important contribution of the housekeeping staff to hotel sales is the repeat business obtained by providing the level of cleanliness and service the meets or exceeds guest expectations.

The Food and Beverage Division

     A major revenue center in most hotel's is the food and beverage division. There are almost as many varieties of food and beverage operations as there are hotels. Many hotels offer guests more than a single food and beverage outlet. Possible outlet types include quick service, table service, specialty restaurant, coffee shops, bars, lounges and clubs. The food and beverage division typically supports other hotel function such as room service, catering, and banquet planning.

     The executive steward supervises most of the kitchen sanitation and cleaning duties.  However, the housekeeping department may be responsible for cleaning specific areas of the hotel's dining rooms, banquet rooms, and some back-of-the house food and beverage areas.

The Security Division

     Security staff might include in-house personnel, contract security officers, or retired or off-duty police officers.  Security responsibilities may include patrolling the property, monitoring surveillance equipment, and, in general, ensuring that guest, visitors, and employees are safe and secure at the hotel.  The cooperation and assistance of local law enforcement officials is critical to the security division's effectiveness. 

     A hotel's security program is most effective when employee who have primary responsibilities other than security also participate in security efforts.  For example, housekeeping room attendants should follow the key control procedures of their properties.  Also, when cleaning guestrooms, room attendants are usually responsible for locking and securing sliding glass doors, connecting doors, and windows.  All employees should be wary of suspicious activities anywhere in the property and report such activities to an appropriate security authority. Since housekeeping personnel work in every area of the hotel, they are in a position to significantly contribute to the hotel's security efforts.  Specific security responsibilities of the housekeeping department are described in Chapter 7.