HOUSE KEEPING TERMS

HOUSEKEEPING TERMINOLOGY

Housekeeping

Housekeeping is defined as the provision of a clean, comfortable, safe, and aesthetically appealing environment 

Back of the house

The functional areas of the hotel in which employees have little or no guest contact, such as the engineering and maintenance department, laundry, and so on.

Deep Cleaning

Intensive or specialized cleaning undertaken in guestrooms or public areas, often conducted according to a special schedule or on a special project basis.

Departure Room

A room from which the guest has departed, settled the account, returned the room keys, and left the hotel. It is also called a check out room or vacated room.

DND Card

A ‘do not disturb’ card is hung outside the room to inform hotel staff or visitors that the occupant does not wish to be disturbed.

Faucets

Another term for taps.

Floor Pantry

A service room provided on each floor for GRA’s to store cleaning agents, equipment, guest supplies, guestroom linen, and maid’s cart

Inventory

Stocks of merchandise, operating supplies, and other items held for future use in a hospitality operation.

Linen

Material woven from fibres of the flax plant.

The term ‘linen’ is also used loosely to denote daily launderable articles in the linen room

Upholstery

Textiles, padding, springs and other materials used for decorating furniture and rendering it more comfortable.

Water Closet

Sanitary fitting consisting of the toilet bowl and the cistern.

Amenities

Services or items offered to guests or placed in the guestrooms for convenience and comfort at no extra cost.

Graveyard Shift

Night Shift

Chamois Leather

Chamois leather is used mainly in cleaning and polishing.

Originally skins of chamois goat antelope were used, but now they are usually skivers, that is, split skins of sheep or simulated leather.

Chamois leather is used wet for cleaning windows

SOP

Standard operating procedure.

A document of a standing nature that specifies a certain method of operating or a specific procedure for the accomplishment of a task.

Occupancy

The number of rooms actually in use/occupied.

Vanity Unit

A unit comprising a wash basin and mirror, surrounded by a flat area where soap, dental kits, shaving kits, and tooth glasses are kept.

Damp-dust

A method of cleaning where the item to be cleaned is wiped with a damp cloth.

Guest Loan Items

Guest supplies not normally found in a guestroom, but available upon request-for example, hair dryers and ironing boards.

Sani-bins

Small metal or plastic containers with lids, kept in toilets for the collection of soiled sanitary towels.

Toothglass/Gargling glass

A glass placed on the vanity unit as a guest supply and used for gargling.

Hand Caddy

A portable container for storing and transporting cleaning supplies, carried on a room attendant’s cart.

Linen Chute

A passage in the form of a tunnel for sending soiled linen from the floor pantries of all floors to a central place near the laundry, from where it can be collected by the laundry staff

Scanty baggage

A room status indicating a room that is occupied by a guest with small, light luggage.

Antiseptic

An agent that makes the environment non-conducive to the growth and reproduction of disease-causing microbes.

Buffing

Polishing, the floor with a low-speed polishing machine.

Builders

A builder is defined as a compound that has no surface-active properties but increases the bulk and the efficiency of a detergent.

Burnishing

Polishing the floor with a high-speed floor machine to achieve an extremely high gloss.

Carborundum

Silicon Carbide, used as an abrasive.

Caustic Alkalis

Very strong alkalis such as Sodium hydroxide (caustic soda)

Crib

A cot for babies, provided to guest on request.

Crinkle Sheet

A distinctively woven sheet used to cover and protect the blanket.

It is now called a third sheet.

Dutch Wife

Another term for the sewing kit provided as a guest amenity.

Duvets

Quilts filled with down feathers or synthetic fibres.

Also referred sometimes as comforters.

Lacquer

Coloured varnish made of shellac dissolved in alcohol.

pH Scale

A scale that indicates the acidity or alkalinity of substances.

Quats

Quaternary ammonium compounds, used as disinfectant.

Surfactants

Surface-active compounds that impart a good wetting power, emulsifying power, and suspending power to detergents.

Terrazo

Flooring which consists of marble, granite, and other decorative chips set in cement.

WC

Water Closet; a toilet bowl and flush.

Wicker

Wicker is derived from the shoots of willow plants.

It is used for making woven items such as bread baskets, flower baskets, mats etc.

Squeegee

A manual cleaning equipment with a rubber or metal blade and a long handle, used for removing excess moisture from hard surfaces such as floors and window panes.

Kaolin

China Clay

Tarnish

A discouloration caused by a chemical reaction between a metal and substances found in water, air and food.

Different metals undergo different types of tarnishing.

Veneer

A thin coating of finer wood on another wooden surface

Ottoman

Sofa without a back.

SPATT

Special Attention

H.W.C.

Handle with care

ROOM STATUS CODES

O or OCC : Occupied

Comp. : Complimentary

DND : Do not disturb

SB : Scanty Baggage

V/C : Vacant & Cleaned

CR : Checked & ready

OOO : Out Of Order

DNCO : Did not check out

CO or C/O : Check-out/vacated/departure room.

UR : Under-repair room

NL or NB : No luggage/no baggage

DL : Double-lock Room

Stayover: The guest is not expected to check out today and will remain for at least one more night.

On-Change: The guest has departed, but the room has not yet been cleaned and is ready for sale.

DND - Do Not Disturb: The guest has requested not to be disturbed

Cleaning in progress: Room attendant is currently cleaning this room.

Sleep-out: A guest is registered to the room, but the bed has not been used.

On-Queue: Guest has arrived at the hotel, but the room assigned is not yet ready. In such cases, the room is put on Queue status in-order for the housekeeping staff to prioritise such rooms first.

Skipper: The guest has left the hotel without making arrangements to settle his or her account.

Vacant and ready: The room has been cleaned and inspected and is ready for an arriving guest.

Out of Order (OOO): Rooms kept under out of order are not sellable and these rooms are deducted from the hotel's inventory. A room may be out-of-order for a variety of reasons, including the need for maintenance, refurbishing and extensive cleaning etc.

Out of Service (OOS ): Rooms kept under out of service are not deducted from the hotel inventory. This is a temporary blocking and reasons may be bulb fuse, TV remote not working, Kettle not working etc. These rooms are not assigned to the guest once these small maintenance issues are fixed.

LO - Lockout: The room has been locked so that the guest cannot re-enter until he or she is cleared by a hotel official.

DNCO - Did not check out: The guest made arrangements to settle his or her bills ( and thus not a skipper), but has left without informing the front desk.

DO - Due Out: The room is expected to become vacant after the following guest checks out.

CO - Check-Out: The guest has settled his or her account, returned the room keys and left the hotel.

LC - Late Check out: The guest has requested and is being allowed to check out later than the normal/standard departure time of the hotel.

EC - Early Check-in: Guest has requested for an Early Checkin and is being allowed to check-in earlier than the normal/standard check-in time of the hotel.

VC - Vacant and Clean - Room is Vacant and Cleaned by the housekeeper.

VD - Vacant and Dirty - Room is Vacant and Dirty.

VR - Vacant and Ready - Room is Vacant and Ready for Check-in

OR - Occupied and Ready

OC - Occupied and Clean - Room is Occupied and Cleaned by the Housekeeping.

OD - Occupied and Dirty - Room is Occupied and yet to be cleaned by the housekeeping.

V/C or O/V - Status Unclear - (Either the room is Vacant and Clean or Occupied or Vacant) need to be verified by the Housekeeping staff.

VCI - Vacant, Cleaned and Inspected - Room is Vacant, Cleaned and Inspected by the Housekeeping Supervisor.

H/L - Heavy Luggage - Guest has Heavy or more luggage than usual.

L/L - Light Luggage - Guest has light or very less luggage.

N/L - No Luggage - Guest has no luggage also know as Scanty Baggage.

DL - Double Lock - Guest has put a double lock in the room.

CL - Chain Lock - Guest has placed a Chain Lock in the room.

HU - House Use - Room is used by the hotel staff or someone staying from the management team.

NCI - Newly Checked In - Room was checked in within the last one to two hours.

NS - No Show - A guest who made a room reservation but did not register or Check-in.

SO - Sleep Out

SR - Service Refused - Guest refused to clean the room.

V - Vacant 

MUR - Make-Up Room 

(https://setupmyhotel.com/train-my-hotel-staff/front-office-training/95-room-status-terminology-in-hotels.html#google_vignette)