Planning and Organizing the

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CHAPTER 3

• Planning and Organizing the
• Housekeeping Department
• Objective identifying the major responsibilities
  drawing the organization of the housekeeping
  department

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Housekeepings Responsibilitiesin
limited-service hotels

• cleaning
• guestrooms
• corridors
• public areas such as lobby and public restrooms
• pool and patio areas
• management offices
• storage areas
• linen and sewing rooms
• laundry room
• back of the house areas e.g. employee locker rooms

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Housekeepings Responsibilitiesadditional areas
in mid-and-world class hotels

• cleaning
• meeting rooms
• dining rooms
• banquet rooms
• convention/exhibition halls
• hotel-operated shops
• game rooms
• exercise rooms

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Housekeepings Responsibilitiesexceptions

• not directly responsible for cleaning
• kitchen
• maintenance department
• swimming pool
• front desk

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Management Functions of Executive Housekeeper

• Planning
• Organizing
• Coordinating/Staffing
• Directing/Controlling
• Evaluating

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Planning

• Area Inventory List
• Frequency Schedules ex. 2.2, pg. 24, ex. 2.3,
  pg. 25
• Performance Standards
• Productivity Standards Equipment and Supply
  Inventory Levels
• Housekeeping Departments Operating Budget

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Basic Planning Activities

• Initial Planning Resulting
• Questions Documents
• 1. What items within the area Area Inventory
• must be cleaned or maintained? List
• 2. How often must the items within Frequency
• this area be cleaned or maintained? Schedules
• 3. What must be done in order to
  clean Performance
• or maintain the major items within Standards
• this area?

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• 4. How long should it take an employee Productivi
  ty
• to perform an assigned task according
  to Standards
• the departments performance standards?
• 5. What amounts of equipments and Inventory
• supplies will be needed in order for the Levels
• Housekeeping staff to meet performance
• And performance statndards?

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Productivity Standard Worksheet

• Step 1
• Determine how long it should take to clean one
  guestroom according to the departments
  performance standards.
• Approximately 27 minutes
• PS Since performance standards change from
  property to property, this figure is used as an
  example. It is not a suggested time figure for
  cleaning guestrooms.
• Step 2
• Determine the total shift time in minutes
• 8 hours 60 minutes 480 minutes

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• Step 3
• Determine the time available for guestroom
  cleaning.
• Total Shift Time.................................
  ........480 minutes
• Less
• Beginning-of-Shift Duties.................. 20
  minutes
• Morning Break...................................
  . 15 minutes
• Afternoon Break.................................
  15 minutes
• End-of-Shift Duties............................
  20 minutes
• Time Available for Guestroom Cleaning...410
  minutes
• Step 4
• Determine the productivity standard by dividing
  the result of Step 3 by the result of Step 1.
• 410 minutes / 27 minutes 15.2 guestrooms per 8
  hour shift

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Equipment and Supply Inventory Levels

• Recycled Inventories items which are recycled
  during the course of hotel operations. e.g.
  linens, some guest supplies (irons, ironing
  boards, cribs, etc.), room attendant carts,
  vacuum cleaners, carpet shampooers, floor buffers
  
• Par Number Par refers to the standard number of
  items that must be on hand to support daily,
  routine housekeeping operations. E.g. one par of
  linens is the total number of items needed to
  outfit all the hotel guestrooms once two par
  items is the total number of items needed to
  outfit all the hotel guestrooms twice and so on.

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• Non-recycled inventories items that are
  consumed or used up during routine activities of
  the housekeeping department e.g. cleaning
  supplies, guestroom supplies and amenities etc.
• Minimum Quantity is the fewest number of
  purchase units that should be in stock at any
  time. The inventory should never fall below the
  minimum quantity.
• Maximum Quantity is the greatest number of
  purchase units that should be in stock at any
  time. It must be consistent with available
  storage space and must not be so high that large
  amounts of cash is tied up.

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Organizing

• Organizing refers to the executive housekeepers
  responsibility to structure the departments
  staff and to divide the work so that everyone
  gets a fair assignment and all the work can be
  finished on time.
• The major areas within the department are
• Housekeepers Office, Desk Control Room,
  Linen Room, Linen Uniform Room, Uniform Room,
  Tailors Room, Lost and Found Section, Floor
  Pantries, and Heavy Equipment Stores.

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• Housekeepers Office
• This is the main administration center for the
  department. It must be an independent cabin to
  provide the Housekeeper with silence to plan out
  her work and held her meetings. It should be a
  glass panelled office so as to give her a view of
  what is happening outside her office.
• Desk Control Room
• This is the main communication center of
  housekeeping. It is from here that all
  information is sent out and received concerning
  the department. The Desk Control Room should have
  a desk with a telephone and a computer. It should
  have a large notice board for the staff schedules
  and day-to-day

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• instructions. Here is also the point where all
  staff report for duty and check out at the duty
  end. It would be next to the Housekeepers
  Office.
• Linen Room
• This is the roomwhere current linen is stored
  for issue and receipt. The linen room should have
  a counter across which the exchange of linen
  takes place. The room should be next to the
  laundry so that the supply of linen to and from
  laundry is quick and smooth.
• Linen Uniform Room
• This room stores the stocks of new linen and
  uniforms. These stocks are only touched when the
  current

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• uniforms and linens in circulation falls short
  due to damage or loss. Larger hotels may have
  enough space for an independent Uniform Store in
  addition to a Linen Store.
• Uniform Room
• This room stocks the uniforms in current use.
  This room must have enough hanging space.
• Tailors Room
• This room is kept for house tailors who attend
  to the stiching and mending work of linen and
  uniforms.
• Lost and Found Section
• This should be a small secure space with a
  cupboard

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• to store all guest articles that are lost and
  may be claimed later.
• Floor Pantries
• Each guest floor must have a floor pantry to
  keep a supply of linen, guest supplies and
  cleaning supplies for the floor. It is the
  housekeeping nerve center for the floor. The
  Floor pantry should keep linen for that floor in
  circulation. It should be near the service
  elevators and have shelves to stock all linen and
  other supplies.
• Heavy Equipment Stores
• This will be a room to store bulky items such as
  vacuum cleaners, shampoo machines, etc.

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The Department Organization Chart

• provides a picture of the lines of authority and
  the channels of communication within the
  department.
• People working in this department are
• Executive Housekeeper, Assistant Housekeeper,
  Uniform Room Supervisor, Uniform Room Attendants,
  Floor Supervisor, Public Area Supervisor, Room
  Attendants, Housemen, Head Housemen, Desk Control
  Supervisor, Cloak Room Attendants, Night
  Supervisor, Horticulturist, Head Gardener, and
  Gardeners.

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Organization Chart for a Small Economy/Limited-Ser
vice Hotel
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Organization Chart for a Large Mid-Range-Service
Hotel
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• Executive Housekeeper
• Responsible and accountable for the total
  cleanliness, maintenance and aesthetic upkeep of
  the hotel.
• Assistant Housekeeper
• May be one for each shift of a large hotel. She
  may be the housekeeper of a small hotel or the
  only deputy to the Executive Housekeeper of a
  medium-sized hotel. She manages the resources
  given by the Executive Housekeeper to achieve the
  common objectives of cleanliness, maintenance and
  attractiveness in a given shift. Her
  accountability normally ends on the completion of
  her shift.

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• Uniform Room Supervisor
• A non-management person solely responsible for
  providing clean serviceable uniforms to the staff
  of the hotel. In addition, she keeps the
  inventory control on all uniforms and prepares
  the budget for them.
• Uniform Room Attendant
• The Uniform Supervisor is assisted by Attendants
  who actually do the issue of uniforms while
  receiving soiled ones to be transferred to the
  laundry. These attendants are in actual contact
  with the staff.

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• Linen Room Supervisor
• A non-management person solely responsible for
  the purchasing, storage, issue and cleanliness of
  linen.
• Linen Room Attendant
• Assists the Supervisor by actually issuing linen
  and filling such records as necessary.
• Floor Supervisor
• Responsible for the cleanliness, maintenance and
  attractiveness of the guest floors attached to
  her in a shift. Her scope includes guest rooms,
  corridors, staircases, floor pantries of the
  assigned floor.

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• Public Area Supervisor
• Responsible for cleanliness, maintenance and
  attractiveness of all public areas which include
  restaurants, bars, banquets, gardens,
  administrative offices, shopping arcade, helath
  club, swimming pool, main entrances and car park
  areas.
• Room Attendants
• They do the actual cleaning of guest rooms and
  bathrooms assigned to them. They are not
  responsible for the cleanliness of corridors,
  guest elevators, or floor pantries.
• Housemen
• Usually do the heavy physical cleaning required
  in

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• guest rooms and publis ares. Their job would
  include heavy duty vacuuming, shifting of
  furniture, cleaning of window panes, mopping,
  sweeping...
• Head Housemen
• Supervises the work assigned to Housemen. He
  would deputise on behalf of the Publis Area
  Supervisor especially at night. In medium-sized
  hotels he could be the person in charge of
  housekeeping o night shifts.
• Desk Control Supervisor
• Is the center of information in housekeeping,
  therefore, is the critical person in housekeeping
  operations. The Housekeeping Desk must be managed
  as guests and

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• staff will contact this desk to transmit or
  receive information concerning housekeeping. It
  is the Desk Control Supervisor who coordinates
  with the Front Office for information on
  departure rooms and handling over cleaned rooms.
  The Desk also receives complaints on maintenance
  from Housekeeping Supervisors spread all over the
  hotel.

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• Cloak Room Attendants
• Cloak room attendants are people, male or
  female, responsible for the cleanliness,
  maintenance and service in public area guest
  toilets.
• Night Supervisor
• Is special in a manner that would require him or
  her to be able to handle any aspect of
  housekeeping at night including desk control
  operations, issue of linen and uniform in an
  emergency, etc. Her area of activity incudes
  guest romms, public areas, linen and uniform
  rooms. She is solely responsible and accountable
  at night for smooth housekeeping through her
  night shift and has larger decision-making
  authority than other

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• supervisors as she is the housekeeper for the
  night.
• Horticulturist
• Many hotels may contract horticultural work to
  an outside agency. However, a large hotel may
  have a horticulturist who not only maintains the
  gardens of the hotel but also supplies flowers
  from the garden for interior arrangements.
  Flowers are used mainly in banquet functions,
  guest rooms, restaurants, lobbies offices, etc.
  The horticulturist would have to ensure smooth
  supply of flowers as well as assist the
  Housekeeper in flower arranagements.

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• Head Gardener
• Supervises the gardeners in maintaining hotel
  gardens and keeping them contemporary each
  season.
• Gardeners
• Does the actual digging, planting, watering, etc
  of gardens on a day-to-day basis.

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Job Lists and Job Descriptions

• A job list identifies the tasks that must be
  performed be an individual occupying a specific
  position. It should reflect the total job
  responsibilities of the employee. The job list
  should state what the employee must be able to do
  in order to perform the job. Ex. 2.8, pg. 32
• A job description simply add information to the
  appropriate job lists. This information may
  include reporting relationships, additional
  responsibilities and working conditions,
  equipment and materials used. Ex. 2.9, pg. 33,
  ex. 2.10, pg. 34, ex. 2.11, pg 35

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Coordinating and Staffing

• Coordinating is the management function of
  implementing the results of planning and
  organizing at the level of daily housekeeping
  activities. Each day, the executive housekeeper
  must coordinate schedules and work assignments
  and ensure that the equipment, cleaning supplies,
  linens etc. are on hand for employees to carry
  out their assignments.
• Staffing involves recruiting applicants,
  selecting those best qualified to fill open
  positions, and scheduling employees to work.

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Directing and Controlling

• Directing involves supervising, motivating,
  training and disciplining individuals who work in
  the department.
• Controlling refers to the executive housekeepers
  responsibilities to design and implement
  procedures which protect the hotels assets.
  Assets are anything the hotel owns which has
  value e.g. keys, linen, supplies, equipment etc.
• managers direct people and control things.

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Evaluating

• Evaluating is assessing the extent to which
  planned goals are attained. One of the most
  important evaluation tool is the monthly budget
  reports.