ROUTINE SYSTEMS AND RECORDS OF HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT

ROUTINE SYSTEMS AND RECORDS OF HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT

Planning is vital for the housekeeping department. The success of this planning reflected in the daily routine followed in the housekeeping department. The Executive Housekeeping guides his/ her team in carrying out the daily routine, which he/she would have established and improved upon since the inspection of the hotel. The entire planning process, however efficient on paper, will result in an inefficient housekeeping set up if not transcribed into good daily routine activities.

The housekeeping day refers to that part of the 24 hours in a day when housekeeping operations are in full swings. For systematic management of the daily routine of the housekeeping department, the housekeeping department is divided into 3 shifts.

Morning shift: 7 am to 4 pm

Afternoon shift: 2pm to 11 pm

Night shift: 11 pm to 8 am

OPENING THE HOUSE:

Opening the house refers to a daily operational procedure whereby rooms are assigned for servicing to GRAs schedule for work that day. Opening the house is the supervisory activity and should be completed before the workers arrive for work that is before 7 to 8 am. The night supervisor keeps ready the night report or the occupancy report generated at night by the front desk attendant. The night supervisors also pass the list of arrivals and departures obtain from the front desk to the assistant housekeeper. Based on these two documents, the assistant housekeeper prepares the daily work report. As part of the opening duties, the 1supervisors take over from the previous shift staff and checks the keys. They peruse the log book, which is used to convey information from one shift to another.

MORNING SHIFT

REPORTING: The morning shift employees punch in their cards and proceed to the locker room to change into their uniforms. Normally the soiled uniform would have been exchanged on one-to-one basis. The uniformed staff then report to the control desk at the allotted time for the morning shift which may vary between 7-8 am .The activities carried out by the employees in the morning shift are described in this section.

1. Briefing- The deputy housekeeper or the executive housekeeper will hold the briefing for all the employees at the beginning of the work shift. The process facilitates the two way communication between the management and the staff. Usually this is the time at which grooming standards are checked, before allocating jobs to the staff. The following may be communicated in the briefing:

●Any VIP in the house

●Policies and new procedures to be followed by the staff.

●Job allocations

●Immediate reporting relationship for the shift.

●Checking the grooming standards and the personal hygiene.

●Appreciation for work well done on earlier shifts.

●Rectification required

●Banquets and other events to be held in the hotel

ROOM ASSIGNMENTS: After briefing, the floor supervisor’s handover the room assignment sheets to the GRAs. Blank room assignment sheets are prepared in triplicate so that they can be used for updating the room status in the afternoon and in the evening. Each room assignment sheet indicates the rooms that the concerned GRA has to service, giving their status. The GRA clip these sheets onto their cart before proceeding for work. The room’s assignment sheet helps the GRA to prioritize the servicing of rooms.

SECOND SERVICE: Second service is provided on the special request of a group after the guestroom has already been serviced earlier of the day. The guest he has had visitors in his room for a party or meeting.

DUTY ROASTER: Duty roasters specify the allotment of jobs, hours of duty, and days off for each member of the staff. To make for an even share of duties, the roaster should be roaster should be rotated even five weeks.

Planning of roaster:

It ensures the exact number of staff required to be on duty at any given occupancy.

The staff working hours are as per their employment contract.

That regular off days is availed for enhancing productivity.

Knowledge of which employees are present on the premises in instances of emergencies.

Accuracy in attendance and payroll reports.

DUTY ROASTER OF ROOM ATTENDANT

Floor	Name	MON	TUE	WED	THURS	FRI	SAT	SUN
2nd A	Ram	MD	MD	MD	MD	MD	OFF	MD
2nd B	Tina	OFF	MD	MD	MD	MD	MD	MD
3rd A	Nakul	MD	MD	MD	MD	OFF	MD	MD
3rd B	Vineet	MD	OFF	MD	MD	MD	MD	MD
4th A	Gautam	MD	MD	OFF	MD	MD	MD	MD
4th B	Abhishek	MD	MD	MD	OFF	MD	MD	MD
5th A	Kapil	MD	MD	MD	MD	MD	MD	OFF
5th B	Rajni	MD	MD	MD	MD	OFF	MD	MD
RELIVER	Soma	OFF	AD	MD	MD	AD	MD	MD
AFTERNOON SHIFT
2, 3	Anil	AD	OFF	AD	AD	AD	AD	AD
4, 5	Vikram	AD	AD	AD	AD	OFF	AD	AD
NIGHT SHIFT
FLOORS	Nitin	ND	ND	ND	OFF	ND	ND	ND
FLOORS	Arya	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	OF

HANDOVER OF KEYS: Once the GRA have received their room assignment sheets, they are handed the floor master keys for their particular floors by the deputy housekeeper. The keys in the housekeeping department usually hung in the key cabinet mounted on the wall next to the control desk. The key cabinet should be kept locked at all the times. Each GRA has to have to sign for the keys received in the key control sheet.

READYING THE CART: The GRA armed with the master keys, and then proceed to the floor pantries on their individual floors. It is to be noted that the carts are kept ready for servicing guestrooms by the staff from the previous shift.

ROOM SERVICE AND INSPECTION: Having collected their carts and supplies, the GRA now proceed to service the guestrooms. As on change rooms, normally the first priority, are cleaned by the GRAs, the floor supervisor inspects the rooms and informed to the control desk supervisors.

The order of cleaning guestrooms is as follow:

1. Guest requests for early make up. (E.M).

2. V.I.P rooms (before11:00am)

3. Check-out status rooms blocked for new arrivals.

4. Check out rooms.

5. Occupied rooms with ‘please make my room’ signs posted.

6. Stay overs

7. Rooms that had a DND card displayed earlier in the morning.

8. Rooms due to move to check – out status much later in the day.

CLEAN UP, REPORTING AND HANDOVER:

The GRA now send all the soiled linen down to the linen chute or in some hotel the housemen takes the soiled linen to the laundry on the linen trolley. Around 3 pm, The GRA restocks the cart for evening guest room service. They washed the used tooth glasses collected during the day, dispose of trash, mix the correct dilution of cleaning agents, restock the hand caddies with cleaning supplies, restock linen and leave the floor pantry neat and clean. The floor supervisors collect and file away all forms and reports and they submit their worksheet at the control desk. The supervisors make relevant entries in the log book. This is the time when the afternoon shift crew is reporting for the work. There should be a shift overlap of at least one hour to facilate handover and takeover for duties. The morning shift staff handover keys at the control desk sign the key control sheet and assemble for their debriefing.

CHECKLIST: Checklists help to ensure all work is done appropriately without anything is left to be completed.These are various checklists referred and filled by the housekeeping staff-

• Guest supplies checklist.
• Guest room cleaning checklist
• Guest room bathroom cleaning checklist
• Swimmming pool cleaning checklist.
• Housekeeping standard checklist for spa.

GUEST ROOM INSPECTION

This is the planned, systematic process in which guestrooms are checked for cleanliness and maintenance and accordingly approved for occupancy by supervisors. The supervisor inspects the guest rooms keeping in mind that their last look will be the guest’s first look at the room. The supervisor inspect for anything that is not up to the establishment’s standards before the guest find them a miss. Room inspection also recognises the need for deep cleaning and other maintenance activities, A systematic method should be followed while inspecting guestrooms that the process is thorough, leaving no room for neglect. The Executive housekeeper should develop an efficient checklist to help supervisors in this aspect for their work. The inspection of bedrooms and bathroom may be carried out in a clockwise or an anticlock wise direction, moving from high to low levels, first checking every articles on the wall and against the wall. The supervisors then need to check all the free standing items, again working in the same particular direction. The floor and ceiling should be checked. Then final look around the room is important to place things in perspective.

ENTERING CHECKLIST:

Inspection of the cleaned areas forms the major part of the supervisor’s work. In this regard inspection checklists are vital tools for the supervisors. Checklist should be developed for all the areas that the housekeeping department is responsible for cleaning and maintaining. The ideal checklist itemizes all surfaces and articles, lay down the standards of cleanliness to be achieved and allow space for supervisors to indicate check and record any observations. The more detailed the checklist, the more thorough is the inspection, and the more in conformance to set standards as the cleaning.

LOG:

Another important register kept for reference at the housekeeping control desk is the log book. The log book is used to record all messages that staff from an earlier shift want to convey to the employee on the next shift. All supervisors reporting for the work should peruse the log book for any important message left for them by the staff of the previous shift.

ROOM STATUS CHECK: The report that allows the housekeeping department to identify the occupancy or conditions of the property’s room. It is generated daily through a two way communication between housekeeping and the front office.

It’s an important activity by the housekeeping staff to physically check the room status.

The GRA carry out a physical check of the room status and enter it in the room assignment sheet. In some properties, the GRA, after carrying out a physical check of the room status, relates the same to the control desk supervisor over the phone. Along with the room status, the GRA also indicates how many guests occupancy a particular room. If there is any discrepancy between the room status received from the front desk and the actual physical status of the room, the GRA should immediately inform the floor supervisor, so that it can be cleared with the front desk.

The various report in a room report /room occupancy report.

V – Vacant Dep, C/O – departure, check out

OOO- out of order O – occupied

ED- expected departure DL- Double lock

GRS/SR – Guest refused service SB- Scanty baggage DND – Do not disturbSL- Service later

Sleep out- S/O

Room Occupancy Report									Morning Shift Afternoon Evening Shift
Date :-							Time :-
Room No.	Pax	Status	Room No.	Pax	Status	Room No.		Pax	Status	ROOM CODES O Occupied V Vacant OOO Out Of Order C/O Check Out DND Do Not Disturb D/L Double Lock S/O Sleep Out SR Service Refused SB Scantty Baggage DL Double Locked
201			301			401
202			302			402
203			303			403
204			304			404
205			305			405
206			306			406
207			307			407
208			308			408
209			309			409
210			310			410
Signature of Housekeeper							Signature of Front Office

INSPECTION CHECKLIST:

Inspection of the cleaned areas forms the major part of the supervisors work. In this regard, inspection checklists are vital tools for a supervisor. Checklist should be developed for all the areas that the housekeeping department is responsible for cleaning and maintaining. The ideal checklist itemizes all surfaces and articles, lays down the standard of cleanliness to be achieved and allows space for supervisors to indicate checks and records any observations. The more detailed the checklist, the more thorough is the inspection and the more is conformance to set standards is the cleaning.

MAINTENANCE WORK:

The maintenance department is responsible for the provision of engineering facilities that contribute to the comfort of the guests and increase the efficiency of staff. The housekeeping department depend on maintenance to keep things in order. While carrying out their schedule work, housekeeping employees may find some deficiencies in the hotel facilities, such as faulty electrical plugs, leaking pipes or malfunctioning air conditioning units or WC cistern. The housekeeping department often takes the first step in maintenance function for which the maintenance department is ultimately responsible. However these deficiencies and faults should be immediately reported to maintenance.

There are various heads under which maintenance work is done:

ELECTRICAL

BOILER

MECHANICAL

PLUMBING

CIVIL

CARPENTERY

PAINTER

POLISHER

There are three level of maintenance work:

ROUTINE MAINTENANCE: These involve maintenance activities that relates to the general upkeep of the hotel. They occur on the regular basis, daily or weekly and require minimal training or skill.

These works do not call for the making out a formal work order. Examples of such activities are the replacement of fused light bulbs, polishing of furniture, cleaning of windows and floors and so on.

PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE: This is the systematic approach to maintenance in which situations are identified and corrected on a regular basis to control costs and keep larger problems for occurring.

It involves for inspection, minor corrections and initiation of work orders.

The necessary work is then referred to the maintenance department through the formal work order system. The chief maintenance officer then schedules this maintenance work to be done.

SCHEDULE MAINTENECE: This involves maintenance work by a work order. Work order is a key element in the communication and coordination between housekeeping and maintenance.

The moment the housekeeping personnel detects a problem that requires attention from maintenance, he/she calls the housekeeping desk, stating the nature of the problem, the kind of assistance required and the location where it is required. The control desk fills out a work order form in triplicate, each copy being of a different colour. One copy is sent to the executive housekeeper and the two copies to the maintenance. The chief engineer keeps one of these copies and gives the other to the tradesperson assigned to do the repair. When the job is completed, the copy of the trade person’s completed work order is sent to the executive housekeeper for acknowledgement of work satisfactorily completed. If this copy is not sent to the executive housekeeper within an appropriate period of time, housekeeping issues another work order which signals maintenance to provide a status report on the requested repair

Now a day, many hotels install a computerised maintenance management system (CMMS)

GUEST SPECIAL REQUEST REGISTER: A part from all the normal facilities provided in the rooms sometimes guest requested guest request extra or additional items .Usually they call to the housekeeping control desk for their requests.The Executive Housekeeper is responsible for maintaining adequate supply to meet guest requests.

Various type of request are:

1. Extra bed sheet, single or double.
2. Extra pillow, soft, hard, feather, foam pillow according to their need.
3. Iron and iron board.
4. Hot water bag.
5. Baby cot, high chair for eating purpose for kid.
6. Extra rollaway bed.
7. Extra towels like bath sheet, hand towel, face towel.
8. Alarm clock, ice packs, and electric shavers.
9. Extra blanket, some guest also request for non-allergic blankets, heated blanket.

RECORD OF SPECIAL CLEANING: Special cleaning is carried out periodically in all guest rooms to restore them to the HK to carry this through the maintenance department. During special cleaning it may be possioble for maintenance to check all fittings and room equipment.Eg Shampooing of carpet, pest control schedules, etc

CALL REGISTER/GUEST MESSAGES REGISTER: The housekeeping control desk acts as a point of contact for in house guests who require any housekeeping related service. In call register all messages of is guest is recorded like message could be certain guest loan items or a request for a second service and so on.The housekeeping control desk is responsible for taking these guest message and passing them on the concerned staff.

VIP LISTS:VIP is a very important people who are influential (and often overbearing) and given the utmost importance and care in the hotel.CIP are commercially important people who gives business to the hotel. They are either VIP 2- Presidents, CEOs and MDs of renowned companies or VIP 3- regular repeat guest mostly known to the management.

The list of VIPs coming to stay the hotel is passed on from the front office to the control desk. On receiving this information, the executive or the assistant housekeeper personally supervises the servicing of the VIPs rooms. The housekeeping department also needs to make arrangement for the VIP rooms. The

Housekeeping department also needs to make arrangements for the flowers in the VIPs guest rooms.

VIP rooms are checked personally by the Assistant Housekeeper or the Executive housekeeper. The guestroom is opened and looked over to gauge how it will be seen by the VIP guest when he/she enter in the room. The more thorough checking is done. VIP amenities are also placed.

LOST AND FOUND PROCEDURE: All unclaimed articles found on the hotel premises should be handed over the housekeeping control desk. The lost and found items should be stored in an area that is secure and accessible only to the executive housekeeper and the control desk supervisor.

Steps:

1. When an employee finds an item left behind by a guest he has to immediately turn it over to the lost and found.In no case the employee should leave the item in an unsecured spot.
2. The item is handed over to the housekeeping department in a bag with the room number/area found/date/time, the article found and the guest’s name written on the lost and found from and placed in the bag.
3. The item is then given to the desk coordinator for registration of the article.
4. The desk coordinator then makes the entry in the lost-and-found register stating the guest’s name, serial number, room number, the date, finder’s name and signature, etc.
5. The desk coordinator then informs the front office and security about the item found and also enters it in the guest profile in the computer.
6. According to the hotel policy, the desk coordinator then tries to contact the guest either through mail or telephone and informs the guest about the item left behind.
7. If the guest claims the item, the claimant has to sign on the original copy stating “received” which is then filed in the lost-and-found property claimed file.
8. The same is done if the guest wants the item to be posted.

Format of letter to inform guest about the lost-and-found item

Respected Sir/Madam, We would like to inform you that the …………………………………………… found by ……………………………………… on ……………………………………. has not been claimed by anyone so far. Therefore, Sir/Madam, if it belongs to you, kindly contact us with the details of the article so that we can arrange for sending it to your address. We, as our policy, keep an unclaimed article for a period of 6 months. If there is no response from your side before this period, we are not liable for any claims made later. Thank you.

Disposal of Article not claimed

• Lost-and-found articles may be stored for 3-6 months by a hotel, depending on the hotel’s policy
• The unclaimed items are disposed of according to hotel policy; it can be either given to the founder or to charity or auctioned after six months
• Edible items are generally disposed of within two to three days
• For passports, the security is informed and they contact the embassy immediately
• For credit cards, the banks are contacted
• For airline tickets, the airlines are informed
• Liquor is generally given off to the food and beverage department

MAINTENANCE WORK ORDER/JOB ORDER- It is Slip send to the maintenance department by the housekeeper for any repairs to be done in the areas. With the computers in use,the maintenance request is now fed in the system itself.

MAINTENANCE JOB ORDER
Room No	Date	Time
Nature of Complaint
Supervisor Signature

Work Maintenance order: It is a slip to send to the maintenance department by the housekeeping for any repairs to be done in the areas. With the computers in use, the maintenance request is now fed in the system itself

Lost and Found: It is used to record any article left behind by the guest.

Lost and Found Slip

No. 10432 RECORD OF PROPERTY FOUND Name : Address : Where Found : Room No. Or Place : Finder : Date : Time : Description of property :
Where Kept:	Front Office Signature	Housekeeper’s Signature
How disposed of Received Property described above : Date : (while copy with the article, Pink copy for Front Office and Yellow copy in Book for Housekeeper)

Log Book : It is maintained to record all messages which one shift staff conveys to another it is also used as a documented hand over` of shift.

Housekeeping Log Book Shift..................... Time..................... Date........... Log entries................................................... Signature of Floor Supervisor____________

Guest special request register: It consider a variety of guest supplies and amenities for the guest needs and convenience the executive housekeeper is responsible for storing, distributing and maintaining adequate inventory.

Apart from all the normal facilities and supplies provided in the hotels sometime guests requests extra or additional items usually they telephone to housekeeping desk for their request. Various types of guest request are: extra bed sheet, blanket, heated blanket, iron with ironing board, heating pad or ice packs, alarm clock, shaver, baby cot, rollaway bed.

GUESTS SPECIAL REQUEST REGISTER
Sr. No.	Date	Room No.	Item	Date of departure	Signature of receiver	Remarks

Guest call/message/service register: It is used to record all communication (message/requests/complaints) with the guest.

Guest Message Register Date:
Room No.	Nature of request	Time of request	Received by	Sign	Action taken	Time	Services completed	Time

Floor Linen Book/Register:

LINEN ROOM ENTRY BOOK Serial No: Date:-
Items	1st Floor	2nd Floor	3rd Floor	4th Floor	Total Linen Record	Total Linen sent to Laundry	Remarks
Bed sheets
Pillow Cases
Table Cloths

Checklist: A checklist means a list of things that you must think about, or that you must remember to do.

HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT ROOM CHECKLIST

Hotel Name

Sr. No.	Name of Article	Room No.	Room No.	Room No.	Room No.
1.	Door
2.	Door Lock
3.	Bell
4.	Peephole
5.	DND/ Make my room card
6.	Lights
7.	Threshold
8.	Wardrobe Door
9.	Fire exit plan
10.	Hangers
11.	Extra Pillow
12.	Extra Blanket
13.	Laundry Bag
14.	Laundry Rate list
15.	Air conditioner
16.	Luggage rack
17.	Lining papers
18.	Shoe shine card
19.	Vestibule Ceiling
20.	Dressing Table/ Stool
21.	Ash Tray
22.	Match Box
23.	Candle stand
24.	Folders
25.	Writing Material
26.	Guest Comment Card
27.	Room Service menu
28.	Breakfast Card
29.	Tea coffee maker
30.	Waste paper basket
31.	TV/ TV prog. Card
32.	Mirror
Signature of Housekeeper                                                  Date