DAILY ROUTINE AND SYSTEM | IHM 2nd Sem Notes

DAILY ROUTINE AND SYSTEM IN THE HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT

 

 Hotel is working 24x7x365 days. To operate the hotel smoothly it has three shifts. Shift may start at 6-7-8am and end at 2-3-4pm respectively. All the shifts will overlap one hr to ensure the reliever is on duty.

 As an employee arrives he/she has to enter through back gate which is meant only for staff. They must punch in their card at the time of entry as it is from here that personal dept. prepares their salary cheque too.

 Then they go to staff locker to change and groom to the hotel standard before they report to the dept. It is suggested that all the employees deposit their uniforms at the time of departure so that it is ready in time for next use.

In housekeeping dept. the staffs report to H.K. desk.

 H.K. CONTROL DESK-

The H.K. control desk is the hub of the housekeeping dept.This is the area in then dept. where all information is received and from where messages are dissipated to housekeeping and other staff present in various parts of the hotel. Thus, the control desk

 

may be considered the nerve centre for to and fro communication in the housekeeping dept. One of the main functions of the control desk is ensuring smooth co-ordination between housekeeping and other dept.such as maintenance, front office, food and beverage, security, sales and marketing and so on. Apart from maintaining the intra-dept. and inter- dept. channels of communication, it is the control desk which receives messages from in-house guests over the telephone. In most hotels, this is the area where housekeeping employees report for work; collect the respective keys, signing for them; peruse the log book; get their briefing; and at the end of their shift, report back to.

The main physical feature visible in most control desk areas is the key cabinet on the wall, where all floor master keys and store keys are kept under lock and key. Another common feature here is a large notice board displaying notices:

·         Duty roaster

·         Cleaning schedules

·         VIP list

·         List of rooms, of; crew and groups in-house.

 

One of the most important roles of the control desk is maintained various important records, registers, forms and formats so that they are available and easily accessible for reference to managers and supervisors. For e.g.:

·         Key control register

·         Log book

·         Maintenance register and forms

·         Departure register

·         Guest message register

·         Baby sitting register

·         Guest loan article register

·         Lost and found register Store indent book Room status report Room transfer report VIP in-house list

·         VIP arrival list.

 Then they are briefed by the supervisor for the daily schedule at the desk. At the desk “Day book” is written in pen which is earlier written in pencil. “Day book” indicates who is working in which floor and section. If an employee is absent as per Rota the work of the section may be divided amongst the present staff if the work load is low. This is called  splitting section. Otherwise a staff may be asked to stay back to cope up with the situation from the previous shift.

 

FLOOR	SECTION	NAME
I	A	Ms x
	B	Ms y
	C	Mr a
II	A	Mr b

DAY BOOK

DATE-

Each morning front office sends “Night report” to housekeeping dept. which gives up-to-date information about the status of the hotel. This report helps to plan and organize the work of the H.K.deptartment as we know which rooms’ needs immediate attention and where should we go later to service.

It is here that they are issued with sub master keys (which enable them to carry out the task in guest room) and work is allocated. They are given a “Worksheet” with the room numbers printed on it as per the section they are responsible for, and the status of

the hotel. This helps the chambermaids to plan out the task of the day.

 

KEYS

All the employees are issued with the master keys from H.K. desk after they have signed in the “Key control register”. This is important for the management to know who had entered the room when. Issuing the key to a hotel personnel means he/she takes the responsibility of the hotel as well as guest property in the room. There are different types of key:

 

ROOM KEY: this is issued to the guest on arrival by the Front office. So this key is stored by Front office dept.

 

SUB MASTER/SECTION MASTER KEY: This key is issued to room attendant. This helps them to carry out the cleaning and servicing of rooms in the section. This opens all the door in a section of the hotel. But it does not open the door having double

locked. The key is suggested to be worn in the waist belt which is called “gadget” for safety.

 

FLOOR MASTER KEY:  This key is issued to floor supervisor. This helps them to inspect the rooms which are serviced by the chambermaid. It opens all the door locks of a floor. But it does not open the door which is double locked. Some time they can be issued more than one key if they are responsible for more than one floor.

 

GENERAL MASTER KEY:  This key is issued to Assistant H. keeper. This opens all the door in all the floors. But this does not open the door which is double locked. This helps in spot checking rooms in any floor at any time. Some times this can be

issued to the floor supervisor too when they are held responsible for many floor together.

 

GRAND MASTER KEY/ EMERGENCY KEY:  This key is used very rarely that means only on emergency. This is the only key which can open the room even if it is double locked. Opening a double locked door means interfering in guest privacy so managements consent is required to use this key. Due to the importance of the key this is only with Ex. Housekeeper, General

Manager and Lobby Manager/ Rooms Division Manager.

 

RULES FOR DOUBLE LOCKED ROOMS

If a door is double locked (D/L) for all morning then usually at 1pm or 2pm the floor supervisor will contact the guest over the phone. The dialogue should go something like this: “good afternoon sir / madam, this is the floor supervisor speaking, what time would you like your room to be serviced?”

Then the time suggested by the guest is recorded and information passed over in the log book at the time of handover. It there is no reply supervisor should inform the Ex. Housekeeper and seek the grand master keys. This is because every room must be entered once daily to ensure no tragedy has taken place in the room.

The same procedure is followed for “DO NOT DISTURB” rooms too. Some hotels also use light for “DO NOT DISTURB” sign.

The Grand master key can also be used to double lock the door when there is emergency like when hotel hears some unusual disturbance,

When the guest doesn’t check-out in their scheduled time without information,

When the guest doesn’t clear / settle his account within their credit limit after reminders too.

The keys are issued to the staff and they are expected to sign out and in for the same in the following register:

When the keys are issued to any staff they are expected to sign in Key control     register:

 

KEY CONTROL REGISRTER

DATE:

KEY CODE	NAME	SIGN	TIME OUT	ISSUED BY	TIME IN	SIGN	RECEIVED

 ELECTRONIC KEY CARD SYSTEM

In the modern days electronic card systems have replaced keys. They offer more security as it can be programmed differently for each guest. If by chance the guest carries the room key with him/her, the particular room’s lock has to be changed, as there is always a chance of theft in the room with the old key. The card system cuts out that danger completely. When a master key is lost, all the locks have to be replaced for the safety of the guests; but it is extremely costly and practically impossible to do. A card system allows us to change to code of the locks at our will, and new cards are issued. This system has become phenomenon in all star category hotels as safety and security plays the most important role in today’s hospitality industry.

DISADVANTAGES OF THE MANUAL KEY SYSTEM

1.   Some hotels admit defeat in failing to stop undervisables from going to the residential guest floors, due to the difficulty in spotting thieves amongst potential customers.

2.   Many hotels rely on old mechanical locks that can be easily picked, forced and even slipped.

3.   Room keys are very commonly lost, even the master keys. Some hotels have lost as much as 12 keys in a month. Hence the only escape is changing the locks every month, which is considerably costly.

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