Housekeeping Time is Gold: Tech & Automation for Efficiency

The biggest challenges in hotel housekeeping is the time management. Housekeepers have a big amount of tasks, and even with so many tasks, they spend plenty of the time trying to figure out which room to clean next. They usually use things like clipboards and printed reports to figure this out. It might sound strange, but many hotels still use old fashioned ways of talking, like walkie talkies.

Another challenge is the lack of housekeepers, there is not enough housekeeping staff in many places, which makes things even harder. It's hard to find people who are motivated to work in housekeeping. This makes it really difficult for them to ensure the quallity and high standards. Guests are becoming less patient with rooms not being cleaned often enough. This lead to the hotel getting low scores and bad reviews online, which can be really bad for the hotel's reputation.

Another problem is that guests want to check into their rooms earlier or at different times than before. This means housekeeping teams have to clean rooms even faster than they did before. To help with this, hotels are starting to use tools to help them do housekeeping better.

New technology can help with these problems. It lets housekeeping staff use smartphones to see which rooms need cleaning and what's already been done. Even though these tools cost money at first, they can save time and make guests happier, so they are a good investment. Hotels that use digital tools for housekeeping have seen big improvements. They have to make fewer phone calls inside the hotel and their staff are much more productive. Because guests want to check in at different times, and they want their rooms to be really clean, these tools are becoming really important for hotels that want to keep up. 

Tools such us "Empower Guest Experience (GXP)" from Marriott Salesforce or "Optii" a hotel operations technology that goes even farther, optimises labor, streamlines operations, and empowers teams across housekeeping, service delivery, internal communication, and preventative maintenance.

Here are some benefits about using modern housekeeping technologies.

• Better communication: hotel operations technology, help different parts of the hotel talk to each other better. They help assign tasks, share information about guests, and make it easier for everyone to work within departments such as Housekeeping, Front Office or Engineering.

• Easier work:  these kind of tools help housekeepers find rooms to clean faster. They look at who's staying in the hotel and what rooms need cleaning most urgently. This makes housekeepers better at their jobs and helps them work faster.

• Less paper: instead of using paper to manage tasks, hotels can use online tools. This means everyone can see what needs to be done without wasting paper. And also better for the environment.

These tools help housekeepers to know which rooms need cleaning, update the status of rooms after they have been cleaned, and even check the personal preferences of each guest before they knock on the door. If a room is cleaned well, it shows up straight away at the front desk. This helps receptionists make movements without causing problems for the housekeeping team.

The best way to make sure new tools work well is making sure everyone is using them. Someone on the housekeeping team ( a housekeeping coordinator) should be in charge of making sure everyone knows how to use the new tools. They should also keep an eye on how well the tools are working. Some people worry that using technology will make things less personal, but that's not true.If it´s well used, It's making things easier for staff and even more personalised for guest, so they can spend more time on important things and less time looking for information.

When a hotel is thinking about using new tools, they need to think about a few things:

• How will the new tools help the staff? It's important to show the staff that the new tools will make their jobs easier.

• Are the new tools easy to learn? It's important that everyone can use them without too much trouble.

• Are there any problems that might stop people from using the new tools? Hotels need to think about things like different languages and make sure everyone can use the tools easily.

Guests care a lot about how clean rooms are when they're choosing where to stay (Cleanliness is taken as granted). So , make sure you tell your guests about housekeeping efforts.

Here are some things hotels can do to show guests they care about cleanliness:

• Put information about housekeeping on the hotel's website so guests can see it easily. Make a special page on the website just for housekeeping, so guests can learn more if they want to.

• Leave a note in each room telling guests about the cleaning measures the housekeepers take. This will make guests feel better about staying in the hotel. (So there is no "Housekeeping didn't change the linen" if a light service is  programmed).

• Put signs up around the hotel telling guests about the hotel's efforts to be sustainable. This shows guests that the hotel cares about the environment.

• Include a link to the hotel's cleaning rules in the emails guests get before they arrive. Setting expectations for what the hotel will be like when they get there.

  So, by implementing technological innovations to working procedures in a smart way, hotels can enhance efficacy, reduce costs, and ultimately, enhance guest satisfaction.