A hotel should create a “Home away from Home” atmosphere. This can only be achieved by maintaining the cleanliness and hygiene of the guest room.
Rooms must be cleaned and serviced each day. All rooms should present a fresh, pleasing appearance and provide comfortable conditions for those using them. Daily maintenance removes dirt, accumulation of which is dangerous for health as it forms breeding ground for germs. Day to day care encourages high standard of work. It allows the time allocated for special cleaning to be spent out to full advantage to keep the room’s spic and span.
Table of Content
Daily Cleaning of Occupied Rooms
Care has to be taken while cleaning an occupied room. Because all guests are not the same. Most of the guest would expect certain discipline from the housekeeping staffs. And, therefore, the housekeeping staffs are well and professionally trained to handle the guests as well the guest rooms properly.
Procedure for Entering a Guest Room
- Before starting the cleaning, the room attendant should see the status of all the rooms from the lot of rooms allocated to him.
- The room attendant can prioritize rooms to be attended to first on the basis of immediate needs and finally other occupied rooms.
- For occupied rooms, look whether the room has a ‘do not disturb’ card on the door knob. If it does, then go to the room which does not.
- Knock the door firmly announcing clearly ‘housekeeping’. When there is no answer, repeat the knock after 10 seconds announcing you as before.
- If there is, still no answer; open the door with the floor master key. Push the door again; knock announcing inside the room ‘housekeeping’.
- When there is no reply and one is relatively sure that there is no one in, open the door wide and keep it that way till the entire cleaning cycle in the room is completed.
Procedure for Cleaning a Guest Room
- Switch off the room air-conditioner or heating. Draw all curtains and open the windows for proper air and ventilation.
- Remove dirty linen from beds and bath. Shake out the linen to ensure that no guest articles are lost in the folds of the linen. Put the dirty linen in the linen hamper.
- Laundry bag provided on the chamber maid’s trolley.
- Check for maintenance requirements and report the same to the control desk and enter in the room check list.
- Contact room service to remove used “utensils, trays and glasses”.
- Turn the mattress side-to-side on succeeding days followed by end-to-end turning. Smooth out the mattress and air it. 7
- If vacuum cleaning is not available, brush the carpet to enable the dust to settle while doing the next task.
- Empty all ashtrays and waste paper baskets.
- Pick up guest clothes and hang in the closet or place in the wardrobe.
- Clean the bathroom and replenish all the required supplies.
- Clean all surfaces in single circular motions with a dry cloth. Use a hand dust pan to collect any unwanted matter on the surfaces without lifting dust in the air.
- Make sure that all surfaces are properly clean with no spots. Pay special attention to nooks and corners especially those points that may not obviously be visible to the guest eye.
- Use a stiff upholstery brush or vacuum cleaner on upholstered furniture arms, back and seats.
- Replace, if necessary, stationery as prescribed by the management. The number of items must exactly be as per standard.
- Dust and replace item, Special attention must be given to the display of publicity material as prescribed by the management.
- Lift lamps and clean under the base. Replace lamp if damaged and adjust the shade.
- Disinfect the telephone in the room and the bathroom with Dettol and then check phone for the dial tone.
- Clean mirrors with a dry cloth first and then with a damp newspaper to make it sparkling.
- Dust closet, shelves, hangers and rods. Brush the closet floor. Supply new laundry bags and replace the missing hangers. Replace drawers / shelves with paper liners, if required.
- Dust both the sides of the room doors, head board, window sills, inside and outside of the window rails, top of the radiators and air-conditioning units.
- Close the windows.
- If vacuum cleaner is available then vacuuming of carpet should be done at this stage, instead of brushing the carpet as mentioned earlier.
- Arrange furniture properly, if necessary.
- Switch on the air-conditioning or heating on the minimum temperature for a departure room or at the same temperature the guest has left for an occupied room.
- Have a last look at the room referring to the check list for completion of work and exit the room closing the door behind.
Procedure for Cleaning Bathroom
- Cleaning activity starts from the ceiling downwards to the floor. Floors are cleaned from the wall to the door to the exit.
- Open all windows and exhausts.
- Shake out all used bathroom linen, e.g. towels, bathmat, etc. and deposit in the linen hamper / laundry bag provided on the chamber maid’s trolley.
- Collect the trash from all the ashtrays, sanitary bins, and waste paper basket and deposit it into the garbage bag provided on the chamber maid’s trolley.
- Clean the ceiling and air-conditioning vents for cobwebs.
- Wipe off light bulbs and shades with a dry cloth.
- Wash the bathtub and surrounding tiles and wipe dry. Wipe the shower curtain from both sides with a wet sponge and ensure that all are free from any watermarks.
- Clean the mirror, (with a dry cloth then wipe using a wet folded newspaper and then again with a dry cloth).
- Scrub dry the areas surrounding the wash basin and the counter.
- Scrub the toilet bowl and bidet using the special brush /Johnny mop. Ensure that it is dry and spotless inside. Clean the seat, lid and the outside of the toilet bowl and put a disinfectant solution inside.
Things to be remembered while Cleaning
- The room attendant must follow the method of work that will cause least disturbance to the guest occupying that room.
- He must plan his work so that systematic method is followed.
- Should work at a good speed.
- Should work efficiently and cover more areas for cleaning at a time.
Second Service of Cleaning
Second service is normally carried out in an occupied room at any time if the guest requests to clean the room again. Only light cleaning is done in such cases. Sometimes, guest has a meeting or a get together functions etc.
In the room and he wants his room to be cleaned after the so-called function is over. The second cleaning service method is as follows:
- Remove empty bottles and other room service equipment from the room.
- Pick rubbish from the floor.
- Arrange the furniture as required.
- Dust the room where ever necessary.
- Check the bathroom floor, make it dry, if needed. Flush the toilet bowl and dry the area around the sink.
- Use air freshener, if required.
- Replace toilet soap, paper & linen, if necessary.
- Replace room stationary, if necessary.
- Replace water tumblers and refill the water flask with fresh water, if necessary.
Cleaning Room after Guest is Check Out
A check out is a room the guest has departed from; so there are none of his belongings there and it has to be prepared to re-let another guest.
- The room has to be cleaned first before cleaning the bathroom because the room attendant may take water from the bathroom ending up in splashing of water resulting in re- cleaning the bath room.
- First open the curtains, arrange neatly and adjust lighting.
- Empty and clean ashtrays and waste bins.
- Strip and make the bed, clean inside drawers and cupboards, putting in correct supplies at the same time.
- Dust and clean the furniture followed by mirrors and pictures cleaning.
- Put all the correct supplies, clean the mini fridge from inside and outside.
- Remove any stains on the carpet and/or walls, or windows.
- Vacuum clean the carpet and arrange furniture correctly.
Daily Cleaning of Vacant Room
Rooms must be cleaned every day even if it is vacant. It allows the time allocated for special cleaning to be spent out to full advantage.
- Leave the front door open and place the work sign “no” on the door.
- Place the trolley standing in corridor outside the room to be serviced.
- Ventilate the room. Open all the doors and windows.
- Switch off the air conditioner or heating system.
- Remove used linen, crockery and any other waste.
- Shaking bed sheet and making it.
- Dusting the furniture.
- Disinfect the telephone mouthpiece, check for dial tone.
- Clean the carpets and dusts on the surroundings.
- Cleaning of furnishing arrangements and appearance of the room.
- Switch on the bathroom light, dry the floor if wet, wipe down the walls, windows with dry dusters, occasionally damp duster is also used.
- Use detergent for cleaning wash basin and dirty surfaces.
- Check for plumbing faults like leakage, faulty flushes, and electrical faults and exposed wires.
- Replace bath linen and also complimentary items namely toilet soap, shampoo.
- While working around the room checks for damages to the furniture’s, walls, windows and other fittings.
- Replace the complimentary items like match boxes stationers, etc.
- After final check up draw the curtains place the DND card on the outside knob of the door.
- Vacuum the floor finish at the door.
- Give a final check and remove the sign “no”.
Dirty Dozen
There are certain areas in the room or bathroom which a room attendant may miss out to clean. Such areas are normally hidden from a guest’s eye. However, its cleanliness reflects the standard of cleaning of the hotel. Experience shows that the following areas are overlooked and appropriately called the ‘dirty dozen’.
- Air-conditioning ducts and diffuser grills.
- Top of the door edges and ceiling.
- Top of picture frames.
- Area above pillow racks.
- Rear surface of doors.
- Interior surfaces of drawers.
- Beneath the grab-bar and dresser table.