Housekeeping departments across the country are still dealing with ongoing labor shortages, but there are ways for hoteliers to help reduce stress on the department and ensure both the housekeeping team and the guests remain happy.
At Raines, Aaron Jones, housekeeping task force director, said that instead of having all the housekeeping staff come in at once, the company uses staggered shifts: housekeepers arrive at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m.
“This ensures that the public areas, guest rooms and laundry remain clean and the job gets done throughout the day,” Jones said. “As one team is halfway through their tasks, others are clocking in to help complete tasks and the energy continues to flow.”
The staggered shifts also allows Raines’ teams to stock the housekeeping carts for the next day’s work, allowing room attendants to come in and get to work without the stress of having to secure the necessary counts to place on their carts.
Jones noted that an important factor for housekeeping is a supervisor who provides an energetic and fun environment. Raines’ executive housekeepers, assistants, and supervisors also jump in to help strip rooms of guest trash and linen and even make beds, which assists with the flow of the day and aids in employee retention.
“When our housekeepers see the supervisor(s) on the floors with them, elbow-to-elbow doing the day-to-day work with them, and making them smile and laugh, they want to stay with the team and the hotel,” he said.
Build a Positive Culture
Deborah Lahti, COO of Aligned Hospitality Management, agreed that to build and maintain a strong housekeeping team, a property must foster a positive and supportive culture.
“Housekeeping staff are frequently the hardest working team on site and need support from all departments,” she said. “When housekeeping does its job well, it sets up the rest of the employees for success.”
According to Lahti, adaptability is essential to keep pace with the evolving workforce. This might involve creating more part-time schedules for staff who are attending school or need to work around family commitments. Additionally, employees are looking for personal and professional growth. Since housekeeping duties vary with occupancy there are opportunities to cross-train employees in different areas, helping them acquire new skills and providing more growth opportunities.
Finally, it’s important to show housekeeping employees that they are valued and appreciated.
“Recognizing their hard work and finding ways to support them is key,” Lahti said. “If you take good care of your employees, they’ll take good care of your guests.”
Be in Their Corner
The Hospitality America Embassy Suites in Greenville S.C., consistently has one of the highest cleanliness scores in Hospitality America’s portfolio. General Manager Nicole Zimmerman said the property follows nuts-and-bolts operational best practices such as managing by minutes per room, but the most important element is remembering that the job is human-oriented and people want to be seen and heard.
“Ultimately the way that we've always gotten results in the almost 14 years that I've been with this company has been by our culture,” Zimmerman said. “We celebrate birthdays and achievements and we chat. We have a daily standup where we talk about what's going on with the hotel and how we can help the housekeeping staff and how they can help us. That's really what drives the positive results.
“Our industry is not always easy, especially for the housekeeping department, so it’s important to listen to, respect and encourage them,” Zimmerman added. “Remember that everybody needs someone in their corner.”
Fewer Heads, More Hats
When it comes to alleviating staffing shortages, the ultimate resolution is often finding ways to do more with less, noted Chaz Farris III, senior AE, market head, RoomRaccoon. That means technology.
“When you put resources into the hands of people, they're going to be able to figure out how to do things more effectively and more strategically,” Farris said. “Technology provides a means of equipping staff to get things done.”
RoomRaccoon’s integrated hotel management software is designed to transform scattered hotel operations into clear collaboration by organizing and tracking activities. In the housekeeping department, that means assigning tasks, tracking room status and streamlining communication with team members.
According to Farris, technology can help “fewer people wear more hats.”
“Instead of having a housekeeping manager assign the rooms to be cleaned, you could cross-train a front desk manager to assign the rooms,” he said. “They’re already using the property management system 24/7, and they’ll be able to assist housekeeping by notifying the housekeepers when they get a room assignment and track in real time as multiple rooms are cleaned.”
Key to the success of any technology, Farris added, is training, onboarding, and implementation. Staff must understand the benefits of new technology and buy in to the use of it to achieve maximum benefit.
“Investing in a modern and up-to-date system but wanting to keep doing things the same outdated way is not going to provide the best value on your investment,” he said.
Support Your Local Housekeeper
Eric Churchill, senior VP, operations, Meyer Jabara Hotels, added that support for the housekeeping staff is often overlooked, yet is essential.
“The way to maximize housekeeping efficiency is by making sure you're setting your housekeeping staff up for success each every day and then supporting them throughout the day,” he said.
For example, is the laundry being efficient in providing linen and terry to them? Are they having to make too many trips up and down stairs, up and down to the laundry or the supply areas? Do their carts have the right supplies on them?
“If staff are spending time every morning going on a scavenger hunt before they can begin doing their jobs, it's going to waste time, reduce productivity, frustrate the staff and sacrifice the quality out of the finished product,” Churchill said.
Let AI Work for You
And, of course, no conversation about—well, just about anything—would be complete without a mention of AI, and the housekeeping staff shortage is no exception.
Neil Tolley CEO of 14IP Communications explained that their virtual agent, EVA, can help reduce the burden on the housekeeping staff by reducing their phone call load.
“AI solutions have made it possible for operations to be more efficient with existing staff,” Tolley said. “Voice assistants like EVA can take housekeeping requests over the phone and handle many other common requests from guests, so hotel staff can stay on top of their day without worrying about answering every call.”
The housekeeping staff shortage is unlikely to go away soon. But hoteliers have a powerful combination of culture, technology and support that they can apply to improve the staff and guest experience.
This article was originally published in the September edition of Hotel Management magazine. Subscribe here.