Housekeeping International Hotels Essay Example for Free

Housekeeping International Hotels Essay Housekeeping Standard Manuals define exactly how a room should be presented to hotel guests. This includes instructions on how the rooms should be cleaned, when they should be cleaned and a list of the things to be included in the rooms. The time of cleaning is very important as early or late cleaning could disturb the guests. Clean and presentable rooms attract and keep guests. This ensures order and smooth running of the hotel as there will be minimal complaints and confusion. These Housekeeping Manuals ensure guests are well treated and get what they are paying for. The manuals offer a guide on how to treat hotel guests and how to ensure they are comfortable during their stay. A quality service ensures good publicity on the part of the hotel management. This ensures the guests keep coming back and even recommend the hotel to friends and family members. Housekeeping Standard Manuals ensure safety and comfort of the guests. The Manuals offer instructions on what to do in case of emergencies and how to safely evacuate the guests. Body According to Diamond Edge (2007), â€Å"The guest is always right. †Housekeeping Manuals ensure that guests receive quality service. The Manuals ensure that guests concerns are dealt with swiftly and with a smile. Many studies have shown that clean rooms and public areas are the most important factors that determine whether the guests will return to the hotel. Clean guest rooms make a difference in the success of the hotel and the comfort of guests. (Diamond Edge 2007) The guests need a providence of all the accommodation products of the hotel, according to their requests. The accommodation products of the hotel include a mini bar, internet, room service and in-house movies. This provides comfort and entertainment for the enjoyment of the guest’s stay. Housekeeping Standard Manuals ensure safety of the guests. According to Andrews, one important quality of a room attendant is an eye for detail. The room attendant has to keep checking the rooms in case a guest is ill and needs urgent medical attention (Andrews 2001: 46). On the other hand, the manuals ensure privacy for the guests. This is usually through â€Å"do not disturb† signs and double locks for the guests. The room attendants have to knock in case they need any information from the guests. This makes the guests feel safe and secure in the hotel. The management includes the General Manager, the Front office manager, Housekeeper and Maintenance Manager. The General Manager assists with Marketing plans, reservations, maintenance and grounds keeping, maintains financial records and implement cost control measures. The Front office manager provides coverage as well as night auditor and desk clerks. To offer a high standard of service, the front office staffs have to understand the needs of their guests. The front office staffs need have a full knowledge of the products which the hotel sells, how these products can be offered for sale and the clients to whom these products will be sold (Huyton, Baker and Bradley 2001:29). The ability of front office staff to handle guest’s problem will either make the guest a friend of the hotel for life or chase him away forever. The front office staffs need to be calm, courteous and helpful and understand what the guest is going through when experiencing any difficulty. (Huyton, Baker and Bradley 2001). The housekeeper assists the room attendants who clean and maintain guest rooms and public areas. The Hotel Management is required to develop a competent staff. Management is required to meet the goals of the organization through the employees. Efficiency depends on how well the employees are motivated and instructed to meet the goals and objectives of the plans the general manager and staff have formulated (Bardi 2006). According to Pizam (2005), Housekeeping is the most important department in the hotel. The Housekeeping Staffs inspect rooms, clean rooms and maintains a continuous supply of linen and cleaning supply inventories. Housekeeping Standard Manuals helps in the thorough training of the room attendants. These Manuals also help executive housekeepers to maintain and control an inventory of all the supplies. Housekeepers are expected to ensure that the rooms are spotlessly clean. Anything less than perfect is unacceptable. (Pizam 2005:321-322). The Housekeeping Staff have to follow all the instructions on the Manuals to ensure compliance with the demands of the hotel requirements. Room attendants work in compliance with standard operating procedures that may specify as many as sixty items that must meet a given standard in each guest room (Rutherford and O’Fallon 2006:184). The Manuals enable them to give quality service to guests. It guides them on how to attend to guests and thus ensure guest satisfaction. The housekeeping report is useful to the housekeeping staff as it determines which rooms need to be cleaned, which rooms are occupied and which need special attention. The room attendants need to follow the Housekeeping Standard Manuals instructions on keeping an eye on the guests. This ensures safety of the guests and security on the part of the management. Not all the guests are honest and have good intentions. Some guests could pose danger on the name of the hotel or cause the hotel to loose a lot of money. These include guests who may slip out without paying or guests who may pose danger to other guests through misconduct. Summary The importance of Housekeeping Standard Manuals and the effect they have on guests, Hotel Management and Housekeeping staff has been analysed. Housekeeping Standard Manuals take a lot of time and money but their usefulness is worth so much more. The needs of the guests are so many that they cannot be remembered by either the hotel management or the housekeeping staff. The Manuals makes it easier for the housekeeping staff to provide quality service to the guest without having to worry about forgetting something. The Manuals also make it easier for inspectors and managers to confirm that the room is presentable and everything has been provided for the guest. Housekeeping Manuals have a positive outcome on the guests in that these Manuals keep them coming back. The clean and well presented rooms contribute a lot to the good publicity of the hotel. Guests love clean rooms and other offers like accommodation products which make them feel comfortable and at home. Hotel General Managers use these Manuals to run the Hotel smoothly. These instructions make their work easy because these Manuals are a direct guide on how everything should be presented. There are also guides on steps to take during emergencies and how to address the problems of the guests. The General Manager has to only check with the other Managers once in a while to ensure that everything is running smoothly. The Housekeeping Manuals are most important to the Housekeeping staff. They guide them on the rooms to clean, what to use during cleaning and when to clean the rooms. They also give the exact details on what to include in the rooms and how to present these products to the guests. This helps them to offer quality service to guests and to know how to deal with guests in case of difficulties.