In order to contain costs, consider your team’s productivity. Empower them to work smarter, not harder. Here are some ideas to consider.
Housekeeping and Occupancy
Streamline housekeeping visits by targeting unoccupied rooms. If you give housekeeping staff access to tablets that are connected to an Energy Management System, they can plan their room visits based on real-time occupancy. Plus, they’ll also know when guests check out if the EMS interfaces with your property management system.
Housekeeping Checklists
Create laminated checklists for your housekeeping staff. Include one on every cleaning cart.
A prominent surgeon at Harvard Medical school, Atul Gawande, actually wrote an entire book about the importance of checklists. “Pause points” are those moments when you can stop and identify a small problem before they become big problems. Implement checklists during these “pause points”.
Maybe one checklist for rooms where guests have checked out, and others for rooms that are still “sold”. What about specific checklists for each room style (suite, king single, etc.)?
Multi-lingual Checklists
Supply your checklists in other languages so everyone has access to the same information. And in terms of graphics, we all speak the same language, so consider nixing the words altogether and go with illustrations only?
Graphics
People learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone.
How about room illustrations showing items such as coffee pots and mini fridges-amenities that need to be cleaned but can be easily overlooked. A quick glance at the graphic serves as a checklist of sorts.
Make it easy for housekeeping to make note of maintenance issues. Perhaps a quick form they can complete that lists room number and boxes they can check for such fixes as ‘Lightbulb Out’ or ‘Leaky Faucet’. Quick and dirty, or in this case, not so dirty.
Carts
Arrange the contents of housekeeping carts in a logical layout and set each one up the same way. Get input from your staff on how the items should be arranged. They do it every day; they’ll have efficiency tips to share too.
Clean from Top to Bottom
Jeff Campbell and his “Clean Team” wrote a book years ago that is still in print. (He also has a website.) In the book, he describes the most efficient ways to clean. He’s got practical time saving tips like:
- always clean from top to bottom
- only go over an area once
- have the supplies you’ll need at the ready so there are no wasted steps walking back and forth to, for example, throw away garbage and have a temporary receptacle for it close by.
Technology
Research energy management systems: automation that centers around smart thermostats with network capability. An EMS saves energy, and that’s reason enough to learn more about them. But they also enhance staff productivity.
Automated Temperature Setback
No longer send your staff to your unsold rooms to manually set back room temperature. When your smart thermostat detects no occupancy, the temperature automatically adjusts. Furthermore, if your EMS interfaces with your property management system, you can configure even more aggressive temperature setbacks if the room is not just unoccupied, but unsold.
HVAC Units Requiring Attention
Identify overworked HVAC units using your EMS. This could mean HVAC filters need to be changed, or HVACs need to be switched out with others that aren’t working as hard, thereby extending the life of the units. Identifying these issues goes a long way to proactively scheduling maintenance on only those units needing it.
Low Battery Alerts
There is no need to send your maintenance staff to every room to change out batteries whether they need it or not. Plan battery changes only on those thermostats with low battery power.
To make the most of your labor force, take a closer look at energy management systems (which are not the same as Building Management Systems.) By allowing technology to work for you, you’ll streamline processes and save energy. That will go a long way to balancing number of hours your staff works and number of rooms sold.
Work smarter, not harder. Let us show you how. Get in touch with us: sales@3.131.247.247 or 888-703-9398
