The use of technology has become increasing widespread in hospitality as a means of improving efficiency and tracking operational activities.
However, according to the findings of the Hotelier Middle East Housekeeping Report 2016, housekeeping is one hotel department where there is still significant room for growth, in relation to the use of technology.
The report uncovered that the vast majority of housekeeping departments do not use any purpose-built software for monitoring inventory, tracking which rooms have been cleaned and inspected, and where guests are due to check-in and -out.
The efficient monitoring of all these metrics is of course vital for the efficient operation of housekeeping departments in hotels.
However, according to those surveyed, a staggering 61% revealed that they used a simple self-made spreadsheet to monitor inventory. Among the remaining 39%, the types of software solutions used varied dramatically.
Similarly, communication between housekeepers was exposed as a little behind the times, with a significant portion of hotels (25%) using a simple “Whatsapp” chat group or similar to communicate between staff.
More surprisingly, 31% of respondents had not even reached this level of technology with intra-department communication, and did not use any form of mobile technology to manage and monitor their team.
Aside from the obvious benefit of greater efficiency, speaking to Hotelier, Grand Hyatt Dubai functional housekeeping specialist and housekeeping manager Tatjana Ahmed highlighted the cost saving benefit of going completely paperless, as Ahmed’s own department at the Grand Hyatt Dubai is.
“If you think, we have 10 team leaders and they all have arrival lists, departure lists, VIP in-house lists; they have 30 pieces of printed paper each and then the evening shift comes, and reports are [re-]created," Ahmed told Hotelier.
"I would think we save one or two reams of paper a day, and over a year, that is a lot of money. And of course you save time,” Ahmed added.
Read the Housekeeping Report 2016 in full to find out more about the challenges facing housekeeping departments in the region.
To download the Hotelier Middle East Housekeeping Report 2016 now, click here.
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