DAILY ROUTINE OF HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT AND ROLE OF THE FLOOR SUPERVISOR

There are generally 3 shifts in HK dept.:

1) Morning Shift(7am-4 am):In the morning shift, the major cleaning of all guest rooms is done and general cleaning of public areas.

2) Afternoon Shift(1pm-10pm)/(3pm-12am):Turn down service is given to guest rooms, second service if required, departure room clearance is done by the second shift and public area functional areas are checked.

3) Night Shift (10pm-7am):Thorough cleaning of public areas is carried out.

THE ROLE OF THE FLOOR SUPERVISOR

The floor supervisors have an overall responsibility for the floors allotted to them. They are responsible not only for maintaining hygiene and cleanliness but also responsible for work force like GRA and houseman for their work and overall behavior. While working they also deal with guest complaints and requests demonstrating the following qualities:

1. Patience

2. Diplomacy

3. Presence of mind

4. Eye for details

5. Honesty

They should be prompt enough to attend to these in such a way that there is quick and effective solution. At the same time they carry out the task of training their subordinates in various standards of work. Also they train and brief the GRAs and houseman about use of various equipments and cleaning agents, safety and security, inculcate qualities like punctuality, etiquettes and manners while dealing with the guest. It is a job of middle management personnel. They report to their senior authority i.e. assistant housekeeper floor, deputy housekeeper.

Each floor supervisor is usually responsible for 50-60 rooms. Thus he/she is responsible for 1 or a maximum of 3 floors.

The staff enters the hotel premises through the time office in order to punch in their time cards. Each floor supervisor then collects the room status information sent by the front office to the house keeping. It states the early morning expected arrivals and departures of the day, group check ins/ check outs of the day, VIP inhouse guests. Any special request for extra bed, baby cots etc should be noted. Any supplies due to be returned from the check out rooms that day should be noted. The floor supervisor also finds out about the GRA working under her, goes through the duty roster. She checks the logbook for various messages regarding her floor. At the end she signs the key register, proceeds to the floor taking the necessary floor keys.

On the floor, the floor supervisor also helps to keep a check on the movement of the staff working under her. She checks the uniform of the room attendants, briefs them on the special cleaning tasks of the day and gives them the complementaries and supplies required for the guestroom. It is noted in the housekeeper day book or staff placement register. The book serves as an attendance register and is kept with the desk supervisor to help him/her to page the staff if required for any reason. Depending on the allocation of the section, pass keys(section/floor master keys) are collected and signed in the register. The room assignment sheet is given to the room attendant who is expected to fill while cleaning the room. The floor supervisor then records the first room occupancy at about 8:30 am. This also gives her an opportunity to check the corridors, elevator areas, fire exits and service area. It is also simultaneously recorded in the floor register.The physical occupancy report is submitted to the desk housekeeper who in turn prepares room status reports and passes the same to the front office for the necessary action.

While taking the occupancy , the floor supervisor checks the rooms taking the physical check of each room on a floor.She checks the occupied room for the number of guest present in the room.If the supervisor does not see any guest then the number of beds being used, clothes of the guest, sizes of shoes, number of toothbrushes are taken as indicators to decide number of guest present in the room. Additional information like sleep outs ,scanty baggage, guests who have packed their bags and relevant room number which does not feature in the expected departure list is also highlighted so that the front office can check with the guest if he is planning to cut down stay. A discrepancy report is made by the front office staff and is handed over to the senor authorities for execution of necessary action. The floor supervisor in big hotels has to check the room at least once every day. This report is made thrice a day, one in the morning at 8:30am,12:pm and one in the afternoon before 4:00pm.The room occupancy report is made in triplicate, one copy is given to the front office cashier, second copy to the reception and the third copy is retained with the housekeeping for their reference. The room occupancy report is then cross checked and compared with the front office department and the discrepancy report is made by the front office. The duty manager is informed accordingly for the necessary action.

Computerized status system: the problem in reporting housekeeping status to the front office can be eliminated when the computer system is directly connected to guestroom telephone with such a network that a floor supervisor can inspect guestrooms. Determine their readiness for sale and then enter a designated code on the room telephone to change the room status in the hotel’s computer system. This procedure can reduce not only number of guest forced to wait for the room assignment but also decreases the length of their wait.

FORMAT OF ROOM OCCUPANCY/STATUS REPORT

Room Occupancy Report
1st Floor			2nd Floor
Room no.	Code/Status	No. of guests	Room no.	Code/Status	No. of guests
101	Dep.	-	201	DL	-
102	V	-	202	O,SB	2
103	O	2+1	203	O,SO

_____________Signature of the desk housekeeper

The desired results of an established cleaning system are best achieved only when a guest room inspection is done. This serves the purpose of rectifying any problems that may have been previously overlooked during cleaning, before the guest notices. Room inspection not only helps to identify ordinary problems with cleaning but also helps to identify areas requiring special cleaning or maintenance.

An Inspection programme can be done in various forms. In some properties especially in smaller properties, occupied rooms are spot checked while the departure rooms are definitely checked daily.

Each floor supervisor is usually responsible for a certain number of rooms (45-60) and must be aware of the current status of each room that is assigned to her/him. The room is checked to ensure :

1) Correct standard of cleanliness has been maintained.

2) For any technical repairs(if any)

3) Correct room complementaries and adequate guest supplies have been provided.

A room inspection report or a check list should be completed by the floor supervisor who notes down the condition and proper operations of various fixtures of the room. It is also simultaneously recorded in the floor register so that a continuous record is maintained. An inspection programme is not effective if no follow up is given to an identified problem. Depending on the hotel procedures the floor supervisor is responsible for filling out work orders or maintenance request that are needed. The work order or job order is made in triplicate. Two copies (the original and the duplicate) are given to the maintenance engineer. The third remaining copy remains with the housekeeping department. The maintenance engineer hands over both the copies to the concerned technician who is required to attend to the complaint. The technician goes to the respective floor and asks the floor supervisor or GRA to open the concerned room. He then attends to the complaint and signs on both the work orders, writes the time and date against work completed. He takes acknowledgement from the floor supervisor. He hands over the original copy to the housekeeping department and the duplicate copy to the maintenance department. The copy given to the floor supervisor is then given to the desk housekeeper who files it in the work order files. At the end of the day a report is made by the desk housekeeper about complaints attended to in the day, that are to be followed up the next day, major maintenance complaints that can be attended to only by taking the rooms on O-O-O status. Thus the original copy is retained by the maintenance department for its future reference.

Inspection Programme Technology: (Guest Room Inspection)

A barcode is a group of printed bars, spaces and numerals that appear on the packaging of every retail item. These codes are to be scanned and read into a computer system. Each guest room is identified with a barcode tag. The tag is placed in a secret spot such as behind the door frame. The floor supervisor is given a barcode scanner and a set of carde that will feature condition of each item that needs to be inspected, attended or repaired. On entering the room, the supervisor scans the barcode tag this will now record the room number, time and date in the scanner. The condition of each inspected item is noted by scanning the proper barcode. Depending on the programme and the property’s needs, the information can be presented in a summary or report format with an overview of the condition of each inspected items.

Room Inspection Report/Checklist
Date:20/12/04
Room boy: James Bond Floor : 7
Dep #s : 701,702, 705.			Vac #s :703, 706, 707.
Occ #s : 704.			VIP #s: 706
Room no:	Status	Extra item provided	Electrical	Carpentry	Plumbing	Polishing	Carpet Cleaning
707	V		A.C. not working		ü
704	O	Extra bed					ü
701	Dep				ü

___________ Signature of Supervisor

Discrepancy Report: (made by front office)

Discrepancy Report
Date:13/12/2009 Time:15:45
Room no.	Status as per Front Office	Status as per Housekeeping	Action taken
101	O	O,SB	Informed D.M(duty manager) and security
102	C/O	VNR	-

Guest Room Inspection:

A supervisor has to check all the rooms on his/her floor, including all vacant room, departure room, expected arrival, VIP arrival, group arrival, blocked rooms and under repair rooms both out of service and out of order. After the end of the shift the floor supervisor has to take hand over from the GRA and make the entry in the floor register. The supervisor has to make the entry of all the DND, R/S, L/S on the floor.

The supervisor has to take the handover of lost and found from the GRA for the day. Before coming to the department the supervisor has to check the floor pantry, guest elevator, and service elevator, back-area of the floor, all fire exit and corridor. The supervisor has to check the floor pantry and has to take the count of all the items in the pantry like all loan item (iron board, hot water bag, water flask, weighing machine, etc) and make an entry in the floor register. After that the supervisor has to fill the log book kept in the department. The supervisor has to make an entry of all the rooms checked by him for the day. The supervisor has to fill the key register, hand over register. The supervisor has to hand-over the lost and found and keys to the desk attendant/supervisor before leaving for the day.

While dealing with the guest the floor supervisor comes across various complaints made by guests during their stay. The nature of these complaints is:

1) Technical / mechanical complaints: these are various complaints which include maintenance related problems eg AC not working, the job of the supervisor is not only to pass on these complaints but also to get them attended as early as possible.

2) Service related complaints: they are complaints related to inefficient working or cleanliness standards of the GRA. She briefs the GRA accordingly and attends to the complaint as soon as possible.

3) Attitude related problems: these imply problems regarding the behavior of the GRA which may require counseling ,

4) Unusual complaints: these imply undue demands made by the guest and also bad guest behavior.

5) Complaints like missing items from the room after the room is cleaned by the GRA which calls for alertness, investigation and involvement of seniors.