The Oberoi Dubai housekeeping manager Sujith Sebastian. The Oberoi Dubai housekeeping manager Sujith Sebastian.

At the Hotelier Executive Housekeeping Forum 2015, The Oberoi Dubai housekeeping manager Sujith Sebastian cited one of his hotel’s best practices, and said that they are able to enhance guest experience in less than one dirham per guest.

Sebastian shared that The Oberoi has a staff empowerment programme called ‘the power of 100’, which allows them to spend a maximum of 100 dirhams to improve guests’ experience at the hotel.

“The programme started when the company was established in 2008. Spending AED100 (US $27.23) per customer is not an easy practice, but the impact makes it worth it.

“How it works is that when a housekeeper enters the room, and performs standard housekeeping procedures, he might spot something like an almost empty shaving cream bottle. He uses the programme to arrange for the same brand of shaving cream and leaves it alongside the old bottle, with a note.

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“When a guest comes back to his room and sees it, it makes a lot of difference in his experience with us.”

When asked about managing costs, Sebastian said: “I did a study and found out that the amount which we spend, divided by total arrivals to the hotel in a month, we are not even spending one dirham per guest. Also, our chairman has always said to not compromise on quality and control wastage to manage costs.”