We offer specialized cleaning solutions, disinfectants and most modern equipments for cleaning and polishing of various stone surfaces like marbles, granite, and other surfaces. Riech Hospitality services works in conjunction with Roots-Hoko Ltd. The professional cleaning equipments manufacturers

INTRODUCTION

The housekeeping department is responsible for the cleanliness, maintenance and aesthetic upkeep of the establishment. The role of housekeeping is to keep a clean comfortable and safe house. It is an extension of basic home keeping multiplied into commercial proportions.

QUALITIES OF HOUSEKEEPING STAFF

Most essential especially for floor and public area supervisors, room attendants and housemen who are in guest contact, such staff would be normally uniformed. Hence each staff member must ensure that his/her uniform crisp, clean and well pressed. Lady staff must wear light make-up and restrict their jewellery to the minimum such as wedding bands and ear tops.

Hair must be tied in a burn or worn short. Shoes worn must be low heeled and sturdy as housekeeping staff work long hours on their feet.

GROOMING AND PERSONAL HYGIENE

1. Gentlemen should shave every day.

2. Trim moustaches daily.

3. Trim nails twice a week - once On Wednesday and on Sunday

4. There should be no hair covering any part of the ear, collar. Staff look smarter when hair doesn't cover the forehead. Staffs are advised to trim their hair once every three weeks.

5. Shirt cuffs and collars ll1ust always be clean.

6. Bath everyday. Use soap and Shampoo to prevent skin infections and body odour due to unclean hail'.

7. Cloths should be pressed every day and have a freshly laundered look.

8. Brush the teeth at least twice every day, gargle after smoking 0r eating to prevent bad breath.

9. Wash the hands as often as necessary especially after any other activity where hands may get unclean.

HONESTY

This is a very essential attribute for housekeeping staff, especially Room Attendants, who have access to all guest rooms. Guest belongings, sometimes invaluable are often found lying around in the room. The temptations to thieve are great. It is only the personal quality of discipline and integrity that checks these temptations.

Eye for Detail

It is one of the greatest qualities that house keeping staff must have. It is with this quality that the finer aspects of housekeeping are taken care of and it is what determines a good service from an average one. This quality enables housekeeping staff to take into consideration the minutest details.

Co-Cooperativeness

Housekeeping staff needs to be co-operating with other departments to achieve more efficiency.

BRIEFING AND SCHEDULING OF STAFF

Briefing is that process at the beginning of a work shift which is provided by management to facilitate a two-way communication between management and staff. It is the one time during a shift that all housekeeping staff are together to share information and feelings before they disperse to their work areas.

Briefing Schedule

1. Personal hygiene and grooming.

2. Any new policies and procedures introduced by managcl11enL must be made out and explained to the staff.     

3. At n briefing the duties or each staff member and the areas of accountability are explained. This would mean that staffs are assigned a floor and allotted their number of rooms. The staffs likewise, are told which floors or public areas they are assigned to for cleaning. They are also told which supervisor would be in charge.

4. Briefing is a time which can be used as a training opportunity. Simple tasks may be demonstrated so that they can be practiced under supervision at their work place.

RULES ON GUEST FLOORS

Prior to commencing work, all house keeping staff must follow some floor rules that lend an air of efficiency and least inconvenience to guests. 

1. Speech amongst the floor staff must be restricted to a minimum. In case communication is necessary, this must be done in low tones even when guests are not in sight.

2.  Un necessary movements like running or jumping must be avoided.

3. The passageways must be kept free of equipments, trays or trolleys.

4. Room attendants must greet all guests according to The Time of the day.

5. Staff must be helpful and readily give required information.

6. Remember the guest is always right. Arguing with a guest is prohibited.

7.  The door of the room in which the attendant is cleaning should always be kept wide open.

8.  If the guest returns when the room is being cleaned the room attendant may ask the guest if they   can continue or come later.

9. Always follow the procedure of entering a room even if the room is seemingly vacant.

CLEANING A ROOM

Prior to reporting on a 11oor the room attendant already knows the status of a room in her given lot of rooms. The room attendant can prioritize room to be attended to first on the basis of immediate needs. Before entering the room knock at the door firmly with the index finger knuckle announcing clearly" Housekeeping". When there is no answer, repeat the knock after ten seconds announcing yourself as before. If there is still no answer open the door and knock announcing inside the room "Housekeeping". When there is no reply and one is relatively sure that there is no one in, open the door wide and keep it that way till the entire cleaning cycle in the room is complete.

Room Cleaning Procedure

1. Switch off the room air-conditioner. Draw all curtains and open the windows for airing the room.

2. Check the maintenance requirements and report to the department head.

3. Turn the mattress side-to-side on succeeding days followed by end-to-end turning. Smooth out mattress to air it.

4. Clean the bath room.

5. Clean the ceiling and air-conditioning vents for cobwebs.

6. Collect all loose papers or magazines and stack them neatly on the desk.

7. Clean all the surfaces in single circular motions with a dry cloth. Use a hand dust pan to collect any unwanted matter on the surface without lifting dust in the air Ensure that all surfaces are spotlessly clean. Pay special attention to nooks and corners especially those points that may not obviously be visible to the guests eye.

8. Use a stiff upholstery brush or vacuum cleaner on upholstered furniture arms, backs and seats.

9. Clean lamp shades with a clean dry duster.

10. Disinfect telephone mouthpiece with Dettol. Wipe balance of the telephone with a damp cloth, check phone for the dial tone.

11. Clean mirror with a dry cloth.

12. Dust closet, shelves, hangers and rods. Brush the closet floor.

13. Dust both sides of all room doors, baseboards, window sills, inside and out, bottom

14. and centre sashes or windows, close windows.

15. Wash the floors.

16. Arrange furniture if necessary

17. Switch on the air-conditioning.

18. Have a last look at the room referring to the checklist for completion of work.

CLEANING A BATHROOM

Basic Principles :­

        (a) Cleaning activity starts from the ceiling downwards to the floor.

(b) Floors are cleaned from the wall farthest to the door to the exit.

1. Open all exhaust vents.

2. Collect all trash in bathroom waste basket and deposit in trash hamper of the maids-cart.

3. Clean the ceiling and air-conditioning vents for cobwebs.

4. Wipe off light bulbs and shades with dry cloth. Check that all bulbs are working.

5. Wipe down tile walls using a sponge or damp cloth. Follow with a dry cloth ensuring that tiles are free of water marks.

6. Clean mirror first with dry cloth then with glass cloth and finally with dry cloth.

7. Wipe dry the shower curtain with a sponge.

8.  Scrub to dry the area next to the wash basin.

9. Scrub the toilet bowl and bidet using the special brush or mop and the prescribed sanitizer. The inner rim should be cleaned. Ensure it is dry and spotless inside. Clean the WC from the outside with a sponge till it is sparkling find dry. Clean the lid and toilet seat of the toilet bowl dry and close them.

10. Scrub the floor with the prescribed mop and ensure it is dry

11. Finally close the windows shut all lights and close the bathroom doors.

DIRTY DOZEN

1. Top of the door edges and ceiling.

2. Air-conditioning ducts and diffuser grills. Under bathroom counters.

3. Behind the WC bowl- the s-trap.

4. In the toilet roll niche

5. Faucet nozzle filter

6. Top of the picture frames

7. Area above racks

8. Toilet vents

9. Rear surface of doors

10. Interior surface of drawers

11. Beneath the table

Room Maintenance Procedure

As hose keeping has contact with all rooms and public areas practically in every shift, it is they who detect report and ensure the completion of all maintenance work. This requires close co-ordination with the engineering department.

Weekly cleaning Procedure

In addition to daily cleaning routine, a room attendant normally has some cleaning chores that are of a time-consuming nature. Such items may sometimes be beyond the physical capacity and need the assistance of a skill worker.

Such tasks are:

1. Polishing of brassware

2. Scrubbing of bathroom tiles

3. Cleaning of window panes

4. Scrubbing of balconies and terraces

5. Vacuuming of under heavy furniture.

PUBLIC AREA CLEANING

A house maid is assigned to do this task and is responsible for the cleanliness of ceilings, walls and floors, carpeted floors should be vacuum cleaned daily, tile floors to be brushed clean and then wet mopped. They should also remove stains. Floor tile edges, corners, baseboards and the immediate wall area above are to be inspected to ensure that there are no water marks. Wooden railings and -skirtings has to clean with dry clothes. All corridor lighting fixtures are to be cleaned as often as required. It is also the responsibility of a houseman to clean fire extinguishers and fire extinguisher recesses including glass door and metal paneling. Metal railing and paneling to be polished weekly using min cream so that the shine remains

The house keeping department is responsible for the cleanliness of the interior of elevator cars. A thorough cleaning of walls, ceilings, and floors should be carried out at least once daily. The volume of traffic may require more frequent cleaning of elevator floors.

The Door houseman is assigned the task of cleaning the stairways on a daily or more frequent schedule depending up on traffic requirements.

Floor terraces, balconies, shopping arcade and offices are also to be cleaned. While cleaning the offices should be scheduled at times when the offices are not in service.

Carpet cleaning can be done by electrical method e.g. vacuum cleaner

Manual method ex: carpet brush.

Cleaning of ceramic tiles marble can sweep, wash, mop ;>1' use electric scrubber with prescribed liquid cleaning agents and solutions. It is as a daily cleaning procedure.

Cleaning Methods

Cleaning basically involves the removal of dust and other foreign matter from surfaces. The choice of a cleaning method depends on various factors. They are.

1. The nature of soiling.

2. The nature of surface soiled.

3. The properties of cleaning agents suitable for the surface.

4. The best way to clean without disposing dust to other areas.

5. The method should re8tore the surface to its original shcPI1 and color.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES THAT CAN BE APPLIED TO ALL CLEANING

1. All loose dust and litter should be removed before dealing with any stubborn stains/dirt.

2. Use lighter cleaning methods first before attempting stronger methods

3. Before any implement or cloths are used, they should be made clean and dry.

4. Abrasives should be used as a last resort as they can damage the surface.

5. Use all agents that is least offensive in smell if alternatives are available.

6. When cleaning a surface, be cautions of marring the surrounding area e. g. finger prints on wall, grazing other article etc.

7. Be sure that during the process of cleaning areas do not become accident prone e. g. wet, slippery floor etc.

CLEANING AGENTS

One of the basic methods used is cleaning with water. The role of water is to hold the dirt and remove it away as in rinsing. This is done with the aid of detergents. Multipurpose liquid Cleaning agents are available that can either diluted in water or used directly with a dry cloth. For glasses liquid glass cleaning agents are used.

CLEANING EQUIPMENTS

1.    Mechanical equipments.

a.    Electric vacuum cleaner with full range of nozzles and attachments for all types of surfaces.

b.    Electric polishers and scrubbers

c.     Shampoo machines.

2.    Containers (Buckets, bnsil1ps and bowels, dust pans, Dust Bins etc.)

3.    Brushes

Toilet Brush

Sink Brush Scrubbing Brush

Carpet hand brush

 Soft hand brush

4. Brooms:  Yard Brooms (Hard and soft)

5. Mops

6. Bath room wipers

7. Cleaning cloths (Dusters)