Keeping it clean!
It’s important to find the machine that is the right match for your business’ laundry goals
Providing guests with a laundry service or an in-house laundry can boost customer satisfaction for hotel and accommodation businesses, offering convenience and quality service.
Guests travelling either for vacation or business might prefer to hand over their clothes at their accommodation and some of the big hotel chains offer a full laundry or valet service and dry cleaning.
Many hotels have self-laundry and/or guest laundry facilities, including the option of coin-operated or credit card-ready machines. Some properties have enhanced their laundry environment offering vending machines and other conveniences that can provide revenue streams for operators.
Positioning an in-house café or even a vending machine offering drinks and snacks near the laundry can offer further revenue opportunities with a captive market waiting for their clothes.
While many accommodation businesses choose to outsource their laundry because of space, labour, or budget constraints, bringing laundry in-house can save money, or income generates.
However, it may require an injection of capital upfront.
An in-house laundry allows operators to take full control of what and how they launder and reduces the risk of their stock getting tangled up with another property. Furthermore, an in-house guest laundry is a prime opportunity to offer fantastic guest service alongside making a tidy profit.
If your space is limited, professional advice can help create a ‘compact’ laundry room layout. An unused storage room can be converted into a small laundry with the addition of simple benches for sorting linens and towels.
Architects recommend sizing a laundry based roughly on a square metre per 3kg of laundry per hour. If linens will be ironed, this area should be increased by about 50 percent. It’s also advised to have bigger driers than washers to ensure that all the wet linen can be accommodated when they come out of the washer.
AccomNews put some questions to knowledgeable industry insider Steven Borg from Aqualogic.
What should accommodation managers look for when purchasing washers for their in-house laundry?
There are many elements that need to be considered when purchasing a washing machine, but the best thing accommodation managers can do, is to find a supplier that will provide a laundry solution that is as unique as their business.
Often too much focus is placed on price which, ironically, can end up costing the customer more in the long term.
Commercial washing machines have a lot of features and options, and the reason for this is to suit different laundry environments. Even within the accommodation industry, each laundry set up will be unique. It’s important to find the machine that is the right match for your business’ laundry goals, and a great supplier will be able to help you through that journey.
What should managers look for when purchasing/replacing dryers?
When accommodation managers are looking to purchase a commercial clothes dryer, safety should be first and foremost on the agenda. This applies to both the safety features of the machine and the credentials of the installer. This will minimise any risk, such as fire, especially when it comes to gas dryers. Another feature not to miss when it comes to commercial dryers is over-dry protection. This feature uses sensors to monitor the exact moment that the linen is dry, saving thousands of dollars annually, significantly reducing time and preserving the life of the fabrics.
As with commercial washers, it’s important to find the right dryer to suit your unique laundry needs, particularly if your laundry is already established.
Your existing laundry equipment should guide your choice of the dryer, and a reputable supplier will acknowledge this when making dryer recommendations.
What other equipment can help increase laundry capacity, output quality, or save on labour?
There are many automated machines and finishing equipment that aim to increase throughput and quality while saving on labour. Whether they will be of benefit to your laundry will depend on a number of things, namely the amount of laundry being processed, the space you have to work with, and of course, your budget.
Most accommodation sites can benefit from a flatwork ironer. It will increase the finish quality and, if you’re already ironing by hand, it will reduce labour. They’re available in a range of sizes and capabilities. The GMP range of chest ironers have an affordable price tag and are the perfect size for smaller sites. Larger hotels will benefit from Chicago’s range of ironers, such as the Chicago Tri-Star.
If you want to step your ironer up a notch, adding a feeder can be a game-changer. Last year, we recommended a Chicago Tri-Star with the added OPL Feeder to a 297-room hotel in Queensland and they were over the moon with the results. They reported saving 20 hours of labour per day!
In a few years, the ironer has paid for itself, making it well worth the investment.
Do you have any planning and design tips to achieve the best in-house laundry?
Three main points make up the best in-house laundry; hygiene and infection control, efficiency, and finish quality. Australian Standards Laundry Practice [AS/NZS 4146:2000] is a great resource for guidance on hygiene.
When it comes to hygiene and design, having clearly defined areas is crucial; one area for soiled and the other for clean. Additionally, adequate ventilation and the direction of airflow should play a big part in the laundry design. The airflow should move from the clean area into the soiled area, and never the other way around.
Efficiency can be achieved through laundry design by establishing space when laying out your laundry plans. What that means is, ensuring there is enough free space for the storage of soiled linen before it goes into the wash; and even more free space for folding and storing clean linen. Space for big laundry tubs and trolleys, so you can move around with ease, is also beneficial to the flow of the laundry.
Accounting for hygienic practices, and allowing enough space for finishing and storing, along with the right laundry equipment of course, will ultimately achieve the best quality finish and customer satisfaction.
Are there any new technologies you would like to tell us about?
The manufacturers that we partner with are continuously investing in research and development. There have been some great technological developments in the laundry industry from these companies over the last 10 years.
IPSO gas dryers are now fitted with the CARE fire suppression system, which is important for risk and safety. OPT Over-dry protection is another new technology from IPSO that you can find in dryers, monitoring the moment linen is dry, reducing energy and time. IPSO has also introduced new technology to their washers that optimises water, energy, detergent and time, called SmartWAVe. We are also seeing the introduction of touch control pads across the IPSO product lines, making machines easier to operate.
If you have a coin laundry, there are now many cashless systems available, which take card and smart device payments. These can also be controlled remotely, giving the operator increased autonomy and convenience.
In automated laundry machinery, Chicago has just released the Genesis Automated Towel Machine. This machine is 100 percent automated, without the need for any manual intervention aside from pressing the operating buttons and bringing the towels to the machine. A potential game-changer in the accommodation space!
What else would you like to tell our readers?
The ROI from having your laundry machines serviced regularly shouldn’t be underestimated. Commercial laundry machines are extremely robust, but when a machine gets used as much as they do, it makes sense that regular maintenance will not only keep them running as they should but extend their life.
It’s also an opportunity to catch any problems early on before they become major, potentially saving you money on considerable repairs and minimising machine breakdowns. Signing up to a protection plan takes the effort out of having to remember to book your machines in, provides a discount, and is a planned for expense, making it the easiest way to maintain your machines and have them running at their best for longer.
AccomNews also spoke to John Jones, Sales Manager G.C. Laundry Equipment.
What should accommodation managers look for when purchasing/replacing washers for their in-house laundry?
When replacing or purchasing new industrial laundry equipment, managers should look at the expected longevity of the equipment, the efficiency of the equipment, safety features as well as repair and operation costs.
G. C. Laundry Equipment is so confident in the reliability and longevity of their equipment that they guarantee a 40 percent “Buy Back of the RRP” after seven years if the customer would like to upgrade or replace their Dexter’s with New Dexter Laundry Equipment.
Does your advice differ depending on the type and size of accommodation?
Yes, the recommended equipment either Coin/Card Operated or Non-Coin Operated (OPL) is very much dependent on the style of accommodation, as well as the number of guests and their average length of stay, which will obviously dictate the number of machines used per day.
Do you have any planning and design tips to achieve the best in-house laundry?
Yes, G.C. Laundry Equipment can organise site inspections anywhere in Australia, this allows us to design and recommend the best equipment suited for the building, work area and laundry required.
Are there any new technologies you would like to tell us about?
There are many new and improved technologies that we are able to discuss with future customers, some of these include: Tap N Go, Dexterlive, Dexterpay, Moisture Control and Fire Suppression Systems.
What else would you like to tell our readers?
As in all other industries, you get what you pay for. G.C. Laundry Equipment prides itself on the reliability and longevity of our equipment as well as the honesty and integrity of all our staff.
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