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Identify rooms to be cleaned for the shift
In order to service rooms in a timely fashion and to control labor costs, every property will allocate specific rooms to individual staff for room preparation duties.
You may be regularly involved in preparing rooms on the same floor or floors, or you may be required to prepare any rooms in the establishment as occupancy levels dictate and as required on the basis of things such as staff absenteeism.
The primary role of a room attendant is to clean rooms.
Most room attendants are required to clean approximately 12-20 rooms a day depending on: Organisation standards Types of rooms Status of the room Other considerations.
Housekeeping briefing session
At the beginning of each shift, most housekeeping departments will hold a short staff briefing session.
This session is an opportunity for the Head Housekeeper to:
Verify the staff who have attended for work
Discuss up-coming information that is of relevance – such as future occupancy levels for certain dates, special events, Very Important People (VIPs) who are expected
Address room servicing problems – by discussing the results of room inspections undertaken by Floor Housekeepers or Head Housekeepers that have identified instances of sub-standard cleaning
The discussion will identify what the problem was, re-state what the standards are and remind staff of what needs to be done to achieve the required standard
Address complaints received by guests in relation to the preparation of their rooms – this can include complaints about poor cleaning, lack of supplies or equipment that are not working properly
Identify up-coming training sessions and known staff absences
Allocate rooms to individual staff for the shift – this usually takes the form a print-out of rooms that indicates (sometimes by name, sometimes by color-coded highlighter) which staff are responsible for which rooms
These print-outs are either generated by Reception as a Housekeeper‟s Report, or generated by the Head Housekeeper on the basis of information provided by Reception that indicates the rooms where guests are leaving and the rooms where they are staying.
Every room attendant receives their own print-out
It is not standard practice to be verbally informed of the rooms they are required to clean.
The briefing session is also an opportunity for housekeeping staff to raise any issues they have relating to their role, problems they are encountering, things they have identified that could impact on guest service delivery etc.
Organisational standards
Each organisation will have their own expectations on how long it will take to clean a room. This is commonly based on the following points, but also takes into consideration the actual cleaning activities to be performed.
Types of rooms
Generally it is „guest rooms‟ that will need to be prepared. These rooms can include:
Single rooms
Doubles
Twins
Suites.
These rooms can contain their own spaces that require servicing such as:
Bathroom
Bedroom
Lounge/living area
Kitchen/kitchenette
Balcony area
Lobby or vestibule.
Status of room
The Head Housekeeper (known also as the Executive Housekeeper) or their appointed associate generally distributes the list of rooms to be cleaned.
There are usually two types of rooms that need to be cleaned:
1. Check out rooms
These are the rooms where guests are expected to check-out. They may be known as „departing rooms‟, „going rooms‟ or „vacated rooms‟.
These rooms will take longer to clean than a room that continues to be occupied because a full service is required. Approximately thirty minutes is allocated.
The actual time required will depend on:
The size of the room
The furniture, features and facilities in the room
The condition the room has been left in by the departing guests
The standards that the property has relating to room preparation.
2. Occupied rooms
These are rooms where the guest will be staying for another night. They may also be known as „stay rooms‟.
Generally these rooms won‟t take as long to clean as a check-out room, and approximately twenty minutes will be allocated.
3. Vacant rooms
You will also be required to inspect and provide basic service to vacant rooms.
Vacant rooms are rooms that are not being used and which have been prepared ready for sale by Reception.
These rooms, even though not being used, still require some attention such as:
Inspection – to identify anything that might have happened or gone wrong with or in the room
General dusting
Flushing of the toilet
Checking that the refrigerator is working properly
Ensuring the room has not been occupied by a guest for whom no information exists.
Other considerations
When your rooms are allocated to you may also be advised in relation to:
Which rooms need to be cleaned first – some rooms may have had a special request from a staying guest to have their room serviced quickly or by a certain time
Special cleaning tasks or stain removal tasks for certain rooms – based on yesterday‟s inspection of the room by the Executive Housekeeper
Time constraints that apply – there is nearly always pressure on room attendants not just to do their job and do it properly but also to do it quickly or as fast as possible
Other areas in the venue that need to be cleaned – such as public areas, offices.
It is vital for you to follow your allocated room list/work schedule precisely, or rooms that need to be cleaned may be missed and timelines that need to be met may be missed
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