CHAPTER FOUR
Housekeeping
Relationship Between Housekeeping
and Other Departments
 Absolutely essential
Usually becomes complicated and sometimes
political
 Timing of housekeeping activities is affected
by the requirements of other departments
 Essential that department head
communicates to his or her staff that
cooperation and flexibility are pertinent to
the effective performance of their jobs and to
the overall success of the hotel
Housekeeping Staff
 Organization Structure
 Figure 4-1 in the textbook is somewhat misleading unless
employed at a rather large property
 Housekeeping department is usually the largest in the hotel
 It can comprise 75% or more of the total permanent staff
 Executive Housekeeper (Director of Housekeeping)
 May work under the Rooms Manager or the GM or AGM or
the Resident Manager
 Responsible for the cleanliness and order of the entire hotel
 Key responsibilities: recruitment, hiring, firing, ordering,
maintaining inventory and accurate records, scheduling,
training, etc.
 In cooperation with the controller, establishes a pattern of
consumption, a ratio between the volume of business and
usage of supplies
Housekeeping Staff (continued)
Assistant Housekeeper
Work under the supervision of the Executive
Housekeeper
May be several of these positions depending on
the size of the hotel
Schedule, train, supervise, prepare
schedules, inspect rooms
Handle public areas, executive offices,
banquet areas, restaurant, guestrooms,
linen closets, laundry, etc.
Housekeeping Staff (continued)
 Inspector or Inspectress
Under the direction of the Assistant Housekeeper
Trains room attendants, organizes the work of room
attendants, controls equipment and supplies,
evaluates job performance of the room attendants,
provides feedback to improve efficiency and
effectiveness
 Housemen
Carpet cleaning, wall washing, window washing,
drapery cleaning, shampooing furniture when
necessary, deep cleaning
Housekeeping Staff (continued)
Room Attendant
Not “maids” any longer
Report to an Inspector or Assistant Hskpr.
Makes bed, supplies each room with clean
linen, cleans the room, bathroom, may
handle “turn down” service
Usually clean 12-18 rooms
Responsible for care and maintenance of all
equipment, including the housekeeping cart
Housekeeping Staff (continued)
Laundry Supervisor
Usually reports to the Assistant
Housekeeper
I’ve seen plenty of variations on this theme
Hotel may contract out laundry
Important to count and monitor daily
Often results in “shrinkage”
Monitors the quality of linens and takes any
necessary remedial action
Scheduling
 Executive Housekeeper
typically schedules personnel 2
weeks in advance for the
morning, afternoon and evening
shifts
 Documents needed: written
weekly rooms forecast, revised
3-day rooms forecast, weekly
function sheets, VIP list, daily
check-outs list
 Number of rooms a room
attendant is expected clean = #
of minutes required to clean a
room X number of rooms to be
cleaned divided by sixty
 Different hotels may have
different expectations; all-suite
or luxury hotels may require
more than 30 minutes per room
 Employee turnover in
housekeeping is usually quite
high; if the Dir. Of
Housekeeping is effective in
training and motivation, this will
help reduce turnover as well as
the hotel’s overall turnover
Guestroom Cleaning
 In most hotels, each floor has a
large housekeeping closet that
houses the carts and supplies
as well as a dirty linen chute
 Supplies are replenished each
evening by a house person or
“runner” including sheets,
pillow cases, bath towels,
washcloths, etc.
 Each floor closet also contains
a reserve of mattress pads,
bedspreads, blankets and
shower curtains
 There are minimal standards
that should be considered when
evaluating the cleaning of a
guestroom (Figure 4-4)
 Some of the major items
include:
 Turn on all lights to find burned
out bulbs
 Turn off unnecessary lights
 Set A/C to proper temperature
 Make sure alarm clock has
correct time
 Make sure beds are stripped
and inspected thoroughly
 Be careful with ashes
 Many other items can be found
in Figure 4-4
 House persons are also directly
involved in servicing the
guestrooms
 Each room should be deepcleaned every 3 to 8 weeks
 Reality check
Inventory and Control
Linen room is often called the “heart”
of the housekeeping department
Overstocking can lead to waste and
unnecessary expense and understocking is much more commonplace
and more frustrating
Ideal level of operating par stock
(according to textbook) for room linen
is five times the daily amount in use
Inventory and Control (continued)
A factor of 2.5-3.5 is more normal for
linen count, especially if the hotel has
its own laundry facility
Hotels must also stock tablecloths,
matching napkins, etc.
Alternative is to rent from a linensupply company
Perpetual inventory must be kept
Inventory and Control (continued)
 Linen represents a major operating expense and bulk buying
reduces the unit cost
 Four ways in which linen can be taken out of circulation
 Normal wear and tear – the number of washes linen can be put
through before wearing out
 Improper use or carelessness in handling
 Using napkins to clean utensils
 Cleaning floor spills
 Wipe out ashtrays with a washcloth containing a lit cigarette
 Losses in a laundry need to be checked against the pieces
charged on the laundry bill (if using an outside service)
 Theft: controls and surveillance can minimize these losses
 Room attendants should be trained to report to their Inspector any
major missing items or damage to the guestroom
 Employee theft also needs to be guarded against
Employee Safety
 The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) mandates
employer to keep his or her place of business free from any
hazards that might cause injury to an employee
 See Figure 4-6 for the most frequent types of injuries occurring
in hotels
 Chemicals, burns, unsafe conditions, etc.
 Responsibility, reputation and quality of service
 Moral obligation to provide a safe, secure place for its guests and
employees
 Legal obligation to meet national, state and local safety regulations
 Economics – accidents are expensive!
 Accident Prevention – minimize injuries through prevention
Summary
 Staffing
 Inventory control
 Employee injuries
 Linen costs, loss and theft prevention
 A well-organized and consistently
implemented safety program is important
 Labor is very expensive in this department
and needs to be well-controlled