Event Preview: Hotelier Middle East's Executive Housekeeper Forum 2018

The sixth annual Executive Housekeeper Forum is set to return this year on May 2, at Grosvenor House Dubai. The event will bring together executive housekeepers, directors of rooms, and laundry managers from the region’s five- and four-star properties. 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 to set the agenda were experts in their field: Michele Millot, executive housekeeper, Jumeirah Beach Hotel; Chandra Illanperuma, director of housekeeping, Palazzo Versace Dubai; Kishore Kumar Pemmasani, executive housekeeper, Hilton Dubai The Walk; and Tinka Tzolova, complex director of housekeeping at Le Méridien and Westin Mina Seyahi.

The panel gathered together at ITP Media Group’s office in Dubai Media City on February 13, 2018, to discuss the most important issues facing the industry today.

Given the number of major renovations set to take place later this year, the role housekeepers play in the renovation and refurbishment process was one of the first topics to be discussed.

According to Jumeirah Beach Hotel’s Millot, housekeepers have their own set of challenges when it comes to renovations. She said, “All the older hotels in Dubai are in renovation mode or contemplating a refurbishment. One of our major priorities is to maintain and protect the asset of the owner so it’s our voice, our duty to enhance and make it better.”

Adding to that, however, Tzolova commented that the housekeeper’s main role is to make recommendations during a renovation or refurbishment. Then it’s up to the general manager to convince the owners to go ahead with the renovation.

Pemmasani, agreeing with Tzolova, said: “The housekeepers’ responsibility is to bring up the issues surrounding soft furnishings to the decision makers.”

“The carpet needs to be changed, hard furniture like desks and chairs need to be renovated and we come up with recommendations. One of the most common mistakes is postponing the bathroom renovations for later and only refreshing soft furnishings. They always think that bathrooms can wait, and it’s a big mistake because in another year it’s going to be a wreck,” Tzolova said.

However, the advisory panel was in agreement that the problem stems from the fact that the refurbishment/renovation timeline from when the hotel opens to when the renovations take place is really long.

According to Pemmasani, it’s because owners don’t always follow a timeline.

“Housekeepers know how important it is for renovations and refurbishments to take place and they have a plan. Sometimes the fixtures have to change and have a new look,” he added.

The life of most soft furnishings in hotels is usually five years but housekeepers are made to stretch that beyond eight years, Pemmasani added.

Millot, agreeing with Pemmasani, added that it depends on the quality of the products. “People going for cheaper products should realise that is not going to last long,” she added.

However, at the end of the day the advisory panel was resigned to the fact that housekeepers can only influence the refurbishment timeline depending on where one works, what type of general manager one reports to and the owner.

Tzolova’s GM understands the importance of renovation and lets her keep the quality standards high. Millot, agreeing with her, added that: “At the end of the day our GMs become our lawyers and have to defend us to the owners.”

According to Pemmasani, “Sometimes you will get a GM who says ‘find a solution because we don’t have money, because of low ADRs and ROI is less year on year...’ so sometimes you have to stretch your furnishing out as long as you can.”

Pemmasani continued saying that customers’ expectations are changing; they want smart, hassle-free rooms and most housekeepers need to ask if they have a hassle-free product.

He strongly believes that housekeepers should be a part of the design process adding: “We as housekeepers are not involved in the design part of the hotel. There are some good hotels which have a very structured hotel setup, some are converted from residential to hotels so we face lots of challenges. Renovations have to follow a timeline and we must understand what is overused.”

According to Illanperuma, it helps if housekeepers schedule regular walk-throughs with the general manager of the property.

“That way you can show management the product quality first-hand and they too understand how essential refurbishments or renovations are at the moment,” he added.

Another hot topic at the advisory panel was sustainability. Most housekeepers in hotels now opt to go the paperless route.

Housekeeping should recycle things where needed and it should be their way of contributing to the community, according to Millot.

”Back in the day when we started our careers everything was on paper. You got your assignments on paper, you filed the rooms done on paper and executive housekeepers filed their reports on paper,” said Illanperuma.

Nowadays, he added, it is all done  either via iPad or mobile. Agreeing with him, Millot added that going 100% paperless also helps increase housekeeping productivity. Another plus point of going paperless, according to Tzolova is that you can also monitor the productivity of their staff and their efficiency.

“New technology allows everything to be linked to a central system, so you can see who is where and cleaning which room and you can also send them urgent updates on which room needs their attention first,” said Illanperuma.

Explaining the use of the technology available, Illanperuma commented that it should be made mandatory for all housekeeping staff in hotels.

“Mobile housekeeping allows staff to continuously keep track of room status on a mobile device, giving them an easy solution to manage their workflow. The system allows an employee to see a list of rooms assigned along with each room’s real-time updated status. The room status also can be updated directly from the mobile device, ensuring that the staff always has the most recent updated information on every room,” he explained.

The housekeepers also called for a uniform casual labour policy to fight the challenge of staff attrition. “What is the point of me training someone and then have them leave to go work at another hotel? There needs to be a standard contract that says the staff need to work with us for an X amount of time,” Tzolova emphasised.

All this and more will be discussed, debated and shared at the Executive Housekeeper Forum next month.

Meet the Advisory Panel

Michele Millot, executive housekeeper, Jumeirah Beach Hotel
Chandra Illanperuma, director of housekeeping, Palazzo Versace Dubai
Kishore Kumar Pemmasani, executive housekeeper, Hilton Dubai The Walk
Tinka Tzolova, complex director of housekeeping at Le Méridien and Westin Mina Seyahi