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
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