How to improve your housekeeping department

Now more than ever, hotel housekeeping staff plays a vital role in ensuring guests feel safe and comfortable during their stay; overall cleanliness is essential to guest satisfaction. By prioritising your housekeeping operation standards and protocols, there’s an opportunity to improve staff productivity while simultaneously meeting hotel goals and quality standards.

Below, we’ve detailed just how important a strong housekeeping department is to the reputation of your hospitality facility and how you can make improvements to your current workflow that heads results: 

The importance of a strong housekeeping department

The benefits of a strong housekeeping staff range far and wide. Not only does it impact reputation management — it also can affect your ability to keep staff members and hotel guests safe. Facility Management Media details the consequences of accidents that could occur when housekeeping protocols and procedures are left by the wayside. With poor housekeeping, you may put your staff and guests at risk of:

• Slipping on dirt, debris or messy surfaces
• Tripping over loose objects
• Potential tearing or bruising of the skin

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on its own challenges related to housekeeping standards — as stated by the Clinical Excellence Commission, cleaning and disinfecting play an important role in infection prevention and control. With a greater focus on cleaning rooms, public areas and staff stations, you and your housekeeping team can work to slow the spread of this infectious disease and ensure guests remain happy and healthy throughout their stay. 

How to improve your housekeeping department: 5 tips

In the hospitality industry, creating the optimal guest experience should be a top priority. Making simple changes to your housekeeping services is an easy way to improve staff productivity, enhance facility reputation and ensure guest safety and satisfaction. Here’s how to improve housekeeping department protocols:

1. Perform housekeeping audits

Regular auditing is a simple way to evaluate what each of your housekeeping staff does on a daily basis and ensure that there’s consistency in quality. This is an opportunity to identify ways to improve not only hygiene and cleanliness but also productivity and workflow for your department. 

2. Create a cleaning checklist

Organisation is everything when it comes to cleaning large quantities of space within a facility. When you keep the daily tasks of your hotel staff in order, they may find it easier to navigate each responsibility. Rubbermaid SMARTClean is an all-in-one intuitive platform that digitises cleaning lists and much more, which can ultimately lead to better cleaning management and increased operational efficiencies. 

3. Offer regular job-specific training 

Whether you have high staff turnover or your housekeeping team has been around for years, regular job-specific training can keep everyone on the same page and ensure all cleaning measures meet the same quality standards. Training regarding cleaning tasks order and level of importance, types of cleaning tools and chemicals required for each job and general methods of cleaning and performance functions can improve productivity, efficiency and cleanliness. 

4. Ask for staff member feedback on cleaning protocols 

Taking the time to assess staff member complaints and praises can give you a better idea of how you can make housekeeping improvements. Arrange a monthly or quarterly meeting to discuss what’s working, what isn’t and what can be accomplished to ensure all staff members are properly equipped to do their jobs.   

5. Invest in quality cleaning equipment and products 

With the right cleaning tools and equipment, your housekeeping staff can thrive in the workplace. Not only does this ensure that all rooms and high traffic areas are properly cleaned, but it can also enhance productivity levels as the workflow becomes more efficient and seamless. 

Improving hospitality cleaning methods with Rubbermaid

Relying on your staff members to adhere to quality cleaning standards can be made easier when you provide them with the right equipment. Rubbermaid has a variety of durable, reliable equipment options that your staff members can use, such as:

• High-capacity cleaning carts, which are designed to ensure your cleaning staff has everything they need to fully clean, disinfect and sanitise multiple rooms on their cleaning route without having to return to the stock room for more cleaning supplies. 
• Microfibre cloths can be used on hard surfaces to remove germs after hotel guests leave their rooms. Disposable cleaning cloths are great to consider during the pandemic, as they eliminate the potential for greater virus exposure when cleaning multiple guest rooms and public areas.
• Safety signs and mobile barriers are also worth consideration, as they can block off potentially contaminated areas and make guests aware of room statuses. 

No matter what type of cleaning solutions you’re looking for, Rubbermaid has commercial-grade products that can improve your housekeeping department. Contact us today for more information.