Mr. Rajagopal

Security & Safety

Housekeeping: Hygiene Matters

By Venkat Rajagopal, Professor, Pacific International Hotel Management School

Cleaning is important not only from the point of hygiene but also from the point of safety, security and complying with legislation. Hygiene is an important issue to all kinds of accommodation seekers irrespective of what kind of accommodation they seek. When the accommodation provider continues to ignore hygiene that will meet guest expectations, no guest is going to return back. Key to any successful cleaning programme is the employee should learn about the brand’s core value for which they are working. Accommodation providers should conduct regular audit on hygiene and keep staff well trained on what to look on their daily rounds.

Cleanliness, either that of the guest rooms or the surroundings of the hotel may not be an interesting topic among the common man in their day to day discussion. But most of the guests who stay in any form of accommodation are definitely concerned about cleanliness and security. These are the basic services of the housekeeping department when offered to a guest’s satisfaction can turn the guest into a repeat and perhaps a loyal guest. Let us not forget that it is the loyal guest who brings revenue to the hotel through repeated business, unlike a dissatisfied guest who never returns to the property again.

Hygiene is an important issue to all kinds of accommodation seekers irrespective of what kind of accommodation they seek. Hence it is important that the managers realise that they must balance between a clean room, technology and the minds of the guests.

In order to get repeat business, and get a fair room tariff it is necessary for the accommodation providers to keep the place clean and tidy. The rooms in a hotel like any other areas are the heart and soul. Unless the room is free from any odour and the furniture and fittings are spotlessly clean the guest will not return back to the hotel. The primary product that a hotel can sell to its guests is a clean guest room and equally a clean bathroom. The routine servicing of a room involves changing linens, thoroughly cleaning bathrooms, removing rubbish ,lightly dusting, and setting up the room for the next day stay over of the guest. Apart from this daily routine of cleaning the rooms also need periodic general or deep cleaning.

According to study conducted for the Dial Corporation by Dr. Bonnie Knutson of Michigan States’ School of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management, 1987, that the primary reason for a guest returning or not retuning to a hotel is cleanliness. Statistics shows that 56.2% of the guests who stayed in the economy hotels did not return back because the room was not clean. On the other hand 93.6% of the guests who stayed in the luxury hotels would like to return back to the hotel because the room was clean. When the guest checks in at any hotel one of the things he or she tends to do is to observe how clean the surrounding is and form an opinion about the standard of cleanliness. The guest did not plan that way, it was not intentional but that’s the way it happens. Imagine you have been greeted by a friendly porter or a bellboy and you are waiting your turn to register .The luggage is placed on the floor which has gathered mud from the shoes of the previous guests, yet to be cleaned. As you are about to sign the registration form you realize you are resting your elbows on some greasy substance on the counter and when your eyes wander around you find newspapers and magazines scattered around the lobby table with few empty coffee cups and water glasses yet to be cleared, what sort of an image this hotel has created and what standard of cleanliness would you expect when you check into your room?

It does not matter how friendly and efficient the staff of this hotel has been, the moment of truth is the hotel lacks basic standard of cleanliness and hygiene. Definitely this hotel has failed to meet your expected standard of cleanliness and you may never want to return back to this hotel. If the hotel continues to ignore the cleaning standards that will meet guest expectations, no guest is going to return back. Not only the guests are not going to return back thereby resulting in loss of revenue, but also the hotel could be slapped with a notice from the council for not being able to meet the minimum cleanliness and hygiene standards as laid down resulting either paying heavy fine or face closure. At a time when the whole world is reeling under recession what more you need for cash strapped business when a hefty fine or closure will be the final nail in the coffin?

Cleanliness is among the top priority when it comes to guest satisfaction, and when the cleaning is lacking there is bound to be a guest complaint. The first impression of the guest is most important. When a guest enters the hotel, it is nice to have a smiling door man and an efficient receptionist to check in by calling the guest by the first name and the guest is pleasantly surprised. However if you want the pleasant surprise to continue you have to give the guest a clean polished room .This will lead to the continuation of the pleasant surprise. Glenys Lacey, director of rooms at Toronto’s Sutton Palace Hotel confirms “If it starts off as a bad experience for the customer, then it’ll end badly. And chances are they won’t make a return visit to the hotel.”

According to Blackliston & Evans, 2004, cleanliness of the restaurant is one of the important factors among the diners when choosing a dining venue. Most of the guest felt that the leading quality indicator was a clean toilet, and not have to walk around greasy floors.

When we think of cleanliness and quality accommodation we also take into account the hygiene of the restaurant, kitchen and related areas though the guests may not visit the kitchen or back of a banqueting function room. However when the guests in the restaurant are having a meal or enjoying a banqueting function they do like to take into account the hygiene factors both inside and the surrounding areas.

With guests walking through the hotel daily, hotel rooms, and public areas can easily fall below the expected standard of cleanliness. Most of the accommodation providers would like to take pride about presenting the guest with well appointed room and surroundings, but with hundreds of guests checking in and checking out , some of the high traffic areas in the hotel requires constant cleaning and any slack in maintaining these areas clean could lead to health and safety issue. It is not only the floor area one should be concerned within public areas, but also other surfaces that need to be cleaned are the furniture, furnishings, fixtures and fittings to meet the grading of the venue.

Accommodation providers should conduct regular audit on hygiene and keep staff well trained on what to look on their daily rounds. There are some elementary points which we should be aware of such as:

• Ensure there is no dust, since the dust in the carpet leads to mites which could cause rashes and allergy to the guest.
• Clean under the bed, and around. Apart from finding diamond rings at times under the bed there is possibility that you could find few unwanted family planning aids, and around the bed the remains of late night meals from room service trolley.
• It goes without saying that bathrooms and toilets should be spotlessly cleaned to avoid infection
• Hire the right staff
• Use the right type of equipments

Al this is possible only when you have the right kind of equipment, chemicals, and the staff to do the job. A variety of equipments are used in the accommodation sector for cleaning purposes and each piece of equipment is designed to perform certain tasks. Similarly it is important to use the right chemicals. When you use wrong equipments and wrong chemicals for cleaning purposes you could end up damaging the equipment as well as the surface area that needs to be cleaned.

Key to any successful cleaning programme is the employee should learn about the brand’s core value for which they are working. The room attendants when trained properly on the standard procedure for cleaning and preparing a room, public places, and the surroundings sanitized, you can be rest assured your guests will come back to you again. Cleaning is important not only from the point of hygiene but also from the point of safety, security and complying with legislation.

Venkatraman Rajagopal known as Venkat is currently a lecturer teaching hospitality and tourism management subjects at Pacific International Hotel Management School in New Plymouth, New Zealand. Mr. Rajagopal holds a degree in Commerce, a Masters in Business Administration and a Masters in International Hospitality Management. With more than 20 years experience in the hospitality industry, Mr. Rajagopal has worked his way up in all departments of the industry, holding senior management positions such as Director of Finance, Director of Food and Beverage and General Manager. Mr. Rajagopal can be contacted at 64 9 8350535 or venkatr@pihms.ac.nz Extended Bio...

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