Housekeeping in hotels was traditionally a back-of-the-house or behind-the-scenes process. However, the pandemic has brought it front and center. Today, hotels proudly flaunt their hygiene practices prominently to assure guests that they are primed for business, while keeping safety as the focal point.
On the occasion of International Housekeepers Week, which is celebrated from 12th to 18th September, 2021, Vinita Bhatia speaks to Dibyajyoti Majumder, Executive Housekeeper, The Westin Gurgaon to understand how the role and function of housekeeping has totally changed in today’s era.
Adhering to social distancing norms and keen to limit contact, are guests less inclined to allow hotel staff entry into their room, without their express permission?
About 90% of guests are opting for even more frequent cleaning and sanitisation in their room. Guests, in fact, are very curious and interested to know how their room is cleaned, how often it’s cleaned and who is responsible for maintaining a safe environment, especially post pandemic.
How does this affect the housekeeping duties during the limit of their stay?
We have enforced elevated precautionary operational protocols to ensure that the latest guidelines on heightened sanitation practices, hygiene and clinical cleaning are met. This includes usage of specialised products, color coded dusters for cleaning different surfaces and proper PPE equipment for associates as per brand protocols while maintaining safe distance while interaction.
On the other hand, about 10% of guests don’t like to have anyone enter their rooms during their stays. They are usually short-stayers who rarely use the room and thus see no need for this service. Others are perhaps still apprehensive of allowing hotel associates entry into their room to minimise physical interaction.
What are some health, security and aesthetic risks of allowing a guestroom go unchecked beyond a certain threshold, and what should that threshold be?
In response to the pandemic, hotel groups globally are announcing new cleaning programmes to reassure guests. Our emphasis on hygiene and cleanliness standards builds on Marriott International’s long-standing cleanliness protocols, and enhances the existing program with guidance developed in response to the pandemic with our ‘Commitment to Clean’ programme. As a standard practice, at The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi we aim to clean all rooms once daily unless a guest specifically requests for no housekeeping.
There are myriad benefits of this which include keeping the room in shape, maintaining records and logs, daily checks on maintenance and keeping a track of the assets. Rooms if not checked for longer periods risk a chance of missing out addressing any maintenance issues that may come up for instance – plumbing, electrical faults etc.
If we haven’t been able to clean a particular room in the duration of the guest stay as per their request, we ensure a meticulous deep cleaning along with a mini preventive maintenance of the room is conducted before it is allotted to the next guest.
With the general thrust for contactless guest experiences, does this mean that fewer rooms are cleaned each day?
Hotels take hygiene protocol very seriously. However, following COVID-19, guests are even more conscious and the shift towards a contactless guest experience is spreading like wildfire. Several hotels now use technology solutions to automate their check-in, in-room, and checkout experiences for visitors.
We have also done the same, along with limiting all touch points and collaterals placed in the room. But daily housekeeping often acts as a hallmark of the brand. Many guests actually yearn for the opportunity to have proper housekeeping service – whether out of the desire for immaculately clean spaces or a glimmer of personalised warm touches that housekeeping is renowned for.
Many hotel chains globally, including Marriott International, are shifting to an opt-in model for daily housekeeping, especially at city-based properties. What are the merits and demerits of this move, for the guests, housekeeping staff and hotel operators, respectively?
A freshly cleaned guestroom every day is a core service for traditional hotels, and a strong motivator for guests, particularly at the premium and luxury end where housekeeping becomes a product differentiator in its own right. Old school hoteliers would argue that a hotel isn’t a hotel without daily housekeeping. I remain a staunch proponent of this mentality and feel that housekeeping is now more than ever a critical operation to help draw in guests.
However, I can see a situation where housekeeping opt-out may become frequent at the economy and midscale end, both as a method to reduce costs and to meet a growing demand for contactless travel. This certainly cannot be said for premium and luxury brands.
With the right-sizing of staffing to room ratio, how can cleaning only check-out rooms as compared to daily cleaning improve productivity while reducing operational costs for hoteliers?
Cleaning hotel rooms is a core part of the hospitality business. With heightened awareness as a result of the pandemic, hotel teams have additional scrutiny on what makes a room clean and safe.
New and heightened cleaning protocols do inevitably have an impact on the hotel’s costs, as more time and resources are devoted to clinical cleaning standards. But by assessing and aligning processes, embracing technology, and closely monitoring operations, it is possible for hotels to mitigate these costs and create the same great experience guests expect while ensuring new cleaning standards are met. There cannot and should not be any compromise on daily cleaning.
Many hotels have reworked their housekeeping process to take out the trash, straighten up the bed, vacuum and clean surfaces, but avoid changing sheets, since it is a time consuming job. They do a deep clean after checkout. Is this practice likely to continue in a post-COVID world?
After a guest checks out at The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi, we change all the linen in the room as a standard practice. Even if three towels are placed in the room and only one is visibly used, we still replace all of them.
During the course of stay of the guest, linen is changed every alternate day as per brand standards unless the guest requests otherwise. This practice is unlikely to change in post-COVID world, as it has a lot to do with maintaining one’s personal hygiene as well. In fact, we carry in-depth disinfection protocols at each instance of housekeeping room cleaning’ as per our ‘Commitment to Clean’ guidelines.
