Behind the scenes of hotel housekeeping (Part 2)
I am certain you expect a clean room upon arrival. As you open the door to your hotel room you will not find it in shambles or already occupied by another guest, although, this can occur in a badly run hotel. More likely, the hotel room will appear neat and orderly, but what lies beneath the appearance? As a general rule, hotel rooms have to be really clean. However, not every room is, since some room-maids/boys do a less good job than others. The problem persists where housekeepers fail to go behind those that underperform and inspect their work. This had to be done in every room that was cleaned, every day! A housekeeper is ultimately held accountable if a room is found to be below standards and therefore needs to stay on top of this task. I recall an excellent housekeeper, who, when she found a room not to be clean, called back the room maid to redo the job. She also put the floor supervisor on the mat. All of them hated this, and in next to no time, would do everything in their power to get it right the first time.
The biggest problem is always the beds. This will not bring much relief to those that already have phobias about sleeping on hotel beds. The average life of a conventional mattress is around 7-8 years. I have encountered mattresses in star classified Sri Lankan hotels that have long outlived their longevity and comfort level. Most new mattresses now are only one-sided unlike the old mattresses. Questions persist as to how many housekeepers flip (older mattresses) or rotate (newer mattresses) every six months to promote even wear and tear. Despite a growing trend towards sustainability in the hospitality industry, there is evidence to show that cheap, environmentally unfriendly mattresses with short life-spans continue to be a popular choice by hotels at both ends of the market. A standard hotel mattress is made from non-renewable resources, produces a large amount of waste, and has a significant carbon cost associated with its production and delivery. Hoteliers, unsurprisingly, point to price as a key driver in their product selection. Yet in an environmentally-conscious industry that is supposed to be selling sleep above all else, the investment in the bed and its green credentials should be priorities. After all, given their limited lives, cheap options are not only impractical and wasteful, but they usually also represent poor value for money versus longer-lasting eco-friendly alternatives. Hotels are constantly searching for that differential to make them stand out from the run of the mill. A green mattress with the ability to defeat bed bugs/mites is such a unique selling proposition. If you are seeking to differentiate room types within a hotel, then again this works in terms of the product offering and is a ‘standout’ on your hotel’s website.
Changing the linens on hotel beds is a lot of work. Especially in hotels that have triple sheeting. Because of this, some room attendants will try to cut corners by not changing the sheets, and only remaking the bed that was slept by the previous occupant, in the previous night. This is called, "popping sheets". Before you panic, let me assure you that there is an industry wide trick that is done to prevent this from happening. Anyone found ‘popping’ the first time is usually given a written warning. Typically, after two warnings he or she should be discontinued. No one can guarantee that the sheets are clean, but I can tell you that there are measures in place to prevent you from ever sleeping on a dirty bed- unless ofcourse these measures are not put to practice. I have encountered many room maids and room boys who took great pride in their work, and many that could care less. Housekeeping is a hard job, and most of them only make minimum wage. This is because unlike the restaurant and bar, which are revenue centres, the housekeeping department is looked upon as a cost center. Conveniently overlooked is that 80% of revenue from the room rate goes towards meeting bottom-line expenses. Until hotels raise the bar on what they are willing to pay these people, they will only be able to expect to get what they pay for.
The first thing you do upon entering the room is turn on the light. Light switches are one of the many places germs are waiting. The cleaning staff probably does their utmost best to provide superior service, but do you really think they remembered the light switch? Probably not. Next, you grab the remote before flopping down on the soft, comfortable bed to relax and watch some TV. You have just exposed yourself to so many viruses and bacteria that are lurking on the remote control. Even if the maid / boy diligently scrubbed the room, odds are he or she did not clean off the remote control. Imagine the dirt and grime on that thing. It is probably equivalent to the computer keyboard in an office. The germs that cause half of all colds are capable of surviving a good twelve hours on hard surfaces. For this reason, the remote, alarm clock, and lamp are all suspect. Last year, researchers from the University of Houston swabbed 19 hotel room hideouts, from door handles to headboards, and found the bacterium E. coli hiding on 81 percent of the surfaces, including the remote control, the telephone and the bedside lamp. The maid cart too may be a villain, and not the hero in the fight against contamination, according to the study, which found bacteria blooming on mops, sponges and on over-used dusters used to clean rooms. Identifying high-risk items within a hotel room would allow housekeeping managers to strategically design cleaning practices and allocate time to efficiently reduce the potential health risks posed by microbial contamination in hotel rooms.
I fear however, given the dispassionate manner in which many Managers’ view the role of housekeeping that this will take a long time in the making – especially in Sri Lankan hotels. Meanwhile, what type of things can we do to protect ourselves from invisible, uninvited guests in our hotel room? First, choose a reputable establishment. A hotel with a good reputation will not ensure cleanliness, but it may improve the odds. Word-of-mouth advertising is important to hotels, so find out on the internet, what others think about the hotel before you select the hotel for your stay.
Ilzaf Keefahs |
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