Outsourcing housekeeping: The secret to immaculate accommodation & stellar reviews
Cleanliness is consistently one of the most mentioned aspects in guest reviews & negative feedback can severely impact a business's reputation
The importance of cleanliness on guest satisfaction cannot be understated and can lead to make-or-break reviews online.
Cleanliness is consistently one of the most mentioned aspects in guest reviews and with this in mind, negative feedback about cleanliness can severely impact a hotel’s online reputation, discouraging potential bookings. Couple this with current labour shortages and it may be time to consider alternative solutions to ensure cleanliness is up to scratch.
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Outsourcing in the hotel industry can provide an economical and logistical solution for a range of different accommodation providers, from boutiques to major hotel chains.
Compared with in-house, the focus of outsourced service providers is housekeeping – their area of expertise. Additionally, outsourcing takes care of processes, resources, and staffing, leaving property managers to focus all their attention on the guests.
By partnering with a trusted outsourcing provider, properties can benefit from access to trained and experienced cleaning staff. Ultimately, this can help properties save time and money while ensuring a consistently clean and well-maintained environment for guests.
To help you determine if outsourcing housekeeping could be a valuable solution for your accommodation, AccomNews spoke to three industry leaders.
What outsourcing services do you make available to accommodation providers and what are the main benefits?
ahs General Manager Sales & Marketing Justin Jones: We offer a range of services to meet the needs of our clients, from a full-service model, labour hire option, and consulting on housekeeping services for new and existing hotels. As part of our continued support to our existing clients, we now also offer Food and Beverage Services, helping to bridge gaps in high-demand breakfast periods at hotels.
HRC Managing Director Moira Kelly: Flexibility is the main key to outsourcing services. We work together with clients to find the perfect solution- from 100 percent outsourced to ‘top-up services’. The flexibility allows clients to set cost-per-room budgets and preset long-term costs of particular market segments.
Empire Hospitality Director Darren Sacks: Empire Hospitality provides full housekeeping management services and housekeeping staff on a fully outsourced basis as well as on an agency basis. We have a highly experienced team, with a combined senior management experience in housekeeping management of over 140 years.
How are these services tailored to meet an individual property’s needs?
ahs, Justin Jones: Each hotel is unique and so are our pricing models. We offer a range of different solutions to suit the needs of different properties from a full-service model which essentially takes the whole housekeeping department off the hands of the hotel, to hybrid models.
HRC, Moira Kelly: It is important to forward plan. By analysing the needs of each property individually, you can predict times of high-volume turnaround and tailor recruitment, training, and backup support to meet demand.
Empire Hospitality, Darren Sacks: We begin by providing an onsite free appraisal of the property and prepare a tailored solution to cover all the specific housekeeping needs. Our staff receive training that is site-specific and relative to their property, brand, and brand standards. Importantly, as staff members are site-specific, they feel part of the team of that hotel. We ensure that from the beginning we live the brand standards, best practice, and become a valued part of the hotel team.
When it comes to health & safety in what ways does outsourcing housekeeping reduce risks for the property and guests?
Justin Jones: For property managers, there is an overall risk reduction for both the property and staff. We remove the risk of unexpected expenses for the repair or replacement of equipment, as the ahs full model service leaves this with us to handle. We provide the necessary training for all staff and ensure safety best practice. With a workforce of over 4000 across Australia and New Zealand, we can move team members around when required.
Moira Kelly: Each company has its own OH&S policy. HRC has a detailed set of training guidelines. We also provide on-the-job training for all new staff which combines our standards with each hotel’s policy. Supervisors and managers are also responsible for ongoing checks of these policies and areas.
Darren Sacks: Empire Hospitality has a strong commitment to the safety and well-being of all we come into contact with. We have a dedicated and highly efficient Workplace Health, Safety and Environment Manager that leads our proactive training and education programs to support our team, colleagues, and clients. Regarding the enduring risk of COVID-19, we developed comprehensive processes and best practice guidelines to reduce the risk of transmission.
Final thoughts?
Justin Jones: The importance of sustainability in our industry cannot be understated, ahs are committed to always reviewing our processes and making improvements where we can. That’s why, as part of our ESG and sustainability framework, we recently partnered with Bunzl to completely streamline our supply chain from more than 70 suppliers across the nation to just one. This has reduced our overall carbon footprint, diversified our product range and allowed us to work closely with a company with similar values.
Moira Kelly: I’ve been in the hotel industry all my working life and the success of outsourcing is based on transparent communications, flexibility, and transparency. We work as one team with one goal – the guest experience.
Darren Sacks: Many of our clients today know Empire Hospitality as a dedicated hotel housekeeping company. Empire Hospitality has been working in hotels throughout Australia for 21 years, with many hotel clients staying with us for more than 10. We are proud of our teams, and we proudly stand by our reputation as a partner of choice and quality.
Sarah is a freelance journalist with experience across print, digital and audio. After working for Multimedia Publishing as a contributing writer, she has recently joined the team in a part-time capacity for School News AU and AccomNews.
