When you walk into a hotel room, you want to be greeted by a clean and inviting bed. Not only must the linens be clean, but they also have to be comfortable. Are the sheets white and crisp-looking? Can you tell that they are made of high quality cotton?
How Do Your Towels Look?
You should also expect the same in the bathroom. When you see the towels, are they beautifully presented, thick, and luxurious? Needless to say, if you manage a hotel property, you want to make sure that your guests see the hotel room as previously described. As a result, the company you choose to take care of your linens must use the highest standards when performing checks on quality.
If you want to hire out your linen services, make sure that the company you use features premium, high quality linen services – amenities that ensure a guest’s complete satisfaction. Whilst you may elect to buy your own hotel linens, this method is frequently costlier and more time-consuming than it may first appear.
Purchasing a large amount of towels, bedclothes, and related accessories over time can cause costs to mount to unmanageable, if not frightening, levels. Furthermore, you also have to depend on your hotel staff, which may not know or forget to tell you when certain inventory items require replacement.
Time is of the Essence
When you hire a laundry service, you do not have to worry about the expenses involved with replacing pillowcases, sheets, and similar bed clothing, or whether the bed linens will be replaced in a timely fashion. By hiring a service that handles upper scale properties, you can provide your hotel guests with the type of premium linen that they have come to expect.
Working with a laundry services company enables you to provide your hotel guests with a fresh supply of hotel linen at all times. This supply will not only be washed and pressed to a high standard and returned on time, but it will also meet your guests’ expectations.
Why Contracting Laundry Services Makes Sense
The largest and smallest UK hotels often contract out their laundry, as it simply is not practical or economical for the hotels to take on the task themselves. The capital expenditure required to obtain adequate machinery, plus the cost that it takes to iron linen is prohibitive. The only times it becomes economical to do laundry in-house is when a property features about 30 to 75 rooms, or when the local labour costs are exceptionally low – relative to a hotel’s room rates.
Linen that comes from a professional laundry service such as Stalbridge Linen, is usually delivered and/or collected once or twice on a weekly basis. Whilst linen items from smaller suppliers may not rank highly in terms of tear and stain resistance, all suppliers generally provide linens that are both hygienic and clean.
That is why you want to choose a linen service that has a strong reputation and is a larger business, such as Stalbridge. Plus, when you contract out your laundry services, you save on utility costs as well. Not only do you use less water and save on heating the water, but you also have a better grasp on your towel and bedding inventory.
How the Water is Normally Allocated
Contrary to what most people assume, showers and toilets (not swimming pools), account for most of a hotel’s water expenditures. The water that is used for cleaning towels and sheets is ranked second in this respect. But if a laundry service is used, the water used for landscaping rises to second spot instead.
Cutting back on laundry costs, energy-wise and water-wise, does result in lower utility usage rates. Hotels that lower their water use not only help save a precious resource in their local community, but they also gain a competitive standing in today’s sustainable marketplace.
Take an Energy Inventory
In order to make the most out of hiring a laundry service, you must first assess your water use and the opportunities to save water throughout your hotel. When you conduct this type of audit, you can change certain processes and products to underscore more water-efficient methods and models.
The challenge to save water and meeting a guest’s expectations go hand-in-hand when choosing a linen cleaning service. Hotels can also save water by installing sink aerators or low-flow showerheads. When it comes to saving money and making guests happy, sustainability and the highest standards in customer service should be part of the overall package.
Best Management Practices
Some of the best management practices that should be utilised include the following:
- Perform an energy audit to determine future and current energy needs, based on current usage and available enhancements.
- Establish objectives for conservation goals in your hotel property.
- Appoint an energy manager to oversee your plan for sustainability. Have staff members brainstorm green ideas for your hotel to facilitate.
- Develop a draft and consider issues, beyond energy, that may surface when you decide to make your hotel eco-friendlier.
- Finalise the plan and implement mechanisms to provide an evaluation of the results.
Define Responsibilities and Roles
When you finalise your plan for sustainability, you must clearly define the responsibilities and roles of the staff members involved in overseeing such a plan. You cannot make any headway if the plan sits on a shelf somewhere, forgotten and collecting dust.
Strategic energy management for water use, as well as for electrical use, can reduce costs and increase guest satisfaction. Whether your hospitality facility is small or large, the basic ways to pursue energy reduction are the same.
Start with a Simple Initiative
When any hotel property decides to go green, the employees may feel overwhelmed at first. However, it is essential to remember that you should start simple. One way to implement a plan is to consider your laundering needs first. A ten-percent reduction in energy use can supply substantial enhancements with regard to sustainability. Both operational and management strategies need to be enforced to realise reductions in costs. When you take this approach, you will step far ahead of your competition in terms of guest satisfaction and energy management.
