CHAPTER 1

THE ROLE OF HOUSEKEEPING

IN HOSPITALITY OPERATIONS
 Economy/limited-service
Hotels
Mid-range-service hotels
Types of Hotels Suite Hotel
Executive Floor
World-class-service hotels
 provide clean, comfortable,
inexpensive rooms and meet
the basic needs of guests
Economy/limite
d-Service appeal to budget minded
Hotels travelers e.g. families with
children, bus tour groups,
business travelers, vacationers,
retirees, groups of
conventioneers
has limited food & beverage
service, do not offer room
service, uniformed service,
banquet rooms, health clubs

the staff consists of owners as

managers, room attendants,
front desk agent, sometimes a
maintenance person
  provide modest but sufficient service
 appeal to the largest segment of the
traveling public e.g. business travelers
on expense accounts, tourists or
families taking advantage of special
children’s rates
Mid-range-
service hotels  offer uniformed service, full food and
beverage facilities (e.g. specialty
restaurants, coffee shop, lounge etc)
 has management staff consists of a
general manager and several
department managers
  provide a small living room and a
bedroom with a king-size bed, some
provide a kitchenette
 serve for frequent travelers, families
interested in nonstandard hotel
Mid-range- accommodations,
executives
preferred by

service hotel  housekeeping labor expenses may be

“Suite Hotels” higher because of the larger size of
rooms.
 have less public space and fewer guest
services than a typical mid-range-service
hotel
 provide upscale restaurants,
exquisite decor, concierge service,
luxurious meeting and private dining
facilities

World-class- serve for top business executives,

service hotels entertainment celebrities, high
ranking political figures, wealthy
people

Provide exclusive housekeeping

services e.g. turndown service
 some-mid-range-service hotels
World-class- may dedicate certain floors
service in (usually the top floors) to world-
mid-range- class service
service
hotels has large and deluxe rooms
“Executive
Floor” has upgrade furnishings, decor
and amenities
 Sample Organization Chart for a
Midsize Rooms-Only Hotel
Manager

Assistant
Manager

Repair and
Front Office Auditor Housekeeper Sales
Maintenance

Security Clerks Laundry Inspectors Yardkeeper Secretary

Night Room
Clerks Attendants
Auditor

Switchboard
Operators
 Sample Organization Chart for a Large
Hotel
Board of
Directors

General
Manager

Administrative
Assistant

Resident
Manager

Human Resources Chief Security Food&Beverage Director of Rooms Divison

Controller
Director Engineer Director Director Marketing&Sales Manager

Asst. H.R. Asst. Chief Purchasing Assistant

Director Engineer Manager Controller

Food/Beverage
Auditor
Controller

Storeroom
Credit Mnager
Manager

Accounts Receivable
Manager

Account Payable
Manager

Paymaster

Head Cashier
 - continued
Resident
Manager

Food&Beverage Director of Rooms Division

Director Marketing&Sales Manager

Asst. F6B Beverage Catering Sales Front Office Exec- Garage

Exec. Chef Exec. Steward
Director Director Director Director Manager Housekeeper Manager

Personnel Asst. Asst. Bev. Banquet Catering Sales Public Relations Reservations Asst. Asst. Garage
Sous Chef
Manager Steward Director Manager Manager Manager Manager Exec. HK. Manager

Convention
Restaurant Asst. Banq. Chief Asst.
Banquet Chef Service
Manager Manager Operator Housekeeper
Manager

Rooms Service Night

Pastry Chef
Manager Manager

Service
Mnager
  Revenue Center: areas that sell
goods and services to guests, in
other words, generate revenue
e.g. front office, food and
beverage outlets.
Hotel Divisions  Support Center: areas that does
and not generate revenue directly, but
Departments play a supporting role to the
hotel’s revenue centers. e.g.
housekeeping, accounting,
engineering and maintenance,
human resources.
 Front-of-the-house: areas in
which employees have guest
contact e.g. front office, food
and beverage outlets.
Hotel Divisions Back-of-the-house: areas in
and which employees have less
Departments
direct contact e.g. accounting,
engineering and maintenance,
human resources,
housekeeping.
  The Rooms Division - front office
(front desk, cashier, mail and information
section), housekeeping, reservations,
telephone, uniformed service.

 The Engineering and

Maintenance Division
 The Human Resources
Hotel Divisions Division
and  The Accounting Division
Departments
 The Security Division
 The Food and Beverage
Division
 The Sales and Marketing
Division
 Written Communication
occupancy report
Housekeeping housekeeping rooms
and the Front status report
Office
Communication Mechanical
between housekeeping
and front office Communications
Computerized
Communication
 Occupancy Report: prepared
by a front desk agent every
night, lists the occupied rooms
Written that night and indicates the
Communicatio rooms expected to check out
n the following day (due out).

The executive housekeeper

gets this list in the morning and
schedules the rooms for
cleaning.
Housekeeping Status Report:
prepared by the housekeeping
department at the end of the
shift, indicates the curent
housekeeping status of each
room (the rooms that have been
cleaned that day) based on a
physical check of each room.
 Room Status Discrepancy: is a
situation in which the housekeeping
department’s description of a room’s
differs from the front desk’s description
of a room.

 Keeping room status information up-to-

date requires close coordination
between the front desk and the
housekeeping department. The two
most common systems for tracking
current room status are mechanical
room rack systems and computerized
status systems.
  A room rack may be used by the
front desk to track the status of all
rooms. A room rack slip is filled at
the registartion process with the
guest’s name and other necessary
Mechanical information and placed in the room

Communicatio rack slot corresponding to the

assigned room number. The
n presence of a room rack slip
indicates that the room is occupied.
When the guest checks out, the
rack slip is removed and the room’s
status is changed to an on-change.
 This sytem may lead to mistakes
and delays in the room status
information between housekeeping
and front desk. For example, if a
room rack slip is mistakenly left in
the rack after the guest’s ckeck
out, front desk agents may think
that a vacant room is still occupied
(sleeper).

 Here, the communication between

housekeeping and front office may
be spoken (on the telephone),
written (through the usual reports)
or telewriter.
  In a computerized room status system,
housekeeping and front desk uses a
computer terminal which ensures instant
access to room status information.
 When a guest checks out, a front desk
Computerized agent enters the dparture into the

Communicatio computer which alerts housekeeping

that the room needs cleaning.
n  After the rooms is cleaned and
inspected, housekeeping enters this
information into the terminal. This is
how the front office is informed that the
room is available for sale.
When the computer systems is connected to the
guestroom telephone system, the supervisors
can enter a designated code on the room
telephone to change the room’s status in the
hotel’s computer system to inform front desk that
the room is ready for sale. This saves time and
energy in informing the front desk about the
status of rooms.
 Occupied: A guest is currently
registered to the room.
Complimentary: The room is
occupied, but the guest is
assessed no charge for its use.
Stayover: The guest is not
Rooms Status cheking out today and will
Definitions remain at least one more night.
On-change: The guest has
departed, but the room has not
yet been cleaned and readied
for resale.
Do not disturb: The guest has
requested not to be disturbed.
Sleep-out: A guest is
registered to the room, but the
bed has not been used.

Skipper: The guest has left

the hotel without making
arrangements to settle his/her
account.

Sleeper: The guest has

settled his/her account and left
the hotel, but the front office
staff has failed to properly
update the room’s status.
Vacant and ready: The
room has been cleaned and
inspected, and is ready for
an arriving guest.

Out-of-order: The room

cannot be assigned to a
guest. A room may be out-
of-order for a variety of
reasons, including the need
for maintenance,
refurbishing, and extensive
cleaning.
Lock-out: The room has been
locked so that the guest cannot
re-enter until he/she is cleared
by a hotel official.

DNCO (did not check out):

The guest made arrangements
to settle his/her account (and
thus is not a skipper), but has
left without informing the front
office.

Due out: The room is expected

to become vacant after the
following day’s check-out time.
Check-out: The guest has
settled his/her account,
returned the room keys, and
left the hotel.

Late check-out: The guest

has requested and is being
allowed to check out later
than the hotel’s standard
check-out time.
 Routine maintenance
Housekeeping
and Preventive
Engineering/ maintenance
Maintenance Scheduled
maintenance
maintenance work order
Routine Maintenance:
activities are those which occur
on a regular (daily or weekly)
basis for the general upkeep of
the property.
E.g. Sweeping carpets, washing
floors, cleaning windows,
replacing burned-out light bulbs,
cleaning guest rooms. Many of
them are handled by
housekeeping.
 Preventive Maintenance: consists of
three parts: inspection, minor
correction and work order initiation.
Every day, the rooms are routinely
inspected for any leaks, cracks etc. If
there are some minor problems,
engineering is informed through the
telephone and they are corrected
while the room attendant is cleaning
the guestroom.

 However, preventive maintenance

sometimes identifies major problems
for which work orders are initiated.
Then, this type of work is referred to
as scheduled maintenance.
 Scheduled Maintenance: activities are
initiated at the property based on a formal
work order. Work orders are the key in the
communication between housekeeping and
engineering.

 When a work order is filled by the

housekeeping, one copy is kept in the
department and two copies are sent to the
engineering to inform them.

 One of those copies is kept by the chief

engineer and the other is given to the
enginnering and staff who will fix the problem.