AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY OF HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT

1.
Housekeeper s Office: It is the main administration centre of housekeeping
. It must independent cabin for silence and privacy. It is glass paneled so as t
o give the Housekeeper view of what happening outside. The office is preceded by
cabin for the secretary who would control movement into the Housekeeper office.
2.
CONTROL DESK ROOM: It is the point where all staff report for duty and c
heck out at the end of duty. It adjoins the Housekeeping office. It should have
a large notice board to display essential. The room has a desk, chair, more than
one telephone, computer terminal for information storage and control. It is th
e main centre for co-ordination with the front office. It is the main communicat
ion centre where relevant housekeeping information sent and received.
3.
Public Area:
a. Front of the House Areas: The area which is accessible by guest e.g. Lobby, S
hopping Arcade, Restaurant, Banquet Rooms, Health club, Swimming Pool, Recreatio
n Area, Parking Areas, and Compound area etc.
b. Back of the house Areas: The Area which are not accessible by guest e.g. Base
ment, service area, staff locker, offices etc.
4.
Linen and Uniform Room: The Housekeeping department is responsible for t
he functioning, repair and renewal of the linen and for maintaining proper inven
tory and stock records of all linen items. It includes room linen, restaurant li
nen, uniforms and soft furnishings.
5.
Laundry:
a. On Premises Laundry: If the laundry is on the premises, the guest laundry fro
m the rooms is directly collected and delivered by the laundry valet. However al
l hotel linen is first collected in the linen room and then given to the laundry
for washing.
b. Off Premises Laundry: The laundering of both guest and hotel linen is done on
contract by an external laundry. All the linen is collected in the linen room f
rom where it is dispersed to the laundry for washing.
6.
Uniform Room: This room stocks the uniforms in current use. It is possib
le that smaller hotels may choose to combine the uniform room with the linen roo
m. A separate uniform room really depends on the volume of uniforms in circulati
on. The only difference would be that the uniform room would have adequate hangi
ng facilities as many uniforms are best maintained when hung.
7.
Tailors Room: This room is kept for house tailors who attend to the stit
ching and mending work of linen and uniforms. If the house policy is to contract
out all tailoring and mending work, the tailor s room could be avoided.
8.
Heavy equipment store: This will be a room to store bulky items, such as
shampoo machines, vacuum cleaner and dry. It should also securely lock to avoid
stealing or pilferage by other departments.
9.
Green house: As horticulture comes under housekeeping normally, a green
house to foster specialized plants is necessary in the garden areas. The green h
ouse should have wooden racks to store pots, etc.
10.
Shoe shine: Resident guests are given this service by room attendants on
a complimentary basis. Some hotels may have a shoe shine machine installed in c
orridor.
11.
Florist: This could either be given out on contract or an employee of th
e housekeeping department could do the flower arrangements required for VIP room
s, suites, executive offices, public areas and for the florist shop. Any banquet
requirements such as the backdrop for a wedding, etc., is done on contract.
12.
Special Requests : Extra room compliments and supplies, first aid kit (
no oral medication without the advice of the house doctor) irons , hot water bags
, ice-bags, thermometer, hair-dryers, etc ., are given at no extra cost for gue
st use. A request for extra beds, however, should be routed through the front of
fice since the guest would be charged extra for it.
13.
Baby sitting: If a guest makes a request for this facility, chambermaids
may undertake to do babysitting after their regular shift or professional baby
sitters are arranged for by the housekeeping department .The guest is charged by

the hour.
14.
Lost and found: Any guest article found in rooms or public areas is kept
in the possession of the housekeeping department till a guest makes a claim for
it. Perishable - 24 hrs, valuables - 6months to1 year, of not much value -3 to
6 months.
15.
Contract Services: Pest Control , Carpet Shampoo, Laundry, Florist, Land
scaping , Cleaning the outer faade of the building, etc., are some to the cleanin
g service that are done on control by the housekeeping department .
16.
Refurbishment and Redecoration: Refurbishment implies complete renovatio
n where all the soft furnishings are changed and the furniture too may be change
d or redone. It is usually undertaken once in 3-5 years floor wise.
Redecoration, on the other hand, is done on a need basis as and when required
pi
ece/area wise, e.g. , redoing the upholstery of a sofa or changing a set of curt
ains as it is stained of worn-out.
17.
Any Special Decoration: Parties hosted by the hotel, e.g., Christmas Dan
ce, New Year Ball, Navratri, etc., or food festivals, which require special dcor
is looked after the housekeeping department in co-ordination with the Food and B
everage Department.
18.
Purchase: The executive housekeeper is responsible for the purchase of c
leaning equipment, cleaning agents, linen, soft furnishings, uniforms, room comp
limentary and supplies. All large chain hotels may have a central purchase depar
tment through which room supplies are obtained on a monthly/quarterly basis. Thi
s ensures consistency of room supplies in all hotels of the chain.
19.
Budgeting: The executive housekeeper presents the annual budget in Janua
ry for the forthcoming Budgeting Financial year. The factors to be considered wh
ile drawing up the budget are, Previous year budget + 10%inflation +refurbishmen
t plans+ any other capital purchase + expected occupancy.
20.
Duty Rotas / Rosters: The executive housekeeper decides shift timings an
d day off of all housekeeping employees. In addition, leave sanctioning, over ti
me and statement of attendance is sent by the executive housekeeper to the perso
nnel Department at the end of each month for calculating the payroll of the hous
ekeeping staff.
21.
Interview, Selection, Induction, Training and Performance Appraisal: The
executive housekeeper is responsible for the final selection and training of al
l housekeeping staff. Performance Appraisals are drawn up annually for permanent
employees, quarterly for probationers and monthly for trainees.