ROLE OF HOUSEKEEPING IN THE HOTEL MANAGEMENT

               

It can be safely assumed that the readers of this article have visited a good hotel a few times if not regularly. You must have driven up the drive way and arrived at the glass entrance door where the Durban would have smartly saluted you and opened the door for you. As you entered the lobby, you would have noticed the glittering chandeliers, shining floor, inviting seating arrangements, large flower arrangements and a nice fragrance. The receptionists and guest relation executives in smart uniforms must have greeted you with a smile and guided you to the restaurant/room. The restaurant with its ambience in keeping with its name would have suitable furniture, crisp linen,& flowers on the table. You are so impressed!!.HEY.! Would you mind rewinding a little and taking this journey with me and see a totally different prospective of hotel operations?

As you drive up towards the entrance did you notice the flags, the clean road and sidewalks and the shining planters and signage or the spotless glass door? Who do you think is responsible for maintaining all these?

• Did you notice the crisp Pagri of the Durban or the stylish uniforms of the receptionist and the guest relation officers? 
• Who is responsible for styling, procuring and laundering these uniforms?
• And in the lobby, the flower arrangements, the shining floor, the clean washrooms with various supplies ,who takes care of these?
• We must not forget the restaurant, the ambience, the linen, flowers etc. Which department would be doing all this work?

1. The answer is HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT of the hotel.

Most of the people visiting the hotel are not even aware of its existence. The credit of good housekeeping services is given to front office or F&B .Even new entrants to the industry are not aware of its importance. IRONICALL, IT IS A DEPARTMENT WHOSE PRESENCE IS FELT ONLY WHEN IT IS UNSATISFACTORY.

We may have the best hotel location, rates, size of the rooms, amenities but if the housekeeping is not good, we would not have a satisfied custom
No matter how beautifully designed the hotel/restaurant/room may be, if it is not clean, it would not sell. The primary job of housekeeping is and will remain CLEANING. At first glance it may appear less important and least glamourous. Remember it is the job of housekeeping to make the others look glamorous and remain in shadows somewhat like the director of a movie who lets the actors shine like stars

    

Don’t forget that hotel industry is fraught with competition. Any and everybody feel they can run a hotel. You see the small and large hotels spring out like mushrooms in any tourist spot. In this scenario, it is the housekeeping services which set one hotel apart from another.

Like any other business, hotels are also run for profit. A large part of the hotel revenue comes from rooms division. It may appear that housekeeping is not a revenue earning department but the fact is to the contrary. If the housekeeping department is not competent, no amount of room bookings will give you the desired revenue. It is the job of housekeeping to make the rooms so neat and clean that the new occupant cannot tell that it was occupied by someone else and has been vacated a few hours ago. Not only that, the rooms are to be made available to Front Office when required to be sold. That is why House Keeping has been made a part of rooms division as it contributes to the room revenue in a big way.

A seasoned hotelier knows that no event, function, conference, group booking, can be successful without a competent Housekeeping department, and if your hotel is due for STAR re-evaluation or HACCP review, remember your housekeeping services could make or break you.

Indian Hotel Academy an Institute of hotel management institutes in delhi is a sincere effort to polish the skills and knowledge of the hotel management students to make them the leaders of future hotel Industry. Every year the reputed hotels select many students from this institute.

Mukta Sahai
Guest Lecturer
Indian Hotel Academy
Visit us at www.ihadelhi.com