Housekeeping Personnel: Categories Explained

Housekeeping staff can be divided into three categories:

Managerial: Executive housekeeper, Head housekeeper.

Supervisory: Assistant housekeeper, floor housekeeper, linen room supervisor, public area supervisor, and so on.

The unskilled: Cleaners, porter, valet, florist, tailor.

Executive Housekeeper/ Director Of Housekeeping

The executive housekeeper reports to the general manager, or the resident manager, or the room division manager. She is responsible and accountable for the total cleanliness and aesthetic upkeep of the hotel. She supervises all housekeeping employees, has the authority to hire or discharge subordinates, plans and assign work assignments, informs new employees of property regulations, inspects completed assignments and requisitions supplies.

Duties and Responsibilities

The executive housekeeper is expected to:

• Organize, supervise, and coordinate the work of housekeeping personnel on a day-to-day basis.
• Ensure excellence in housekeeping sanitation, safety, comfort and aesthetics for hotel guests.
• Draw up duty roasters and supervise the discipline and conduct of her staff.
• Assure proper communication within the department by conducting regular meeting with all personnel.
• Hire new employees, warn employees when hotel policies are violated, and discharge employees when necessary.
• Counsel employees on various duties and on work related issues.
• Motivate her staff and keep their morale high.
• Establish and maintain standard operating procedures for cleaning and to intimate new procedures to increase the efficiency of labour and product use.
• Search constantly for and test new techniques and products.
• Maintain an inventory of the furniture, linen and movable equipment in the rooms and related premises and to ensure they are regularly checked.
• Organize maintenance and repair of guestrooms.
• Deal with articles that a guest may have left behind in a room.
• Ensure the provision of proper uniform forthe hotel staff.
• Ensure observance of hygiene and safety precautions.
• Offer suggestions to the human resource department concerning selection, recruitment, replacement, duty alteration, upgrading and so on.
• Organize and supervise on the job and off the job training of staff.
• Liaise between the maintenance and housekeeping departments.
• Inspect and approve all supply requisitions for the housekeeping department, and to maintain par stock, inventory control, and cost-control procedures for all materials.
• Check the report filed and the registered maintained.
• Maintain a time logbook form of all employees within the department.
• Be responsible for recommendation and refurbishing of rooms, lobbies, and so on.
• Provide a budget to the management, and undertake budget control and forecasting.

Deputy Housekeeping

The deputy housekeeper reports to the executive housekeeper or the director of housekeeping. Large hotels may have a deputy housekeeper to whom the assistant housekeeper report. In small hotels, there may be either an assistant housekeeper or a deputy housekeeper reporting to executive housekeeper

Duties and Responsibilities

The deputy housekeeper is expected to:

• Check and ensure that all guestrooms, public areas and back of the house areas are clean and well-maintained.
• Inspects the work done by contractors, for example, pest control, laundry, window cleaning and so on.
• Prepare staff schedules and duty rosters.
• Ensure periodical stock-taking and maintaining of stock records from linen, uniforms and equipment.
• Provide the necessary information to and assist the executive officer in staff appraisal, disciplining, termination and promotion.
• Develop and implement training programme within the housekeeping department in consultation with the executive housekeeper.
• Assist the executive housekeeper in forecasting and budgeting for operating and capital expenditures.
• Take charge of the housekeeping department in the absence of the executive housekeeping.

Assistant Housekeeper/ Housekeeping Manager

The assistant housekeeper usually reports to the executive housekeeper. In hotels where an additional senior position of deputy housekeeper exists, the assistant housekeeper may report to the deputy housekeeper.

Generally, hotels employ one assistant housekeeper per 50-60 rooms. There may be just one assistant housekeeper under the executive housekeeper in a medium size hotel or one for each shift in a large hotel. In large hotels, the responsibility for the floors, public areas, linen room and control room are divided among assistant housekeepers.

Essentially, the assistant housekeeper manages the resources provide by the executive housekeeper to achieve the objective of cleanliness, maintenance and attractiveness during a given shift. His/her responsibility involves the daily supervision of specific areas within the hotel. In the absence of the deputy housekeeper, all the above mentioned duties and responsibilities are taken over by the assistant housekeeper.

Duties and Responsibilities

The assistant housekeeper is expected to:

• Be responsible for the efficient and orderly managed of cleaning, servicing and repair of guestrooms.
• Be responsible for the hotel linen and check its movement and its distribution to room attendants.
• Keep and inventory of housekeeping supplies and checkit regularly.
• Assists the room attendant in their work.
• Provide the front office with a list of rooms ready for allotment to guests.
• Organize the flower arrangements.
• Arrange the training of staff and substitute for the executive housekeeper in case of his/her absence.
• Update record books, registers and files.
• Compile and maids roaster.
• Check the VIP and OOO (out of order) rooms.

Floor Housekeeper/ Floor Supervisor

The floor housekeeper reports to the assistant housekeeper and executive housekeeper. Floor housekeepers have final responsibility for the condition of the guestrooms. Each floor housekeeper is assigned three or more floors.

She gives the room attendants their room assignments and the key master keys, which are returned at the end of the day. She checks, supervises and approve the attendants’ works and makes periodical inspection of the physical condition of all rooms on the floor.

Duties and Responsibilities

The floor housekeeper is expected to:

• Supervise and handling over of soiled linen to the laundry and requisitioning of fresh ones from housekeeping.
• Ensure supply of equipment and maintenance and cleanliness supplies to floors and public areas.
• Issue floor keys to room attendants.
• Supervise spring cleaning.
• Report on maintenance work on her floor.
• Coordinate with room service for cleaning.
• Maintain per stock for the respective floors.
• Coordinate with the front ofnce manager.
• Facilitate the provision of ‘extra services to guests, such as baby sitters, hot water, bottles, and so on, on request.
• Immediate report any safety or security hazard to the security department orto the management.
• Check on scanty baggage.
• Prepare housekeeping status reports.
• Supervise cleaning on the allotted floors and areas including guestrooms, corridors, staircases and floor pantries of the allotted floors.
• Report on standard of individual staff performance.

Night Supervisor

The night supervisor reports to the assistant housekeeper. He supervises all night staff engaged in the cleaning of public areas and guestrooms in the hotel.

Duties and Responsibilities

The night supervisor is expected to:

• Ensure that all public areas are thoroughly clean at night, which is the only time when traffic is low.
• Clear departure rooms to the front office if necessary.
• Plan the order of work according to priority and direct the staff accordingly.
• Make sure that departure rooms are serviced and made ready as soon as possible in orderthat reception may re-let at anytime.
• Organize special cleaning of rooms as required.
• Anticipate guests’ requirements at all times, thereby ensuring comfort and satisfaction.
• See that all lost and found articles are deposited with the control desk
• Ensure the submission of room attendants’ reports and the room status report.
• Help with the training of staff.
• Report any safety and security hazards.

Evening Shift Supervisor

Evening shift supervisor are required for the floors, public areas and control room. They report to the assistant housekeeper.

Duties and Responsibilities

An evening shift supervisor is expected to:

• Check all log entries and ensure they are followed up.
• Ensure all keys are deposited back before taking over the shift.
• Ensure the cleaning of rooms that were not serViced in the morning rooms with a “do not disturb” (dnd), double locked (dl) or refuse service status.
• Ensure all departure rooms are cleaned and released to the front office as soon as possible.
• Ensure that the turndown service is carried out for all rooms.
• Ensure public areas are kept clean at all times.

Linen Room Supervisor

The linen room supervisor reports to the assistant housekeeper. She supervises the work of the linen room and may have several linen attendants to assist her in providing clean, presentable linen throughout the house.

Duties and Responsibilities

The linen room supervisor is expected to:

• Be responsible for the entire hotel’s linen.
• Send dirty linen to the laundry after checking them piece by piece.
• Check laundered linen before giving it for ironing.
• Put away linen neatly once it has been washed, ironed and mended.
• Hand out linen to the various departments on presentation of vouchers signed by the head of respective departments.
• Maintain a register of linen movementand check the linen regularly.
• Look after the ironing and laundering of guests’ clothes and the uniforms of the hotel staff.
• Supervise the work of the linen attendants and tailors.
• Make suggestion relating to replacement purchases.

Uniform Room Supervisor

A uniform room supervisor reports to the assistant housekeeper. He/she is responsible for the maintenance of the hotel staff uniforms.

Duties and Responsibilities

The uniform room supervisor is expected to:

• Responsible for providing clean, serviceable uniforms to the staff of the hotel.
• Keep an inventory control of various uniforms in various stages to use such as when sorted ones are handed over or which are being washed or dry-cleaned in the laundry, or those of the person of the staff, or those in store for staff issue.
• Set the budget for the procurement of additional material for staff uniforms.

Linen Room Attendant/ Linen Room Maid

Linen room attendant reports to the linen room supervrsor.

Duties and Responsibilities

The linen room attendant is expected to:

• Be responsible for sorting all the sheets, pillowcases, towels, table cloths, napkins and so on into separate stacks.
• Issue clean linen on a clean for soiled basis.
• Place soiled linen in containers and send these to the laundry.
• Examine and count each item when they are sent to the laundry and again on their return.
• Shelve laundered linen after verifying the number and type of articles.
• Send torn articles to the seamstress for repair.
• Maintain proper records of discards and determined the percentage of discards.

Uniform Room Attendant

A uniform room attendant reports to the uniform room supervisor. He or she is in actual contact with the staff for the issues of uniforms.

Duties and Responsibilities

A uniform room attendant is expected to:

• Issue clean uniforms while receiving soiled ones.
• Send soiled uniforms for laundering.
• Examine the laundered items to ensure cleanliness and serviceability.
• Send torn uniforms to the seamstress for mending.
• Keep a count of uniforms.
• Shelve laundered uniforms after verifying the types of articles.
• Count and record linen to fill requisitions.

Storekeeper

A Storekeeper reports to the linen room supervisor. In large hotels, a storekeeper may be appointed to a full-time position.

Duties and Responsibilities

A storekeeperis expected to:

• Control the stock of equipment.
• Store cleaning materials and agents.
• lssue equipment and cleaning materials as per demand.
• Prepare requisition for used-up materials and new products for the approval of the executive housekeeper.
• Liaise with the purchase department for the procurement of the approved materials.

Control Desk Supervisor/ Control Room Supervisor

The control desk supervisor reports to the assistant housekeeper. The control room or control desk is the nerve center of the housekeeping department. The desk is manned 24hours a day. Since the control desk is the hub of information dissemination in housekeeping, the control desk supervisor is a critical person in housekeeping operations.

Duties and Responsibilities

The control desk supervisor is expected to:

• Cooperate with the front office for information on departure rooms and handing over of clean rooms.
• Cooperate with other departments for smooth functioning and efficiency.
• Receive complaints on maintenance and housekeeping.
• Maintain registers kept at the control desk.
• Receive special requests from guests.
• Act as a pivotal person in receiving and disseminating information amongst housekeeping staff.
• Maintain the latest reports regarding room occupancy, VlP’s, status of rooms, and so on, so that work can be delegated to attendants and supervisors accordingly.
• Attend to all phone calls received at the control desk.
• Be responsible for guestroom keys given to room attendants and to store the keys and maintain a key register.

Guestroom Attendants/ Room Maids/ Chamber Maids

Guestroom attendants (GRAs) reports to the floor supervisor (or the night supervisor in case of night room attendants). In small hotels, they may report to the assistant housekeeper directly. Generally, hotels employ one room maid per 12-15 rooms. The room attendants’/ maids’ work is for great important because it contributes in a big way to the comfort of guests and hence, their impression of the hotel.

Their day consists of servicing each room to the required standard of the hotel, and this includes making beds, coping with linen supplies, and general cleaning. Nowadays, most hotel use the term “attendant” rather than “maid” since men have entered this arena earlier dominated by women.

Duties and Responsibilities

Aroom attendant is expected to:

• Clean and tidy rooms as perthe sanitary regulations assigned.
• Change guestroom and bathroom linen.
• Make guestroom beds.
• Replenish guest supplies.
• Answer guests’ summons promptly.
• Be responsible for getting guest laundry processed.
• Undertake the evening check of rooms and provide the turn-down service.
• Check and secure rooms.
• Handover to the housekeeper any article with a guest might have left behind in a room.
• Replenish the maid’s cart with guest supplies, cleaning agents and linen.

Head House Person

He or she reports to the public area supervisor. In some organizations, he/she may report directly to the executive housekeeper or assistant housekeeper and is in charge of the housemen/ House persons.

Duties and Responsibilities

The headperson is expected to:

• Supervise the work allotted to house persons, especially those in the public areas.
• Supervise the work of people who clean the carpets, wall washers, and wmdow washers.
• Supervise the work 0f drapery men, heavy vacuum machine operators for general cleaning, chandelier cleaners, and workers responsible for relamping.
• Supervise the work of furniture men, floor men and warehouse men.

Houseporters/ Housepersons

The house persons report to the head house person or the public area supervisor. The house person‘s job involves heavy physical work as assigned, such as carpet cleaning, window cleaning, carrying heavy pieces of furniture, washing public areas, garbage clearance, and also complementing the work of room attendants on guest floors.

Duties and Responsibilities

The headperson is expected to:

• Clean carpets.
• Shift beds, chairs, and other heavy furniture.
• Cart linen to and from floors.
• Clean the swimming pool.
• Clean garden paths and such as outdoor surfaces.
• Clear out the garbage.
• Polish all brassware.
• Help room attendants in their work in guestrooms.
• Clean all doors, windows and ventilators.
• Take down and re-hang curtains as needed.
• Clean firehghting equipment.
• Keep the fire buckets filled with sand.
• Take on heavy cleaning of areas such as shaft and terraces.
• Wash walls, draperies, chandeliers, and other hard-to-reach areas.

 

Tailors, Seamstresses And Upholsterers

They report to the linen room supervisor. They are responsible for mending and stitching uniforms, linen and upholstery, respectively. The Upholsterers also replenish upholstery that require replacement.

Duties and Responsibilities

The groups of staff are expected to:

• Mend all damage linen using methods such as patching.
• Mend all damage uniform and alter uniforms if required.
• Make pads from used mattress pads for the burnishing of silver.
• Stitch pillowcase if required.
• Refurnish all damaged upholstery.
• Repair guest’s clothes if damaged.
• Estimate the requirement of materials and request the linen room supervisorto place a requisition at the stores.
• Draw materials from the stores and take these to the tailoring room.
• Re-shrink material whenever required.

Cloakroom Attendant/ Powder Room Attendant

In a hotel that host many events and receives many non-resident guests, it is usual to have someone on duty in a ladies’ powder room during lunch and dinner time to attend to the requirements of guests, guards their belongings, and keep the powder room neat and tidy. The cloakroom attendants report to the public area supervisor.

Duties and Responsibilities

The cloakroom attendant is expected to:

• Maintain an adequate stock of soaps detergents combs brushes, and powder with hand towels to meet demands at peak hours.
• Take soiled and towels to the linen room for replacement.
• Maintain the shoe-shine kit and clean guests’ shoes if required.
• Maintain all cupboards and fixtures installed in the cloakroom.
• Brushes guests’ jackets if required.

Hat Checkers

A hat checker provides his service in superior hotels in cold climates. His domain is the hat checkroom, where hat and heavy overcoats are deposited by guests as soon as they enter the hotel lobby, so as to spare them the inconvenience of carrying these articles around in the hotel. The hat checkers carefully labels these guest articles, and hangs or stores them correctly so as to return them to the guests when they are leaving the hotel.

Horticulturist

Many large hotels have their own horticulturist, who reports to the assistant housekeeper. He or she lead a team of gardeners of the hotel as well as the supplying flowers from the gardens for flower arrangements in the hotel.

Flowers are used largely by the housekeeping department to aesthetically enhance various areas of the hotel. Flower arrangement may be used in banquet functions, guestrooms, restaurants, lobbies, office and so on.

Duties and Responsibilities

The horticulturist is expected to:

• Supervise the maintenance of gardens and landscaped areas.
• Ensure a smooth supply of flowers to the housekeeping department.
• Assist the executive housekeeper with flower arrangementin the absent of florist.

Head Gardener

The head gardener reports to the horticulturist. He is required to maintain landscaped areas and gardens in the hotel, keeping in mind their cleanliness, and aesthetic appeal and freshness all the year round through a wellmotivated team of gardeners.

Duties and Responsibilities

The head gardener is expected to:

• Ensure that landscaped areas, gardens, rock gardens, water ways and so on are maintain as per the original concept.
• Brief, schedule and allot duties to gardeners.
• Take care of fresh seasonal planting.
• Procure quality seeds from reliable sources at reasonable costs.
• Procure. control and supervise the usage of manure and fertilizers.
• Maintain the watering schedules and attends to any problems regarding water shortages.
• Provide the hotel with flowers, garlands, wreaths or bouquets as when required.
• Maintain and prepare indoor plants forthe hotel.
• Supervise the maintenance of lawns, mowing and replanting the grass.
• Train gardeners.
• Ensure that gardeners handle equipment and tools efficiently and correctly.
• Oversee the upkeep of the plant nursery and greenhouse.

Gardeners

Gardeners (maalis) reports to the head gardeners or the horticulturist. They keep landscape areas, lawns and gardens clean, aesthetically beautiful, and fresh through the daily schedules of tasks assigned to them.

Duties and Responsibilities

The gardener is expected to:

• Dig landscape areas and maintain them as per the original concept and undertake fresh planting.
• Plant seeds and saplings as per conditions and the landscaping/ horticultural concept.
• Distribute manure and fertilizer appropriately Water all garden areas as schedule.
• Maintain the plant nursery and the greenhouse.
• Prune and trim edges and bushes.
• Prepare flower, ported indoor plants required by the hotel.
• Utilize garden tools efficiently.

Florist

Many luxury hotel employ their own florist nowadays. Providing attractive flower arrangement for the entire hotel is his/her responsibility. A florist may report to the horticulturist or the assistant house keeper. He/ she may have an assistant florist to help.

Duties and Responsibilities

The florist is expected to:

• Collect fresh flowers from the garden everyday.
• lncase flowers are not available from the hotel garden, to purchase flowers from dealers.
• Make up various types of flower arrangement for different hotel areas i.e. Lobbies, front office, restaurants, banquet halls, convention rooms, VIP rooms, and guestrooms.
• Provide garlands, wreath and bouquet to the hotel for the guest as when required.
• Treat cut flowers so that they last longer.
• Maintain flowers arrangement by changing water, pruning and so on.
• Be responsible for the functioning of the flower room in the house keeping department, which deals with the care of the flower arranging equipment, mechanics accessories.
• Train the assistant florist.

Laundry Manager

The laundry manager reports to the director of housekeeping. He/ She is responsible for the entire functioning of the laundry and dry cleaning unit. A laundry manager must have organizational ability as well as technical knowledge of chemicals and their effects on fabrics.

Laundry Supervisor

He/ She is in charge of the functioning of the laundry in the absence of the laundry manager.

Drycleaner

The dry cleaner is in charge of the dry cleaning of the hotel linen and guest clothing.

Washer

A washer is the person who actually does the laundry of linen, uniforms and guests clothing.

Duties and Responsibilities

The washer is expected to:

• Spot stained fabrics before loading them Into the washlng machines.
• Load soiled linen into washing machines, feed in the right amount of detergent and other laundering chemicals and run the machines.
• Load washed linen into dryers.
• Clean all equipment after use.

Laundry Workers

They are the lower rank of staff in the laundry, carrying out a variety of duties. Proper training is essential to ensure they function smoothly and efficiently.

Duties and Responsibilities

The laundry workers are expected to:

• Sort soiled linen according to the fabric types, colours and degree of soiling.
• Load soiled linen into washing machines and to load washed linen into ryers.
• Transport soled linen from the linen room, to the laundry and fresh linen from the laundry to the linen room.
• Keep the laundry clean.

Valets/ Runners

“Valet service”means that the hotel will take care of the guest laundry. Valet reports to the linen room supervisor. They are responsible for collecting soiled guest laundry and delivering fresh guest laundry. They are also involved in washing the guest cars.