LEISURE & HOSPITALITY Hotel cleaning – made simple
Hotel cleaners need to service all guest rooms and public areas quickly, thoroughly and unobtrusively – which can be a very tough ask. Liam Smith from Tork manufacturer Essity looks at ways of making life easier for the hotel cleaner.
The hotel staffing situation is in crisis the world over. The fact that many hospitality workers left the industry during COVID has created a severe shortage of trained workers.
The cleaning sector is being particularly badly hit since the demanding nature of the job is putting off many would-be recruits. Ireland has an added disadvantage, in that the lack of affordable rental accommodation makes it difficult for minimum wage earners to move around to find work.
Hotel cleaners in general have a tough brief. They need to keep all public areas clean and sanitised around the clock and service every guest room without inconveniencing the occupants.
This process needs to be extremely thorough, since guests will be quick to notice any stray hair or dead fly, but the cleaner also needs to be able to work swiftly to ensure that all rooms are serviced according to schedule. Plus, when they enter a guest bedroom, they have no idea what they are going to face.
Perhaps the guest will have hosted an ad hoc party for friends or colleagues. This may require the cleaner to remove multiple empty bottles or drug paraphernalia and perhaps clean up spills of drink and vomit. If a fight has taken place, they might come across blood spatters or trashed furniture.
They are expected to take everything in their stride and cope with whatever they are faced with – and in double quick time. Around 30 minutes is the typical length of time allocated for preparing a new room for guests, with 15 minutes being the standard for an occupied room.
Cleaners frequently take to social media to report the ‘nightmare’ conditions of the job. Some report having to work 11-hour shifts with very few breaks. Many tasks are repetitive and heavy: lifting a mattress to change the sheets is claimed to be particularly onerous. It’s therefore no surprise that injury rates among hotel cleaners are around 50% above those of other hotel workers.
Many staff members are also expected to cover a great deal of ground, particularly when cleaning a large resort or complex. They might have to walk between the pool, guest rooms, spa, restaurants, bars, fitness suite and general-use washrooms, cleaning each space as they go. So, what can be done to ease their workload?
Automation is one answer. A growing number of hotels are now bringing in robots to carry out tasks such as floor cleaning and delivering toiletries to guest rooms. These can be pre-programmed to carry out specific functions and can work throughout the night where appropriate.
14 | TOMORROW'S CLEANING IRELAND
Technology can also help cleaners to keep track of their work and provide easy access to vital information. When forced to work under strict time pressures, it's all too easy for cleaners to overlook some tasks. However, software tools for hotel housekeeping departments will provide an overview of room status, check-in and check-out times and the tasks that need to be carried out.
The cleaner can then tick off each job as it’s completed and the manager can tell at a glance if anything has been missed. For example, Essity’s Tork Vision Cleaning includes a digital cleaning plan function and incorporates pictograms and descriptions of each task.
Tork Vision Cleaning also ‘connects’ washrooms via a network of sensors. These allow cleaners to tell at a glance when a particular soap or paper dispenser is running low or when a cubicle is experiencing high traffic. Data on their mobile phone will provide these alerts and allow them to target a specific washroom or cubicle, preventing the need for making random, generalised checks. This type of technology is particularly useful in large, sprawling properties and resorts where operatives would have to walk long distances between washrooms to monitor dispenser levels.
Besides technology, high-capacity trolleys can also be an aid for the cleaner – particularly if these are ergonomically designed to be lightweight and easily manoeuvrable. A larger trolley will also avoid the need for repeated trips to the stockroom for extra supplies of soap, paper and toiletries.
Where trolleys are not viable – in narrow corridors, between guest lodges or in constricted areas, for example – it might be necessary to physically carry boxes of products to guest rooms and washrooms. Here, an ergonomically-designed packaging system can make life easier. For example, Tork Easy Handling packs of paper products have comfortable handles to allow staff to carry two packs at a time.
Keeping the en suite bathroom clean is a major part of the hotel cleaner’s job because these rooms often see the heaviest use. The design of the en suite can make a major difference to the cleaning burden. Dirt will inevitably collect in the grout lines of tiled floors and walls, so the use of larger tiles or a continuous, smooth surface will help to speed up cleaning.
Soap bars create a sticky mess on the sinks while also producing rubbish in the form of paper or foil packaging. Half-used bars of soap tend to be wasted after the guest has checked out, adding to the cleaner’s waste burden.
The use of a non-drip dispenser for liquid soap allows the cleaner to slot a new cartridge into place when the soap inside has been used up. This makes life easier for the
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