Executive Housekeeper Forum 2017

Hotelier Middle East Staff, April 25th, 2017

The fifth annual Executive Housekeeper Forum will return on May 3, at Grosvenor House Dubai, bringing together executive housekeepers, directors of rooms, and laundry managers from the region. Together they will reflect on how to tackle key operational challenges, meet guest expectations, and drive the efficiency of their teams.

Helping Hotelier Middle East set the agenda were experts in their field: Emirates Palace executive housekeeper and Kempinski rooms division specialist for IMEA and master trainer Pamini Hemaprabha; Grand Hyatt Dubai housekeeping manager — functional specialist housekeeping Tatjana Ahmed; The Address Boulevard Dubai executive housekeeper Lakmal Mawella; Radisson Blu Residence Dubai Marina room division manager Anushya Paramasivam; and Grand Hyatt Doha executive housekeeper Marjona Aslitdinova.

One of the first topics to come to light was about hotel refurbishment and the role housekeepers play in the region.

Aslitdinova said it would be important to discuss how housekeepers can push for refurbs in the region. “In the end, they will ask us about the condition of the room,” she said, with Ahmed agreeing with her. Hemaprabha pointed out that in such cases it was important to get different perspectives in such a debate, which would include not just housekeepers but from purchasing, engineering and even general managers.

Aslitdinova added: “The condition of your hotel is related to the average daily rate. The competition these days is very high so you have brand new hotels in awesome condition and they are able to sell at a higher rate. But when your hotel is very old, you need to compete, so in the long-run you’re losing rather than gaining [when you don’t refurbish in time].” Mawella agreed with her, adding that the state of rooms “affects guest satisfaction”.

From a housekeeping HR and training perspective, the housekeepers in the advisory panel believed there’s a lot to be discussed. One element was related to international rules and regulations around housekeeping. Hemaprabha said that it would important to talk about different rules and regulations in countries in the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent and beyond, especially as hoteliers do tend to move around the globe.

Paramasivam added that internationally, housekeepers don’t necessarily have the same experience as they would in the Middle East, and so it would be important to discuss.

There’s also the training element when it comes to safety and standard implementation. Paramasivam said: “It depends on which brand you work for. For Radisson, safety and standards are very important — we have to be Safehotels-certified, but it may not be the same for any other brand.” Ahmed agreed and added: “It filters down from the hotel company itself.” Paramasivam continued: “Every brand is so different in following standards and practices. As a community, there should be same standards and guidelines.”

The housekeepers then discussed the need for environmental & health safety officers, and how they play a role in the overall safety of the hotel.

Hemaprabha shared what she considered a win for the profession when it came to involving housekeepers in safety meetings. “Housekeeping was never invited for safety walks around the hotel; lately we’ve been invited for a bi-weekly walk-around and the engineering department is now saying that housekeeping plays a vital role [in this].”

Mawella pointed out that in-house housekeeping departments are probably one of the most highly trained teams within any hotel anywhere, and that’s when the issue of casual labour popped up — as it has over the last few years. Hemaprabha, who was a vocal debater on the topic last year, reiterated: “Casual labour is only doing harm to the industry.”

Ahmed said it would be helpful if the local authorities could first get involved with testing casual labour, and then “if they are qualified, they can be put to work”. Aslitdinova pointed out that this process is common practice in Europe where, if someone is not certified, it is not possible to work as a waiter or housekeeper, for example.

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION:
Where: Grosvenor House Dubai
When: May 3, 2017
For speaking opportunities: louby.maktari@itp.com
To attend: michael.mcgill@itp.com
For sponsorship opportunities: stephen.price@itp.com
Website: http://www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/conferences/housekeepers

Ahmed added: “On another note, you only get what you pay for. We are killing the golden goose by taking cheap people, and the prices have not really changed in the last 20 years.”

However, Aslitdinova added that it was important for housekeepers to train casual labour as well, which Hemaprabha agreed with. Aslitdinova continued: “Those who stay… we give them proper training and certification. And the company has to sign a contract saying whoever they give me, have to stay for 18 months from the date of starting.” Hemaprabha, however, pointed that salary also plays a role in motivation.

The increasing outsourcing of the housekeeping department could be a trend, as per Paramasivam. She commented: “In today’s market, for pre-openings there are n-number of consultancies who say, ‘You don’t have to have housekeepers, you don’t have to pay them. Give me the property and I will handle it.’ As the owner, and as a management company, they ask why they would do that — it’s because this is the total package, which happens all over Australia and now the concept is coming in Dubai. It’s less headache from the general manager’s and owners’ perspective. If brands see results with this in the next five years, housekeeping will evolve to boil down to outsourcing.”

Hemaprabha opined that this could possibly work only if a qualified housekeeper is hired to lead the team, with many unqualified to do the job thinking they can easily do it. She added: “This is because housekeepers have failed to convince the management and industry that it is a technical job.”

On that front, the housekeepers agreed and pointed out that in times of tightened budgets, the first job cut almost always happens in the housekeeping department. Paramasivam said: “Once they know the assistant can manage the operations, the executive housekeeper will have to go.” Hemaprabha added: “This is happening because nine out of 10 housekeepers do not become general managers. GMs don’t know the housekeeping background.”

Paramasivam, who has grown from her housekeeping background to looking after rooms, said that companies do exist which give opportunities to housekeepers to grow to the next level, “but it’s on case to case, and personal experience”.

The housekeepers agreed that the profession is largely undervalued, with a troubling trend of housekeepers expected to work overtime. Hemaprabha commented: “Some people think that if you don’t come in on days off, you’re not committed.”

Aslitdinova argued that micro-managing people over their working times isn’t effective anymore. “We are working with millennials. These are people who are totally different; if someone tries to micro-manage me, I’ll fail.”

The housekeepers also called for greater understanding of a hotel’s financing and P/L statements on the part of housekeepers, with them adding that with greater financial understanding comes greater power to implement and ask for changes. All this and more will be discussed, debated and shared at the Executive Housekeeper Forum next month.