1- Introduction to HouseKeeping
Housekeeping is a crucial department within the hospitality industry, housekeeping plays a vital role in ensuring a clean, comfortable, and welcoming environment for guests. Whether you are new to the field or seeking to enhance your existing skills, this training manual will provide you with a comprehensive guide to the key principles and practices of hotel housekeeping.
Hotel housekeeping encompasses a wide range of duties and responsibilities that contribute to maintaining the cleanliness, orderliness, and overall aesthetic appeal of a hotel. It involves the maintaining cleanliness of guest rooms, public areas, and all spaces in the hotel. By upholding the highest standards of cleanliness and organization, the housekeeping department helps create a positive impression on guests, ensuring their satisfaction and loyalty.
This course we will explore the fundamentals of hotel housekeeping, equipping you with the necessary knowledge and skills to excel in your role. We will cover essential topics such as cleaning the rooms, cleaning washrooms, houseman duties and cleaning public areas, laundry cleaning and Kitchen cleaning (in suite rooms and chef kitchen). Throughout the videos provided in this course, you will find practical skills and tips, step by step procedures and helpful guidelines that will assist you in efficiently carrying out your housekeeping duties.
Remember, hotel housekeeping is not merely about cleanliness; it is about creating an environment that reflects the values of the hotel and fosters a positive guest experience. By demonstrating professionalism, attentiveness, and a commitment to excellence, you will not only contribute to the success of your department but also make a lasting impact on the overall reputation of the hotel.
Hotel Business Overview
We will start the course by introducing the hotel and departments of a hotel.
As a housekeeper, it is valuable to have an understanding of the overall hotel business and the different departments that operate within it. This knowledge will help you appreciate how your role as a housekeeper fits into the larger picture and how your work contributes to the success of the hotel. Let’s explore the basics of the hotel business and its departments:
The hotel business is a dynamic and diverse industry that provides accommodation, dining, and various services to travelers and guests. Hotels range from small boutique establishments to large-scale resorts, catering to different types of guests such as business travelers, tourists, and event attendees. The primary goal of a hotel is to offer a comfortable and enjoyable experience for its guests, ensuring their satisfaction and fostering loyalty.
Hotel Sizes
There are different types and sizes of hotel.
Small hotels:
where the number of rooms start from 20-30 up to 70 rooms. Guests usually stay here for short term, one to few days.
Resorts:
These type of hotels are built for longer stays such as holidays. These hotels are mini cities as they are usually built near beach or holiday areas and have all establishments of 5 star hotels including shops, spa’s, indoor and outdoor sport areas, tourist shuttles, party venues and many more.
Departments of Hotel:
Front desk staff are responsible for welcoming the guests, reservations, checking in and checkout the guests, receiving packages, responding to emails or phone calls, and coordinating with other departments for any tasks.
The major responsibility of the sales office is to increase the revenue of the hotel and reach out to the maximum number of potential customers to increase event or room bookings in the hotel. They research the market demands, analyze the competitors, and provide suggestions to the management for increasing the hotel quality and customer satisfaction. In some hotels sales and marketing offices will be separate or together depending on the type and size of the hotel.
This section is responsible for managing and providing food and beverage services to the guests in the kitchen or in room service, purchasing supplies and coordinating with hotel management to manage their supplies depending on the number of guests in the hotel. People working in food and beverage department are as follows:
Restaurant: Executive Chef, Chef assistant, Server, kitchen helper, dishwasher
Bar: Bartender, server
Banquet hall: Waiter, Server, event coordinator
All equipment in the hotel requires continuous checking to ensure it is working properly and to ensure the safety of the guests and staff. The maintenance department is called upon when any equipment is found to be faulty as well as running their own routine checks to ensure fire safety, elevators, and other areas of the hotel function smoothly.
Human resources or HR department is responsible for managing the staff in the hotel, recruiting, and training staff, managing staff contracts and paperwork. Any matter related to staff is communicated to the HR department and it is processed and communicated back to ensure all rights of staff are met in the hotel.
Manages all the incoming or outgoing payments of the hotel. They process the salaries, budget and invoices.
This department, where you will work, ensures the cleaning of all areas of the hotel. There are different jobs in the housekeeping department and each of them collectively work together to ensure a coordinated cleanliness and hygiene in the hotel.