Are you being proactive enough?
There is no doubt that the overwhelming majority of accommodation managers are passionate about the cleanliness of their establishments.
While the cleaning of bathrooms and hard surfaces is usually of a very high standard and guests are okay with this, there are areas of a guestroom that they suspect (and perhaps rightly so) are neglected.
Before kicking off their shoes and relaxing, even if the room smells good and appears spotless, health conscious and risk assessing guests will check areas of the guestroom that they fear housekeeping may have forgot to clean… After all, modern guests are much more educated about risk assessing their accommodation choices; blogs, reviews and TV shows about dirty hotels have created well informed travellers.
They will make time to do simple checks, such as:
- Searching for evidence of bedbugs! Pulling back the covers and scrutinising the mattress, bed-frame, and headboard for small brown stains. They know bedbugs are hard to see (they hide during the day and can run away quickly when disturbed), but they also know that the critters leave behind brown stains when they process the blood of their victims and they will check under the sheets and mattress pad, too.
- Removing any cushions, bedspreads, and comforters because they know that sheets and pillowcases are easy to wash but bedspreads are not… Guests suspect some hotels just don’t bother washing them between stays. They suspect that they are not even safe with a doona that has a removable cover because if there is a top sheet between the doona and the bed, the cover may not be washed.
Supreme cleanliness should be the core business of any accommodation provider and with the general population more savvy than ever before, they demand perfection. If you are proactive about cleanliness it will be beneficial to your reputation, impress your guests and give them peace of mind.
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Mandy has over 17 years of accommodation and tourism industry writing experience and is Editor of AccomNews & Resort News, Publisher of SchoolNews & Director of Multimedia Pty Ltd. She is a retired registered nurse with a 25-year NHS career that followed a few unforgettable years in hotel housekeeping.
