Having a fully functional laundry facility in your hotel is a great asset when it comes to servicing the guest rooms quickly and efficiently. This way not only will your team be able to do their job more quickly, but this also allows you to keep track of your inventory and closely monitor the state of your linens and towels.
However, keep in mind that a hotel laundry requires constant maintenance and that, if everything is not in top condition, it can cause some serious downtime, which can hurt your business if not taken care of as soon as possible. Therefore, here are some useful tips that can help you streamline the operations of your hotel laundry services.
Pay attention to your equipment
Aside from making sure that all the equipment in your laundry is of high quality and that every worker knows how things should be handled, you also need to make sure that everything is working properly at all times. Even the slightest hiccup can cause some serious downtime, that can affect all aspects of running a hotel business.
To clarify, if there are not enough clean sheets and linens due to an unexpected washing machine breakdown, your room maintenance team won’t be able to get the rooms ready for the next batch of guests, which means that the check-in personnel won’t be able to check new guests in, which basically means that you’ll be losing business. Therefore, make sure that every piece of equipment is being maintained on a regular basis.
Weighing in is of the utmost importance
Every piece of equipment, especially your washing machines and dryers, has its own specific weight capacity. This number is not there to just look good, but it actually has a very important purpose. Every time the capacity is exceeded or not met, it’s directly endangering the condition of your equipment.
Therefore, explain to your workers that over- or under-loading the machines will eventually lead to damaged equipment, and thus make sure that no one damages the equipment by accident. When the loading capacities are not met, it throws the machine off balance and causes excessive vibrations that can seriously hinder the internal bearings. If the internal bearings get damaged, the repair will cost a lot, so avoid this dent in your budget by making sure that everyone follows the rules.
Help both your equipment and your team
Next, in order to make sure everything and everyone is doing their best, there are a few things you should consider adding to your laundry. First, consider getting a state-of-the-art towel folder to optimize this part of the process. With this nifty gadget, you can cut the time needed to fold the towels in half. Also, the latest models can even differentiate various types of towels (hand towels, bath towels and bathmats) so no pre-sorting is needed, which additionally lowers the time needed to get things done.
You should also consider installing an expansion tank to help protect your washing machines from sudden water pressure fluctuations. An expansion tank works as a buffer between the pipes and the machines it’s attached to, which means that whenever something goes wrong, it takes the hit instead of the equipment. And there’s probably no need to mention that replacing an expansion tank is far cheaper than replacing an industrial washing machine. Sudden raises and drops in water pressure can negatively affect your equipment, so doing everything you can to get this under control is always a smart choice.
Make sure you have extras
To avoid any downtime as much as possible, make sure you have extra sets of clean linen and towels. You need to understand that sooner or later something unexpected might happen which may cause an unplanned halt in your laundry operations.
So, instead of having to reject guests due to the shortage of clean laundry, you can simply use your extra stash, until the problem that caused a halt is taken care of. Three complete turns of linen and towels is usually enough.
Don’t forget to relax
Whenever there’s not a lot of guests or, rather, when the number of guests falls below 50% of the hotel’s capacity, you should consider closing the laundry and giving your team a day off. There are a couple of reasons you should do so.
First, everyone likes to get a day off every now and then, and your team definitely deserves a break. Second, since the hotel is not near its full capacity, there simply won’t be enough laundry to meet the aforementioned washing machine and dryer weight capacities, so there really is no point in keeping the laundry running.
By keeping some of the aforementioned tips in mind, you’ll have no problem streamlining the operations of your hotel laundry facilities. Just make sure that all of your staff knows what they’re doing, all of your machines are being maintained regularly, and that you have an ace up your sleeve in the form of clean extras so that you can remedy any unexpected hiccup efficiently and in a timely manner.