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Housekeeping

发布时间:2017-02-25
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Housekeeping Department

The main source of revenue for hotels is from the sale of rooms, it includes more than fifty percent of the sales. A room once made can be sold over and over again, this is why hotels earn their largest amount of profit from the sale of rooms. The sale of the room is inversely related to the quality of the room. The norms on which a guest decides whether the room is suited to him is personal. Due to such varied preferences the task of satisfying every guest becomes difficult. This is where housekeeping comes into the picture. The first duty of housekeeping is to make a room appealing for the guest. The housekeeping department has to ensure that the guest is comfortable and feels secure staying with the hotel organization. Therefore, the housekeeping department plays a major role in creating a brand image and building the goodwill of the hotel in the market. Housekeepers act as indirect marketers by meeting their requirements while keeping in mind the standard. (Raju, 2011)

1.2 Importance of the Housekeeping Department

Without housekeeping a hotel will have nothing to sell. Housekeeping is like a business function and in the lodging industry with the housekeeping executive being the business manager. His or her decisions are executive decisions regarding staffing, scheduling, payroll, purchasing, daily operations and cost control. The entire property depends on the smooth and efficient management of the housekeeping department. The housekeeping department has two prime functions: Providing clean interiors in order to increase sales and protecting the owner’s investment in the property interiors. (Madeline Schneider, 1999)

CHAPTER 2 OPTII KEEPER

2.1 Introduction

It is hard work to ensure that all guests have and share a good experience while staying in the hotel. Now days, it is getting even more difficult for hotels to differentiate themselves from others. Optii Keeper delivers technology to the housekeeping department. Historically housekeeping is managed with a paper and pencil, in this day and age it is unnecessary to continue with this. Optii keeper improves the quality and consistency of the hotels product and makes the guest feel important. At the same time it balances labor requirements and makes the housekeeping function more effective. This influences the staff and guests by providing greater efficiency, higher quality and a better guest experience. It is a housekeeping solution for the twenty first century. (Optii Keeper: Hotel housekeeping software by Optii Solutions, 2008)

2.2 Benefit Outside and Within the Housekeeping Department

With Optii Keeper one can totally eliminate the allocation of rooms on a daily basis. The front desk can immediately contact a housekeeper and at the same time ensure a delivery of a consistently quality product. The housekeeping management team can see at a glance where every member of their team is in real time. This is not about getting the housekeeping staff to work harder, it’s about intelligently assigning the work they do in a systematic manner. The Optii Keeper system highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each housekeeper. It gives an accurate measurement of the capabilities of each individual and gives of the fixtures and fittings. It also records the linen utilized in each room every day. Reports are generated showing furniture, fixture and equipment conditions, key performance indicators and linen usage (Optii Keeper: Hotel housekeeping software by Optii Solutions, 2008)

2.3 How it Works

Once the room allocations are complete they are automatically sent to the individual housekeeper. The screen they see shows the time it takes for the room attendants to clean a room. This is based on the nature of the occupant rather than just the type of the room. It then applies that same time to anyone matching that room in the future. Optii Keeper automatically produces a complete cleaning schedule each morning based on information from the property management system. Today this is a task an executive housekeepers spending two hours or more each morning assigning rooms and special tasks. Optii Keeper performs this function in ten seconds. When a supervisor enters the room for an inspection they can see a screen which enables them to record the results against each housekeeper. Records generate individual scores which in turn create key performance indicators for every attendant. (Optii Keeper: Hotel housekeeping software by Optii Solutions, 2008)

CHAPTER 3 FITTED BED SHEETS

3.1 Introduction

Making beds properly is one of the most difficult tasks faced by a housekeeper. Ensuring that there is not a single crease in the bed sheet and that the bed cover is put just so, is a task that can be perfected only with constant practice. Making large beds individually can be a laborious task. Ideally, two housekeepers would be required per room just to make the bed. This is why fitted bed sheets were introduced. Fitted sheets are like regular bed sheets with a difference. Instead of flat corners they have elastic pockets. These pockets ensure that the bed sheet always remains tight and does not come out while the guest uses the bed. Although they may be costly, they are favorable.

3.2 Benefit to Housekeepers

By using fitted bed sheets it is much simpler and easier for housekeepers to finish their work faster and in a more efficient manner. The elastic pocket makes it stress-free for a housekeeper to tuck in corners there by ensuring that the sheet does not come out at any particular time. Housekeepers can make the bed faster and reduce time wasted in ensuring whether tucking was neat enough or not. The guest satisfaction level also increases as the bed is always looking perfect.

3.3 Demerits of using fitted bed sheets

On the down side these bed sheets have to be changed on a regular basis as the elastic in each pocket may ware off from over use. Also, the size of the mattress plays a major role in the size of the bed sheet. If the mattress is too thick or too thin the bed sheet will not fit properly, thereby losing the required tightness. Folding these bed sheets after washing is also an acquired skill. The pockets make it difficult for there to be neat folds and therefore the sheets invariably end up being crushed.

CHAPTER 4 OUTSOURCING

4.1 Introduction

Finding reliable staff to recruit into the housekeeping department is a tedious and difficult task. Not only staffing but also attending to the needs of the housekeeping staff is challenging. Usually an entire human resource staff is required to handle any needs or requests made by them. One of the solutions to this problem is to outsource some or all of the housekeeping departments to a third party. This way all the third party manages all the recruitment and paperwork and also tailors to the needs of their employees. It allows the management staff to focus their attention to the more important aspects in the hotel like the standard of cleanliness and guest satisfaction thereby achieving their goals.

4.2 Advantages of Outsourcing

Outsourcing reduces the hassle of recruiting staff thus simplifying the hiring process for the hotel. As these works are not hired by the hotel itself they do not receive any benefits from the hotel directly. Although the hotel does pay the firm for the services provided the total costs are less than the overall cost of a full-service hotel. A third party firm usually has better connections, experience and resources in finding new capable employees, especially in locations where the amount of labor is less, it is easier for the firm to look outside the market and find the capable man power.

4.3 Disadvantages of Outsourcing

One of the major downsides of outsourcing is that there needs to be a strong emphasis on training of the employees. The new employees that have been brought in may not have all the experience required for them to carry out the job at the required standard. Therefore regular training programs must be conducted to ensure that the standard of the hotel does not fall. In order for the third party to carry out the goals of the hotel flawless and continuous communication is required between the third party employees and the hotel. The hotel has to ensure that all the employees, irrespective of in-house or the third party employees, are held at the same standard so that all of them live up to the mission and vision of the hotel. (Calbone, 2011)

CHAPTER 5 UNIFORM TRACKING SYSTEM

5.1 Introduction

Managing uniforms is one of the most laborious tasks. Keeping track of the number of uniforms given for laundry, at the dry cleaners and even keeping count of the uniforms with the tailors is very difficult. Not only is it problematic and challenging it is also very times consuming. This process has been simplified due to the introduction of a uniform tracking system. This is a very user friendly system now introduced in hotels. All uniforms are tagged with RFID chips make it easy to keep an entire uniform inventory and lifecycle of each individual garment. . (Navdar, 2013)

5.2 InvoTech Uniform System

The InvoTech Uniform system is one of the most intelligent and easy to use systems used in all phases of the uniform operations. Critical information is provided through the attached RFID chips which lower the operating expenses and the labor costs. Right from the purchase of the uniform through the regular use to the final disposal of the uniform, is all managed by the system, which keeps an account and manages the record of every garment. The RFID tags, which are attached to the uiforms, are electronically read. This allows them to identify, keep track and count the number of uniforms in stock and those in use. This system also recognizes the people who are responsible for each uniform and records the current location of the garment. (InvoTech Systems, 2013)

5.3 At the Rosewood Hotel, Abu Dabi

A case study was conducted at the newly launched Rosewood Hotel at Abu Dabi. Through technology and inventory control the hotel aimed at reducing uniform losses. The Hotel worked with “Prologic” to introduce a tagging system thereby managing the record of uniforms. Every uniform was tagged with RFID chips. Radio waves in the portals installed in the laundry room keep track of garments by reading the tags. This keeps a record of the new garments received and sent to the tailor. Reports can be generated annually about the uniform locations using a hand held scanning device which allows staff to keep records of uniform locations throughout the property. (Navdar, 2013)

5.4 Benefit of Uniform Tracking System

Labor intensive tasks like hand counting of uniforms. Not only does it make a record of the number of uniform present, it also keeps record of the quality of the garment each employee is allowed to have and tracks the employee responsibility towards their uniforms. This system cuts down on labor costs tremendously and provides real time information regarding the stocks of uniforms.

CHAPTER 6 GREEN AMENITIES

6.1 Introduction

Every hotel provides a number of amenities in each of the guest rooms. As the number of gold stars in a hotel increases the quality and quantity of the amenities also increase. The amenities found in the bathroom in particular are the ones that are most commonly used by all. Unfortunately these amenities are not reusable. Once they are used they must be disposed thereby causing a loss for the hotel and also affecting the environment in a great way. Some hotels have started to use different practices to try and reduce the harm to the environment by discovering ways to reuse these amenities. Partially used bottles or cakes of soap cannot be reused and therefore must be disposed of causing great harm to the environment. Green amenities makes the people aware of the harmful impact all the plastic bottles have on the environment.

6.2 Recycling Amenities

Hotels are using various ways to try and recycle bathroom amenities. Recycling of these amenities not only protects the environment in a great way but also reduces the costs incurred by the hotel. Since an amenity once used cannot be used again some hotels have started to donate their used bottles and cakes of soap to companies that sterilize and distribute these products to homeless shelters. Sometimes these products are also sent overseas to the people in those parts of the world that require it. “Clean the World” is an organization that accepts partially used bars of soap, sterilizes them and sends it to the people who require it. However this is only possible if the hotel has the resources to undertake this process. (Miller, 2014)

6.3 Refillable Dispensers

This is an option that has been recently introduced. Instead of using the small plastic bottles for shampoo, conditioner. Etc. hotels have started using dispensers. Using these dispensers reduce the waste as they can be used for soap and shampoo reducing the number of mini plastic bottles that would have to be thrown. Using refillable dispensers helps protect the environment and also reduces the work of the housekeeper as they do not need to keep an account of the large number of amenities required in each room. Unfortunately many guests do not like this concept as they feel it is unhygienic and also quite ugly. Now a days the suppliers have come out with a wide new range of these dispensers, making them more stylish and attractive. (Miller, 2014)

6.4 Benefit to the Housekeeping Department

Recycling of these amenities is a difficult and time consuming task. This makes the tough work of the housekeeping department even tougher. On the other hand, using refillable dispensers reduces the work of the department considerably. It is a housekeeper’s job to ensure that all the required amenites are in place before they leave the room. Using these amenities makes this checking process much easier as the number of amenities is reduced.

CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION

7.1 Need for Trends in the Housekeeping Department

The Housekeeping Department in a hotel is responsible for the cleanliness, maintenance and aesthetic upkeep of the hotel. New trends and innovations significantly increase the efficiency of the housekeeping department. These trends also help to cut down the costs incurred by the hotel to maintain the high standard. (Lycette, 2003)

7.2 Benefit of these trends to Housekeepers

Due to these trends the workload of the housekeepers has reduced. Optii Keeper (Chapter 2) reduces the tough task faced by the executive housekeeper while making the daily schedule. It also takes into the account and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each of the housekeepers giving an accurate measurement of the capabilities of each of them.

Since the introduction of fitted bed sheets (Chapter 3) the process of making a bed has been made easier and simpler. This has also helped reduce the time involved in making the bed which in turn allows the housekeeper to clean rooms faster and with more efficiency.

The hassle of recruiting staff has become much simpler through the process of Outsourcing (Chapter 4). Outsourcing minimizes the costs which would have been spent on employee benefits. Also, since the staff is not hired by the hotel they are not entitled to receive any benefits from the hotel.

All the labor intensive tasks of counting uniforms and checking for room amenities have also been reduced. A uniform tracking system (Chapter 5) is used to keep record of the quality of the garment. Through the process of green amenities (Chapter 6) hotels are giving back to the environment by either recycling their used soaps or by using refillable dispensers. This reduces the number of amenities required in each room and therefore the workload of the housekeeper.

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