Exclusive interview: Exceptional housekeeping takes positivity, patience and passion

One of the largest departments in a hotel, the housekeeping team work tirelessly to ensure every guest enjoys a clean, well-presented room.

It’s fast paced, physically demanding work, and it needs to be executed to the highest standard.

Housekeeping Manager Fortune Ezebuike — winner of Housekeeper Employee of the Year at the 2025 Accommodation Australia (Vic) Excellence Awards — says positivity, patience, and passion are essential to thrive in the industry.

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Speaking with Fortune, I can see that he has all three in abundance — he’s calm, happy, and constantly smiling. His energy is infectious, and it’s clear that he would make a great manager and mentor. When he talks about his role, his team and the industry, he is enthusiastic, and optimistic.

I asked Fortune how it felt to be honoured at the Excellence Awards.

“It was surreal,” he said. “I just couldn’t believe it. This is the first thing I’ve ever won in my life!

“It was a wonderful moment, but it also made me really proud. It’s a highlight of my career, because I’m happy that my work has got to a standard where other people can see it, and it’s being recognised.”

Patience, he said, is a key strength he brings to his role, leading the housekeeping team at Hotel Indigo Little Collins and Holiday Inn Bourke Street. “I think everyone I work with can see that I am very, very patient. It’s a big team, and I really want to understand what everyone has to say, and work out how we can work together across different departments to provide that guest experience. I want everyone to feel valued.”

Becoming a leader

Fortune’s hospitality career began in Canberra in 2017. At the time he was a student, and started working in the industry in an entry-level role. When he finished studying, and was thinking about his next career steps, he realised that he really liked the work he was doing and the challenge that it gave him.

“I hate dust,” he laughs. “It’s the one thing I can’t stand. So when I see dust, I just want to get rid of it. I really like cleaning.

“I think my attention to detail from the start stood out.”

When he moved to Melbourne in 2018, Fortune became a Housekeeping Supervisor, and shortly after during COVID, he was promoted to Housekeeping Manager. “I worked hard until I was able to step up in that capacity. And then I think my boss saw that, okay, well, maybe I can do the job.

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“I realised then that my love for cleaning had shifted to wanting to help other people achieve the same level of detail. I wanted to help my staff members be proud of the service they provide. I want to mentor and guide them, and make sure that when they clean a room for a guest, they’re happy that they’ve created a guest experience that is exceptional.”

Now, Fortune is based at Hotel Indigo Melbourne Little Collins and Holiday Inn Bourke Street, moving from another IHG property, Hotel Indigo Melbourne on Flinders. He says it is often his team members that are setting the standard for him. “They go above and beyond. When I see the way they work and the things they achieve, it motivates me a lot to want to be better.”

He is quick to recognise the contribution his team made in helping him achieve Housekeeper of the Year. “They are an amazing team. Without them, I wouldn’t have this award. They deserve it with me, because they are the ones who are there every day, making sure the standards are consistently high.”

A different housekeeping model

Fortune is employed by ahs hospitality, an outsourced housekeeping service. A great advantage of this model, he says, is the opportunity to learn from other housekeeping managers and teams at different properties throughout the ahs network.

“If we have a problem, we can reach out to other housekeeping managers who have had the same issues, and find out what they did to solve the problem.

“It’s that sharing of knowledge and experience.”

“ahs has a very good program where housekeeping managers go to different hotels to learn. The program is something I sort of initiated, because I kept telling my boss, we need to have this exchange program because I want to learn how other managers do this, or do that.”

Hotels using ahs’ services also benefit from resource sharing. If a property is short staffed, the housekeeping manager can check the ahs system to find properties that might be able to provide extra staff for the day. “Because we’ve all been trained by ahs in the same way, and use the same systems, it’s very efficient,” Fortune says.

Leading with passion

Fortune doesn’t plan to leave hospitality, or housekeeping, any time soon.

“I love this industry,” he says. “It might be tough, but I want to get people excited about housekeeping.”

Staff turnover, he says, is a challenge for the sector. The work is physically demanding, and many people new to the profession aren’t prepared for the pressure. Passion and drive, though, will help any housekeeper excel.

“We employ a lot of students, and many of them say they have never cleaned a room in their life,” Fortune says. This makes the ahs training programs important, as they teach the right skills, standards, and mindset from day one.

“If people come to this job and think, oh it’s just a job and I need to have a job, they won’t go far in this industry. But if they hold themselves to a high standard, and have passion, then they will have a great career.”

“You just have to have passion. With passion, you can go anywhere.”

It’s here that Fortune is truly leading by example. “People are always saying to me, why are you so happy? I’ll be like, oh my God, did you see Anastascia’s rooms? They are so impressive. Those moments are what make me happy.”

Fortune has worked hard to foster a strong, supportive team culture, where everyone is encouraged to recognise and celebrate the good work of their peers. “The most important thing is daily encouragement, and acknowledgement of hard work. If it’s not done daily, the staff might feel like they’re working so hard, but no one is seeing it.

“The work we do each day is already impressive. It should be impossible to clean a room, to such a high standard, in the time that we do.

“I tell my team, if someone has made the perfect bed, take a picture and share it in our group chat. If a room attendant or housekeeper has put in an extra effort to make the best guest experience, let other people know.

“As leaders in the industry, we’re responsible for the future, so let’s get people talking about housekeeping, and get people passionate about it.

“I get excited when I talk about it,” he says, smiling.

From our conversation, it is clear to me that he certainly does.