Chapter 4 :- New Property Countdown

 New Property Countdown 

The housekeeping department of a hotel is the heart of the hotel. It is responsible for the cleanliness, maintenance, and aesthetic upkeep of the hotel. The role of housekeeping unlike food and beverage or the front of the house departments starts way before the hotel commences as a full- fledged operation.

The pre - opening calendar for any property starts two-three years ahead, but it is unrealistic to suppose that every executive housekeeper can be hired far enough in advance to take part in the original planning with top management and the architects. However, in some cases it is possible to plan ahead who your housekeeper will be and consult her in advance about the entire housekeeping operation.

Just as a kitchen plan is based on a menu, so the services which you indent to give guests, patients or residents must be anticipated and accommodated in the building plan.

Top management must arrive at a number of decisions before being able to direct the architects and planners intelligently. E.g. using non-iron sheets could change the entire design of a laundry. Also if u plan to provide extra roll-in beds, hair dryers, and cribs, these will require considerable storage space.

House Break-up :- 

A house break-up is a pictorial representation of the location of all guestrooms as given in the physical layout plan of the hotel. It consists of a line drawing of the guestroom section of the hotel, showing the relative positions of guestrooms, guest corridors, floor pantries, and other areas significant to guestroom cleaning; though not necessarily accurate in terms of exact direction headings or scale. 

Further, room sections of 13-20 rooms at a time, as close to each other as possible, need to be marked out on the house break-up so that individual GRAs or teams of GRAs can be assigned to a particular section each. Room sections can be assigned number of convenience. 

Finally, house divisions need to be marked for supervisors. House divisions are groups of 4-6 room sections along with the associated corridors, elevators, stairways, service areas, and storage areas. House divisions can be named as per the theme of the hotel,though it is primarily meant for the reference of the housekeeping department staff. 

COUNTDOWN-

Here is a checklist of the housekeeping responsibilities to be met while inaugurating a new property:

Three Months Before the Opening:-

• Check the blueprints for the housekeeping department.
• Check the layout of the linen and uniform rooms.
• Check the layout of the laundry.
• Check the location and layout of the floor pantries.
• Check the layout and different types of guest rooms.
• Appoint a horticulturist in coordination with the personnel department and initiate the setting up of a plant nursery and green house. Look into the purchasing of saplings and seeds.
• Consider the space allocation for all these areas in accordance with the total front-of- the-house area.
• Evaluate the function and maintenance of furniture and other hard surfaces.
• Work in coordination with the interior designers and architects to plan the indoor spaces.
• Undertake a market survey to identify the best equipment, cleaning supplies, linen, and guest supplies available and work out the costs.
• Evaluate the quality and quantity required, and then contact the suppliers of each item or product to get specifications.
• Coordinate the purchase of equipment, cleaning supplies, linen, and guest supplies with the purchase department, keeping in mind the lead time available (well before the inauguration) for the delivery of the goods.
• Manpower planning needs to be initiated in coordination with the other departments.
• Discuss uniform requirements and designs with the various departmental heads.

Two Months in Advance:-

• Fine-tune the manpower requirement. Hire only the minimum staff required. Consider contracted services to compensate for a possible high turnover of staff at this initial stage of adjustments and learning.
• Consider contracted services for pest control, florists, and so on so that specifications, terms, and conditions can be worked out. Consider the feasibility of these contracted services in terms of needs versus costs.
• Orientation and training of staff should be started on a continuous basis.
• Follow up with the purchase department regarding the indented items and delivery dates.

Six Weeks in Advance:-

• Hire the necessary lower-rung staff.
• Clean up all the newly constructed areas and carry out a thorough inspection before takeover from projects. Snag list should be prepared for all areas and snags rectified by the project team or the concerned staff. 
• After the entire construction is over, initiate actual horticulture activities such as landscaping and gardening.
• Organize the storage of all items purchased.
• Work-out systems and procedures.
• Check the standard operating procedures (SOP´s)
• Begin the purchasing of uniforms after getting relevant inputs regarding the staff of all the hotel departments.
• Organize orientation and training for the new staff and continue the training schedule for the older staff.

Four Weeks to Go:-

• Check the cleanliness of all areas under the housekeeping department’s purview.
• Check the quality and quantity of all the equipment and supplies delivered.
• Ensure the lower-rung staff have had basic training in handling guests.
• Move in and set up the department physically.
• Redefine and fine-tune the systems and procedures as necessary.
• Begin the stitching and issuing of staff uniforms.

One Week to Go:-

• Draw up duty rotas and schedule staff accordingly.
• Set up the relevant work areas and ensure their cleanliness.
• Work out a frequency schedule for the cleaning up of various areas of the property.
• Constantly tour the property and be available to the housekeeping staff for last-minute queries and changes.

Key Terms:-

• Snag list- A detailed list prepared on the basis of a physical inspection, in which all possible maintenance requirements in a room are mentioned. It is normally prepared by the housekeeper during takeover of the renovated area from the contractor handling renovation or of a new property from the project team.