Introduction to Housekeeping

According to Oxford-Longman Dictionary, housekeeping is the management of household affairs. So, when we are talking about household affairs, it means we are dealing with maintaining a clean and comfortable environment in the premises. A hotel’s largest margin of profit comes from room sales because a hotel room can be sold over and over again.  The room sale depends on many things such as room décor, room facilities, cleanliness of the room, safety and many more. In other words, it is the housekeeping task to ensure the guest needs and preferences to comfort and security are fulfilled.

Every department in the hotel should have its own mission.  Mission is a continuing task or responsibility to be performed by a group of people.

The main mission of Housekeeping Department is to:

·         provide a clean interior to upgrade room sales

·         protect the owner’s investment

It is because a dirty room is one of the reasons guest choose not to return to the same hotel. The importance of housekeeping activities goes beyond providing clean guest room to sell.  Restaurants, meeting rooms and function space will increase the hotel revenue if they are cleaned properly and well maintained by the housekeeping department.

One of the important tasks that Housekeeping department has to perform is to maintain the life expectancy of all interior design in the premise. A nice interior with attractive furniture will enhance the ambience of a hotel and give quality taste.   The executive housekeeper has a huge responsibility to develop effective cleaning practices and to train housekeeping staff to do the cleaning job to meet this mission