“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.
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