A few months ago, I kicked off a series of articles about the “social” hotel and its departments with an article about chefs and social media. Today, I’d like to look at turning another ‘heart of house’ department a little more social: Housekeeping.
The first thing that struck me was that, unlike executive chefs, I have yet to find an executive housekeeper in the region, who runs his or her own Facebook page. Go figure – “housecreeping”, the forgotten department.
The folks who make your room and then quietly sneak away again. Isn’t there as much pride to be taken from a beautifully cleaned and setup room or suite as from a stunning new dish leaving the kitchen pass? Personally, I think there is…
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In many hotels, housekeeping’s social advantage is a numbers game — it’s often one of the largest departments, which offers plenty of opportunities to “socially enable” your operations. Also, unlike chefs and waiters, housekeepers are all over the place — lobbies, rooms, conference areas, there’s housekeeping staff everywhere and interactions with guests are frequent occurrences.
One of the best ways housekeeping can help to make a hotel more social is by creating “social experiences”. What’s a “social experience”? Anything that wows a guest and makes him or her share it via social media.
Frequently, this involves looking through the public social profiles of travellers who are engaging with your hotel prior to their arrival. Do they mention their favourite football club on their Facebook profile? Put a picture of the team’s logo with the turndown chocolate.
Do they tweet about food a lot? Get the concierge to create a list of places in or around your hotel where the guest’s favourites are being served and leave it on the bedside table. For one of the best examples of “social experiences” search YouTube for KLM Twitter Surprise.
KLM’s campaign was fairly evolved, but I’m sure you can think of many similar ways to create social experiences for your guests.
Get the team involved
In many hotels, housekeeping has one of the youngest and most diverse workforces. Use this to your advantage and tap into the social savviness of your team-members by showcasing training sessions or departmental competitions on Facebook, Instagram or Google+. Your associates will love it and share it with their connections, who’ll share it with their connections, etc. Before the summer, the Sheraton Mall of the Emirates Hotel organized a housekeeping room cleaning competition and posted about it on Facebook (http://goo.gl/KH8Vbv), which was very well received by staff and guests.
Housekeepers, as the custodians of everything lost and found in your hotel, can also contribute to making your social media presence more fun. Are you sitting on some totally weird lost and found items? Why not create a photo gallery for such finds? According to a Travelodge spokesperson (http://goo.gl/jXetHm), some of their lost and found highlights included a bucket of live crabs and a box of 200 Queen Elizabeth masks. A photo album of such finds is bound to make your fans laugh and get lots of views and shares.
Whatever you do: Keep it social!
About the Author:
Martin Kubler is owner, director and chief cook and bottle washer of Iconsulthotels FZE, an ultra-boutique hospitality consultancy in Dubai. Email: info@iconsulthotels.com or visit facebook.com/iconsulthotels
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