How to ensure that a hotel room is always clean

Summer is usually the busiest season for a hotel, and making sure that laundry, bedding, rooms, and other furniture is clean is always a top priority for guests and staff alike. However, when there’s so many rooms to clean, this can often be a difficult task; when there aren’t proper procedures in place, sometimes a hotel room can appear not to be as clean as it should. 

Together with Shortridge, providers of commercial laundry services, we have compiled a best practice guide for hoteliers, in order to ensure that all the rooms are cleaned to the highest possible standard. 

You should always begin with a strategy plan

So that hotel staff know exactly how to clean a room each time they enter a new one, a plan should be in place so that they can work effectively.

The reason why a plan should be in place, is because this makes the cleaning process more efficient and quicker every time a member of staff works on a certain type of room. This is because after time the staff will be able to learn their routine and do it quicker every time they clean a room, as steps will not be repeated and a checklist can be made in order of every job that needs completing. 

Using rubber gloves for many tasks

Within a hotel room, hairs can collect on laundry items such as bedsheets and other upholstered items – even when they have been washed. Often, hairs on chairs and the bed can make a guest feel uncomfortable when they have just entered a room. You might not know it, but rubber gloves are great for removing unwanted hairs. 

Staff can use rubber gloves as a brush when they are dampened, and the hairs will begin to stick to the gloves when it is rubbed against a fabric. They can also be used on curtains and long drapes to get rid of unwanted dust or any other hairs that get caught on materials in the room. 

Don’t forget the mattress 

More often than not, a hotel mattress can be forgotten about when hotel laundry is being washed regularly. This is probably because the guests never see it very often. At such a busy time of year, the summer is a great time to revive life into a mattress so that a guest’s bed is entered feeling and smelling fresh. 

Using the crevice tool, staff should press firmly onto the mattress. By doing so, this will help to get rid of trapped dust that you can’t see. To get rid of any stains, use a fabric cleaner or mild suds. Once it’s dry, then it can be sanitised with a disinfectant spray – ready to be enjoyed for a good night’s sleep once more. 

Cleaning your vacuum

Even the tools that you use to clean need a clean every once in a while. If a vacuum isn’t kept in good condition, then it can’t help to clean a hotel room as well as it should. 

Working smartly is key to this; by ensuring that vacuum bags are empty before they’re full, the dust cap is cleaned, and filters are washed – this will ensure that your vacuum is clean and it works properly every time you use it. The vacuum’s nozzle should always be placed on its lowest setting too, as this allows you to clean floors and carpets effectively. If staff show vacuums care, then it will show them it back by lifting all the unwanted dirt from a hotel room’s floors and carpet. 

Use nature to help clean your room

First impressions are everything, so it’s important that you never let your staff forget this important fact. Light in a hotel room can make the difference between a welcoming first impression, and one that is lacklustre. In order to make guests feel as though their room is welcoming and clean, there needs to be sufficient light in the room. 

Making the most of artificial light is simpler than you think. Light-bulbs can easily accumulate dust after a couple of months; by cleaning the light bulbs, this brightens up the room and exposes it to more light – creating a greater sense of space and a more pleasant ambience within the room as guests enter for the first time.