HMPE 1 - Housekeeping Operations

UNIT I
INTRODUCTION TO
HOUSEKEEPING MANAGEMENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES
-Formulate a workable definition of Housekeeping
-Understand the scope and responsibilities of Housekeeping

“I consider housekeeping to be the heart of hotels and it is only when something goes
wrong that it is recognized – just like our hearts.”
− Sheila Perera FIH Glenmor Manager, Gleneagles Hotel.

Accommodation sector is one of the contributors in the hospitality industry profit.

Hotels and other facilities is one of the place where the people stays during their visit to a
certain location for what reason it may be. According to Tourism Secretary Bernadette
Romulo-Puyat (October 2019) the Philippine tourism is now a PHP2.2-trillion national
industry that generates 12.7 percent of the country's GDP and employs about 5.4 million
people in passenger transport, accommodations, and food and beverages, among others.
This only shows how important the industry is in our economy.

A hotel survives largely on the sale of rooms and food beverage and to smaller extent
on the other minor operating departments such as laundry, health club, etc. Of these, the
sale of rooms constitutes a minimum of 50 percent. In other words, a hotel largest margin
of profit comes from room sales because a room, once made, can be sold over and over
again. A good hotel operation ensures optimal room sales to bring in the maximum profit.

Hotel is efficient in selling its products and services because of the different
departments on it. Just like a human being a hotel has a vital parts as well, or what we
call vital departments, this will only mean that the hotel will not function rather be cost-
effective if these departments will not serve its purpose. These departments are the front

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office who serve as the bain and the housekeeping as heart of the hotel just like what
Shiela Perera said. The housekeeping department, in any hotel business, contributes to
major amount of profit even though they are not that visible like the front office indeed,
it is considered as an essential provider of service. The simple reason being, a customer
demands a clean, tidy, and pleasing ambience. Housekeeping generates the first
impression on a guest’s mind. The housekeeping efforts clearly show how the hotel will
take care of its guests.

What is housekeeping?

We often wonder how all premises like offices, conference centers, malls, movie
theater, etc. are kept organize, clean and attractive. This is the work of the silent workforce
called housekeeping. Housekeeping normally has a large brigade wherever they are
deployed. They are certainly the largest workforce in hotels. This is because they are
responsible for the cleanliness, maintenance and aesthetic upkeep of the entire premises,
both externally and internally.

According to Roldan and Crespo the word “housekeeping” refers to the upkeeping
and maintenance of cleanliness and order in a house or lodging establishment such as inn,
hotel, apartel, condominium, resort, dormitory or a hospital.

Housekeeping can also be defined as a systematic process of making a home neat and
clean. This also refers to the upkeep and maintenance of cleanliness and orderliness in the
house, lodging establishment such as hotel, inn, apartel, condominium, resort, dormitory
or even the hospital.

In other words Housekeeping is the management of household affairs. It also means

we are dealing with maintaining a clean and comfortable environment in the premises. It
is the housekeeping task to ensure the guest needs and preferences to comfort and security
are fulfilled.

Importance of Housekeeping

1) Comfort: It is the duty of the housekeeping department to ensure comfort and a

welcoming atmosphere to the guests as well as strive to extend courteous, reliable and
satisfactory service from staffs of all departments.

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2) Cleanliness and Hygiene: A high standard of cleanliness and general upkeep in all
areas. Clean and well maintained areas and equipments create a favorable impression on
the guest. Hygiene is maintained especially in the wash rooms, toilets, pool changing room,
health club, etc
3) Privacy: Housekeeping staffs ensure the privacy of the guests and they should be trained
with proper procedures to enter the room.
4) Safety and Security: The housekeeping department staffs should ensure the safety and
security of the guests with the help of security services.
5) Décor: This work is an art and the housekeeping staff is mainly responsible for creating
a pleasant atmosphere.

Types of Housekeeping

1. Domestic Housekeeping - applies to housekeeping maintenance in a house. It covers

bedrooms, kitchen, dining, receiving area, grounds and the surroundings areas within the
house.

The lady of the house, usually the wife/mother or caretaker act as the head housekeeper
and is responsible for keeping the household in proper order. She sees to it that the
rooms are clean and well maintained.

A housekeeper is one who is responsible for insuring that everything is in order. She/he
sees to it that all occupants are comfortable, safe and protected from disease-causing
microorganism.

In any cleaning process especially domestic housekeeping, they practice to implement the
5s of Good Housekeeping, it is defined as a process designed to organize the workplace,
keep it clean, maintain effective and standard conditions. It instills the discipline required
to enable each individual to achieve and maintain a world-class environment. The use of
this tool was started in 1972 by Henry Ford in the United States as the CANDO programme:
Cleaning up, Arranging, Neatness, Discipline and Ongoing
improvement. The technique was popularized as ‘Japanese 5S’ in 1980 by Hiroyuki
Hirano.

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5 “S” of Good Housekeeping

1. Seiri (To Separate) - Distinguish between necessary and unnecessary items.

Remove the latter.

2. Seition (To Order) - Enforce the dictum ‘a place for everything and everything in its
place’.

3. Seiso (To Clean) - Clean up the workplace and look for ways to keep it clean.

4. Seiketsu (To Systemize) - Maintain and monitor adherence to the first three Ss.

5. Shitsuke (Self Discipline) - Follow the rule to keep the workplace 5S-right. Hold the
gain

2. Institutional Housekeeping - applies to housekeeping maintenance in commercial

lodging establishments like hotels, resorts, inns, apartels, etc.

Housekeeping job among commercial establishments is more complex to manage than

those than in the house. With a lot of guest to attend to, the housekeeping responsibilities
in hotels and other lodging establishments are distributed to several sections of the
housekeeping department. There is a section that attends to the maintenance of guestrooms;
another one to public areas while a separate unit takes care linen/ laundry services. Though
each section attends to specific function and efforts have, to be well coordinated among the
various sections to ensure efficient housekeeping maintenance.

After we define the types of the Housekeeping, let us now focus on the Institutional House
keeping. We need to understand the basic functions of the Housekeeping Department and
in the simplest form the 3 Main functions of the housekeeping.

Basic Function of the Housekeeping Department

1. Cleaning Rooms and Public Areas:

Apart from cleaning the guest rooms, housekeeping department is also responsible for
cleaning floor, terraces, elevators, elevator lobbies, corridors of guest floors, floor linen
closets, mop and janitor’s closets, service lobbies and service stairways, function rooms,
shopping arcade, cabanas, bars, dining rooms, offices, uniform rooms, tailor rooms,
upholstery, shops, store rooms and swimming pools.

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2. Bed Making:
Bed making is a skill that requires to be developed by the housekeeper, as it not only
provides comfort to the guest, but also adds to the pleasant ambience of a guest’s room.

3. Linen Management:
This involves all functions from purchase of linen to laundering, storage, supplies and to
condemnation. In a hotel different types of clothes and linen are used such as the bed sheets,
pillow covers, napkins, towels, hand towels, table covers, curtains, cushion covers etc.

4. Laundry Services:
The relationship between the housekeeping and laundry is significant for the smooth
functioning of housekeeping services.

5. Pest Control:
Pest Control is another major job of the Housekeeping Department. It speaks badly of
a hotel where one sees rats, cockroaches, and lizards running around. Therefore, pest
control is one of the primary responsibility of the housekeeping department.

6. Key Control:
The room keys have to be handled efficiently and safely before and after letting the room.

7. Safety and Security:

If the guests and staff always fear for their safety and the safety of their belongings, the
atmosphere will be very tense. Hence the housekeeping department staff should be aware
of ways to protect himself and others, especially the guests around him and the property
of the hotel from accidents and theft.

8. Interior Decoration:
These arts and crafts have to be well maintained by the housekeeping department.
Decorating flowers is a creative and stimulating art which often carries a message or theme.
Flowers and indoor plants add colour and beauty to a room.

9. Room Maintenance:
Good housekeeping department is just as responsible for the hotel's maintenance as an
engineering department.

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Three Main Functions of Housekeeping

1. Cleaning

Cleaning is not just having a duster cloth in hand and wiping surfaces. While it may
include that activity too, it requires a comprehensive understanding of different cleaning
procedures and the best tools and solutions to clean them to preserve the long life of those
area of hotel. Housekeepers at large commercial lodging establishments has a large
possibility to poses challenges when it comes in cleaning, that’s why housekeepers must
have knowledge in cleaning procedures and technical knowledge of how best he/she
execute that cleaning procedures. The whole hotel areas and facilities must be free from all
sources of bacterial contamination such as un-disposed garbage and leftover, stagnant
water, dust, etc.

2. Maintenance

The role of housekeeping in maintenance is to identify and follow-up on those items that
are malfunctioning or defective throughout the facility and ensure that they are rectified
with engineering support. Since housekeeping has access to all parts of a facility in the
execution of their cleaning role, they are the right people to locate deficiencies and report
them to the engineering for rectification.

3.Aesthetic Upkeep

Aesthetic upkeep is those measures used to beautify the property. This includes
landscaping around the premises, as well as providing the flower arrangements and
decorations in internal public areas and offices. The housekeeping role is to maintain
facility as conceived by the interior designer. The housekeeping department, therefore, is
responsible to make the internal and external facilities attractive on a daily basis with the
help of qualified horticulturist and florist.

Roles of Housekeeping

One of the most important roles of housekeeping is to clean or freshen guest rooms
while guests are out or while a room is between guests. Each morning, the housekeeping
department stocks up hospitality carts with towels, fresh linens, cleaning supplies and
toiletries, and housekeepers set out to their assigned floors.

Housekeepers knock on the door of each occupied guest room and enter only when the
guests are out. Once inside, they make beds and supply fresh towels. Housekeepers also

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replace any used toiletries, wipe surfaces clean, and vacuum or mop floors to ensure guests
return to a clean room. The housekeeping staff empties trash cans and removes any rubbish
from the room.

When hotel guests check out and won’t be returning to the room, the housekeeping
department provides a more thorough cleaning of the room and changes out all towels and
linens, so each new guest arrives at a pristine guest room or suite.

Other Housekeeping Duties

Housekeeping duties extend beyond that of the guest rooms. Housekeepers are also
tasked with cleaning the lobby, hallways, public restrooms and any other public rooms.
The housekeeping department handles laundry services, employee staff rooms, and may
even help to maintain outside public spaces. When hotels host banquets or conferences,
housekeeping may handle cleanup at those events.

Housekeepers should be in good physical condition as they need to lift mattresses to

make beds or lift furniture for cleaning or renovation purposes. There’s little sitting down
on the job, and most housekeepers are on their feet all day.

Standards of Ideal Housekeeping

⚫ Cleanliness
⚫ Orderliness
⚫ Sanitation
⚫ Guests’ Comfort
⚫ Eye Appeal
⚫ Safety
⚫ Materials Control and Preventive Maintenance
⚫ Guest Relations

Housekeeping Organization

The organization chart of housekeeping department should provide a clear picture of

the lines of authority and the channels of communication with the department.

Housekeeping department chart not only provides for a systematic direction of orders,
but also protects employees form being over directed. The chart shows that each employee
should take orders only from the person directly above him / her.

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Also a copy of the chart should be posted in an area so that all housekeeping staff can
see where they fit into the overall organization of the department. Ideally all hotels place
the organization chart on ether the housekeeping control desk room or the place where
usually the daily briefing happens.

The success and credibility of the hotels depends solely on their in-house
professionally skilled team. Top quality service, with dedicated, trained, intelligent, sincere,
honest and motivated staff is what is important for a hotel housekeeping department, and,
This team succeeds in building and maintaining the image and reputation of the hotel and
creating and sustaining regular and privileged guest visits. For providing excellent and
satisfying quality service, lot of effort has to be made towards organizing and training the
housekeeping staffs continuously. Additionally, the trained staff must be retained ensuring
the consistency and staff dedication remains focused through various methods of training
and motivation. The organizational structure of the housekeeping department mainly
depends on the activities and the size of the hotel.

1. Executive Housekeeper
- Responsible and accountable for the total cleanliness, maintenance and aesthetic upkeep
of the hotel. This is achieved with the resources of manpower, materials, machines,
money, space and time available to him.

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2. Assistant Housekeeper
- May be one for each shift of a large hotel.
- He may be the housekeeper of a small hotel or the only deputy to the Executive
Housekeeper of a medium- sized hotel.
- He manages the resources given by the Executive Housekeeper to achieve the common
objectives of cleanliness, maintenance and attractiveness in a given shift.
- His accountability normally ends on the completion of his shift.

3. Uniform Room Supervisor

- A non-management person solely responsible for providing clean serviceable uniforms
to the staff of the hotel.
- As the hotel staff are all practically in uniforms his / her task is enormous and
demanding as h e / she has to keep an inventory control on various stages of use, such as,
when sorted ones are handed over, or those which are being washed or dry-cleaned in the
laundry.

4. Uniform Room Attendants

- The uniform supervisor is assisted by attendants who actually do the issue of uniforms in
exchange for soiled ones for onward transmission to the laundry.
- These attendants are in actual contact with the staff.

5. Linen Room Supervisors

- A non-management person solely responsible for the acquisition, storage, issue and
cleanliness of linen in its various forms.
- His job is a mammoth task because he keeps track of all linen as they would number in
thousands.

6. Linen Room Attendant

- Assists the supervisor by actually issuing linen and filling such records as necessary.

7. Tailor / Seamstress
- Tailor or seamstress personnel are responsible for stitching and mending the linen and
upholstery’s.

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8. Helpers
- They are to be found both in Uniforms and linen Rooms and do the physical work of
transporting, counting and bundling of uniforms and linen.

9. Floor Supervisor
- Responsible for the cleanliness, maintenance and presentability of the guest floors
attached to him in a shift.
- His scope encompasses guest rooms, corridors, staircases and floor pantries of the
allotted floor.

10. Public Area Supervisor

- Responsible for the cleanliness, maintenance and presentability of all public areas
which include restaurants, bars, banquet halls, garden, administrative offices, shopping
arcade, health club, swimming pool, main entrances and car park areas.

11. Room Attendants

- Known also as chamber maids or room boys.
- They do the actual cleaning of guest rooms and bathrooms allotted to them.
- They are not responsible for the cleanliness of corridors, guest elevators or floor
pantries.

12. Desk Control Supervisor

- Is the hub of information dissemination in housekeeping and is thus the critical person
in housekeeping operations.
- The Housekeeping Desk must be manned 24 hours as guests and staff will contact this
desk to transmit or receive information.
- It is the Desk Control Supervisor who co-ordinates with the front office for information
on departure rooms and handing over cleared rooms.

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- The Desk also receives complaints on maintenance from Housekeeping supervisors

spread all over the hotel.

Creating Proper Attitudes

In addition to what we discussed, professional housekeeping requires a staff with a sense

of pride. Housekeeping staffs must show concern for guests, which will make the guests
want to return—the basic ingredient for growth in occupancy and success in the hotel
business. Such pride is best measured by the degree to which the individual maids
(guestroom attendants or section housekeepers) say to guests through their attitude,
concern, and demeanor,“Welcome, we are glad you chose to stay with us. We care about
you and want your visit to be a memorable occasion. If anything is not quite right, please
let us know in order that we might take care of the problem immediately.” A prime
responsibility of the executive housekeeper is to develop this concern in the staff; it is
just as important as the other functions of cleaning bathrooms, making beds, and making
rooms ready for occupancy. Throughout this text, we present techniques for developing
such attitudes in housekeeping staffs.

Principles of Management

As Executive housekeepers today recognize the need for a clear understanding and
successful application of management principles. They may, however, feel overwhelmed
by the many terms in the field of scientific management, both from the past and in the
present. It is important for executive housekeepers to be familiar and comfortable with
these terms and principles, since there is no department within the hospitality industry in
general, and hotels in particular, that will provide a greater opportunity for applying
management skills.

Functions
The functions of a manager can be thought of as continuous functions and sequential
functions. Many times a question may be asked: “But what does the manager

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do?” The manager should be seen to do several continuous functions, as well as several
sequential functions.

The continuous functions relating to ideas and conceptual thinking are to analyze
problems. Those related to things and administration are to make decisions, and those
related to people and leadership are to communicate successfully. Problems are analyzed,
facts gathered, causes learned, alternative solutions developed, decisions made,
conclusions drawn, communications generated, and understanding ensured.

The sequential functions of management are more recognizable as a part of the

classical definition of management. They involve the planning, organizing, staffing,
directing, and controlling of ideas, things, and people. Mackenzie sets forth various
activities in each of these sequential functions that should be studied and recalled
whenever necessary.

Activities of Sequential Functions

According to Mackenzie, a manager’s sequential functions are divided into five
areas—planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling.

Planning
The management plan involves seven basic activities:
1. Forecasting: Establishing where present courses will lead
2. Setting objectives: Determining desired results
3. Developing strategies: Deciding how and when to achieve goals
4. Programming: Establishing priorities, sequence, and timing of steps
5. Budgeting: Allocating resources
6. Setting procedures: Standardizing methods
7. Developing policies: Making standing decisions on important recurring matters

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Organizing
Getting organized involves arranging and relating work for the effective accomplishment
of an objective. Managers organize by making administrative or operational decisions.
The four activities involved in getting organized are as follows:

1. Establishing an organizational structure: Drawing up an organizational chart

2. Delineating relationships: Defining liaison lines to facilitate coordination
3. Creating position descriptions: Defining the scope, relationship, responsibilities, and
authority of each member of the organization
4. Establishing position qualifications: Defining the qualifications for people in each
position

Staffing
The third sequential function, staffing, involves people. Leadership now comes into play,
and communication is established to ensure that understanding takes place.
There are four activities:
1. Selecting employees: Recruiting qualified people for each position
2. Orienting employees: Familiarizing new people with their environment
3. Training: Making people proficient by instruction and practice
4. Developing: Improving knowledge, attitude, and skills

Directing
The first three sequential functions of management planning, organizing, and staffing—
might be performed before an operation gets under way. The last two sequential
functions—directing and controlling—are carried out after the operation has begun or is
in process. As with other managerial relationships involving people,
leadership is accomplished through communication. In the directing of operations, there
are five basic activities:

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1. Delegating: Assigning responsibility and exacting accountability for results

2. Motivating: Persuading and inspiring people to take a desired action
3. Coordinating: Relating efforts in the most efficient combination
4. Managing differences: Encouraging independent thought and resolving conflict
5. Managing change: Stimulating creativity and innovation in achieving goals

Controlling
The final sequential function of management is to control organizations and activities to
ensure the desired progress toward objectives.There are five basic activities
in the controlling of operations:
1. Establishing a reporting system: Determining what critical data are needed
2. Developing performance standards: Setting conditions that will exist when key duties
are well done
3. Measuring results: Ascertaining the extent of deviation from goals and standards
4. Taking corrective action: Adjusting plans, counseling to attain standards, replanning,
and repeating the several sequential functions as necessary
5. Rewarding: Praising, remunerating, or administering discipline

Management Theory and the Executive Housekeeper

The question now is, “How can the executive housekeeper apply these diverse
management theories to the job at hand, that being the management of a housekeeping
department?”

Before we attempt to answer that rather encyclopedic question, perhaps we should first
turn our attention to some of the inherent organizational and employee-related problems
facing many housekeeping departments.

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To begin, housekeeping is not a “glamorous” occupation. Cleaning up after others

for a living is not, nor has it ever been, the American dream. No one wishes his or
her child to become a guestroom attendant or a housekeeping aide. Housekeeping is
viewed by a majority of the American public as being at the bottom of the occupational
hierarchy in terms of status, pay, benefits, and intrinsic worth.

Even in the hotel industry, housekeeping employees are among the lowest paid of all
workers in the hotel. Thus, the housekeeping department has traditionally attracted
individuals who possess minimal levels of education, skills, and self-esteem.
Even the management positions in the housekeeping department have an image
problem. In hospitality education, students normally tend to gravitate to the front office,
marketing, food and beverage, and even human resource areas before they will consider
housekeeping.

SUMMARY
Accommodation Industry contributes a a lot in the in the economic gains of a country, it
contributes through monetary and other aspect in the growth of the economy. The
Housekeeping department is an essential division in a hotel establishment because they
are the primary incharge in the main product of the hotel which is the room .

The Housekeeping is in-charge cleanliness, orderliness and maintenance of the whole

hotel establishment. It has two types Domestic and Institutional. There are different
importance in the section, it has also basic functions and main functions of the
housekeeping department.

The organizational chart together with they roles are also included, but the positions it the
organizational chart may vary on the type and size of a hotel establishment.

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