By Raynah Coutinho
Like every other department in hotel operations, housekeeping, is bracing itself to deal with a talent crunch — capable resources are hard to come by; and when trained, are sometimes not motivated, hence, at risk of being poached. But housekeepers have strategies to handle this. Cost-cutting is important here too, but as rooms are the backbone of a guest experience, the challenge is to achieve this with utmost care, so that the guest experience is left unscathed. echnology aids some of this; some of it is just innovation and most often it is about efficient management, say our panel of executive housekeepers.
Q: What new technology are you employing to keep service standards at their best? When was this procured/ implemented?
Ajay Dhar: New technology and innovation in materials have emerged in recent years to significantly increase housekeeping efficiency and effectiveness with proven bottom-line benefits. However, in general, housekeeping has not seen any fundamental changes for a number of decades. We are using microfiber cloths which are eco-friendly due to the absence of chemicals and cost effective, besides also displaying better cleaning results.
Aparna Chauhan: The light-indicators inside the room (which can be regulated from the console near the bed) update the room status to ‘Do Not Disturb’ or ‘Please Make My Room’ at the room entrance outside. We also use Triton messaging service and alerts — to update guest requests and complaints. Modern technology in laundry has allowed the property to migrate to liquid laundry from the manual dozing system. The property uses top-of-the-line equipments such as Vaccumates and Acquamates for cleaning surfaces, a reflect-o-meter to determine the Whiteness Factor of fabrics in the laundry, PPM measurement system to measure the softness of water, double disc scrubbers, Ziffy Machine for pressing, and so on. Special artisans are employed to maintain artifacts and paintings.
Arijit Ganguly: We recently introduced Divermite, a newly-launched technology from Diversey to dispense a concentrated R-series chemical. This new system does not require water supply and it saves on time taken to dilute chemicals. The effectiveness of the chemicals is also optimised in this new system.
Balagi Singh: We use microfiber dusters, which have a much longer life span than ordinary cloths, and therefore the turnover and cost.
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Q: What is your current staff:room ratio for housekeeping and what initiatives are being undertaken to improve the time taken to cover a given amount of rooms?
Dhar: We have ratio of 1:16 or five staff for a 80-room hotel. A small initiative taken was to start using smaller trolleys which navigate corridors faster.
Chauhan: Ours is 0.66:1, excluding the horticulture and laundry department. Considering we are a palace hotel, initiatives that retain the luxury while accelerating the process include: separate floor butler, who also provide help to housekeeping and are responsible for managing mini-bars; and corridor boys whose role is to fill all the pantries and trolleys with the required linen and amenities.
Ganguly: The current staff-room ratio at Crowne Plaza Today Gurgaon is 1: 3.
Singh: Ours is 1:19. All achieved by training and effective checklists.
Suri: Our staff:room ratio is 30: 292, achieved through pre-readied trolleys for turnarounds and, of course, effective rosters.
Sinha: The overall net staff ratio to rooms ratio is 3:2. We have a private butler service for all categories of rooms, under which, our butlers are completely responsible for housekeeping, concierge as well as in-room dining. Our butler staff to room ratio is 8:29. We have done away with chambermaid’s trolleys as manoeuvring them takes time — we use cane caddies instead and have pantry space for every five guestrooms. Also, a regular time and motion study is done with the team to ensure continuous increase in productivity and efficiency.
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Q: Any initiatives that you can cite (taken during the last year) where you’ve managed to curb housekeeping costs?
Dhar: We have reduced the volume of discarded newsprint generated by giving out newspapers in a central location such as the lobby or restaurant rather than distributing them to each guest room. At check-in, we ask guests whether they would like a newspaper and provide a door hanger only for those who want in-room delivery.
We have made a process where we wait to replace tissues in bathrooms until dispensers are almost empty. Leave new rolls or boxes for the guests to replace. We replace half rolls and save them for use in employee restrooms.
Chauhan: FRP dustbin liners have made a significant contribution to reduce the repeated and regular cost on manpower, paint, etc.
Ganguly: We combine the efforts of in-house staff and outsourced manpower operations.
Singh: We did a cost-comparison of guest room supplies of all network hotels and found huge cost variance on same product between two hotels, following which procurement teams were asked to re-negotiate rates for the group as a whole.
Suri: Besides the usual, we recycle citronella pots as fire torches at lobby.
Sinha: We haven’t purchased dusters for the past six months and are making use of our discarded bed and bath linen for the same. Our in-house tailor stitches and tags them uniquely for different tasks.
Q: Does your property have any programme to keep you updated on the latest technological advances/application that might help you?
Dhar: http://connect.hospitalitystar.com keeps me updated on the latest trends. Team members also go to workshops by Diversy India, Ecolab, IHM Pusa and so on to learn about trends.
Singh: I attend a lot of exhibitions to stay updated.
Q: What are the three top challenges of housekeeping today? How do you tackle them at your property?
Chauhan: Besides a talent crunch and the need for rigorous training to bring freshers up to Leela standards, the lead time for procurement of imported guestroom amenities often becomes a challenge.
Ganguly: Talent and poaching are problems which we tackle through regular training and motivation. Besides that, pest control of the property is another crucial challenge, handled best through regular fogging in the outer periphery and periodic fumigation.
Singh: Housekeeping as a department has always been full of unsung heroes. I believe the best way to keep staff motivated is by empowering them to take decisions in their areas of responsibility – it gives them a sense of pride.
Suri: Maintenance of exterior product due to harsh weather conditions is a challange.
Sinha: Besides the usual staff turnover and cost-control issues, due to a lot of black reflective surfaces, visible lints are a real challenge. Settling of lints on black reflective surfaces is quite natural, but to minimise it by 80 per cent, we have resorted to de-ionisers, which apart from leaving the guestrooms lint free, allows the flow of fresh and clean air in the room, making the environment much lighter.
About our panel of experts
APARNA CHAUHAN,
Executive housekeeper,
The Leela Palace Udaipur
Her 15 years of experience includes the Taj group just prior to her present position, which she has held for the past year and a half.
BALAGI SINGH,
Executive housekeeper,
Novotel Hyderabad Airport
Has spent half of his decade-long hospitality experience at Accor .
BHASKAR SURI,
Executive housekeeper
Jaipur Marriott
Eight years of experience in hotels behind him, Suri has worked with Hyatt and Oberoi before Marriott.
ARIJIT GANGULY,
Executive housekeeper
Crowne Plaza Today Gurgaon
Gaguly joined with nine years of hospitality houskeeping experience.
SWATI SINHA,
Rooms division manager,
Svenska
Her experience covers the Oberoi and Marriott groups and hospitality education.
AJAY DHAR
Executive Housekeeper Optus Sarovar Premiere
His 12 years in hotels spans Jaypee, Radisson and Hyatt prior to his current position.
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