Industry Insight: Good Housekeeping

Liana Sparks from the UK Housekeeping Association shares her top tips on cleanliness

They say the first impression always counts, but the quality of service is decisive. This is where the housekeeping department makes all the difference; it is the master of the game. Housekeeping affects all areas of the hotel – front and back of house – starting outside the entrance doors and continues all the way through to the bedrooms.

The guests arrival experience and standard of cleanliness provided by the housekeeping department will determine the guest’s choice to return to the hotel and to recommend the hotel to family and friends.

A clean and clear entrance, enhanced carefully by green plants and colourful flowers will captivate the eyes of every person passing by. Sparkling windows and entrance doors leading to a stylish and well-maintained lobby infused with a carefully selected fragrance continues the guest experience. This image of perfection is carefully created by good housekeeping.

The guests’ bedrooms should provide a home-from-home experience. It is very important for a guest when they open the door of their bedroom, to have the feeling that they are the first to use that room, showing no signs of any previous occupancy.

It is a well known that the following points are the biggest cause of guest dissatisfaction. Debris left in the room, hairs found in the bed/bathroom and mould in the bathroom.

Keeping the windows open while servicing the room and using a good quality air freshener will improving the quality of the air in the room. For persistent odours use either Ozone spray or an Ozone machine.

The correct use of professionally selected chemicals combined with colour-coded cleaning clothes will significantly reduce bacteria and cross contamination. Ensure bathroom surfaces are thoroughly dried after cleaning. The regular replacement of Mastic used around baths, sinks and showers will eliminate mould.

A room’s linen should be crisp, clean, free of holes and stains and checked to ensure it is hair-free. Discarded linen can be recycled for the use of rags, dust sheets or cleaning clothes. These should be dyed or marked to prevent the misuse of good linen.

Conduct a final inspection to ensure that all areas have been well-presented with a polished finish leaving the guest with a lasting impression that they will remember.