Hotels, Homestays, Resorts and various types of hospitality properties depend on physical assets. These assets include bedding, bathroom equipment, amenities, electrical equipment and more. Without these, your hotel business will close down even before it starts. Lift is not working properly? You will surely get a 1 - star or 2 - star review from various annoyed guests.
This is where hotel maintenance management comes into the picture. It is one of the crucial aspects of any hospitality business. It involves several aspects of the hotel and hence, we need to understand the topic thoroughly to implement it.
Hotel Maintenance Management: An Introduction
Maintaining your hotel’s assets is one of the most important parts of the hotel business. Hotel Maintenance Management involves the maintenance, repairing, restoring and improving of the various assets of the hotel.
The numerous assets of the hotels include the beds, refrigerator, bathroom equipment, bathroom furniture, room furniture, lighting, amenities, phone lines and so forth. Every asset needs to be kept functioning for the hotel to run smoothly. It is considered to be one of the most challenging aspects of hotel management.
It involves the coordination between the front office department, housekeeping department, revenue management department, sales and purchases department and the other crucial departments.
There are two types of hotel maintenance, Preventive Maintenance and Reactive Maintenance. Preventive Maintenance involves regular checking and upkeep of hotel amenities to ensure that they function properly.
Reactive Maintenance involves repairing and restoring malfunctioning amenities as quickly and efficiently as possible. Understanding these types is essential for hotel maintenance management.
Hotel Maintenance Management Tips
To perform hotel maintenance management effectively, you need to follow certain steps and procedures. We have listed the most important tips to make hotel maintenance easier and more organized.
1. Have SOPs In Place
One of the first things to have solid hotel maintenance is to have a Standard Of Procedure or SOP in place. Standard of Procedures is step-by-step instructions on how to carry out a certain task or deal with a certain situation.
With proper SOPs in place, you will be able to handle hotel maintenance tasks efficiently. Emergency reactive maintenance can be carried out more professionally.
2. Use Hotel Maintenance Management Software
Technology has become an essential part of hotel management. Hotel maintenance can also be streamlined with the help of technology. The software can be used for assigning tasks, keeping track of progress, work schedules, managing workers and more. It saves time and money and also reduces discrepancies.
3. Proper Schedule and Calendar
A hotel has several assets and each of them each sufficient attention lest they start malfunctioning. To ensure timely maintenance, a proper schedule and calendar need to be in place. It helps you in assigning all the important tasks to the staff.
With the help of the calendar, you can keep track of which asset needs to be maintained and when. It is essential for preventive hotel maintenance management.
4. Have A Checklist For Daily Maintenance
For hotels which don’t have an automated system, maintaining a daily checklist comes in handy. A checklist will not only help you pen down all the essential tasks, but it will also help you complete the tasks efficiently and on time. This will make hotel maintenance management easier.
When you tick items off the checklist, you will be satisfied that the tasks are getting completed on time. You need to also keep all the logs updated to ensure that no maintenance is missed.
5. Improve Housekeeping Operations
Housekeeping and hotel maintenance goes hand and hand. There are times when housekeeping staff ends up damaging the asset, unwittingly. Some staff may don’t know how to handle new equipment and end up damaging it. This is one of the most important tips for hotel maintenance management.
6. Put More Emphasis On Preventive Maintenance
Preventive Maintenance is one of the ways to ensure that your hotel assets are always functioning in the best possible manner. Reactive maintenance is important too, but it will cost additional expenses and will impact your booking.
Preventive expenses on the other hand will ensure that your hotel assets are repaired and restored on a regular basis, avoiding any unexpected breakdown.
7. Hire Experienced Staff
If you want to ensure the best maintenance, you need to hire the best staff for your hotel. Hotel maintenance requires skills and expertise, for both preventive and reactive hotel maintenance management. Untrained staff can do more damage than good. You need to establish SOPs and give them additional training if required. Evaluate their performance regularly to ensure that they maintain standards.
8. Considered Outsourcing If Required
If you do not keep on hiring staff for maintenance, you can always outsource them. There are several agencies which provide outsourcing services. It is helpful for those for whom hiring a separate hotel maintenance staff is not justified.
With these tips, you will be able to perform hotel maintenance management in an efficient manner. Hotel maintenance is one of the most essential aspects of hotel management. Hotels of all magnitude require it for their smooth functioning. Read our blogs to know more about the various important aspects and trends of the hospitality industry.