How To Build A Housekeeping Team That Improves Guest Satisfaction

Developing a housekeeping team that improves guest satisfaction scores is a persistent challenge facing the resort industry. As one of the largest departments at a resort, the housekeeping and floor care team demands a significant amount of support and administrative oversight. This can make managing your housekeeping team feel like a constant headache and a never-ending struggle. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Through establishing a healthy culture, developing an effective training program, and leveraging technology, your housekeeping team can become a powerful driver of high guest satisfaction scores. 

Establish a Healthy Work Culture 

The biggest obstacle for any housekeeping team is staffing. When there aren’t enough housekeepers, it’s difficult to maintain a level of cleanliness that exceeds your guests’ expectations. The best way to stay fully staffed is to increase employee retention. If team members enjoy where they work and who they work with, they’re much more likely to stay. That’s why building a healthy culture is a critical part of developing a successful housekeeping team. Establishing a healthy work culture can take time, but the first step is to develop a philosophy that guides your efforts. Once you develop your philosophy, make sure to go out of your way to recognize team members who are reflecting that philosophy. Highlighting a housekeeper’s hard work shows them that they are a valuable part of the team. Reminding your housekeeping team how valuable they are keeps them motivated, increases productivity, and leads to greater guest satisfaction.

Invest In Your Housekeepers Through Training

One of the first things housekeeping teams fall behind on when short-staffed is training. Rather than instilling a new team member with the resort’s values and standards before sending them out on the floor, housekeepers are often thrown into situations they aren’t prepared for. It’s important to implement a training program that initially keeps the new housekeeper removed from the challenges that occur on the floor every day. Before they face those challenges, they need to be equipped with the knowledge and resources needed to overcome them. Building a healthy culture and an effective training program are crucial aspects of investing in team members that will lead to a positive effect on guest satisfaction.

Use Technology and Data To Sustain High Levels of Guest Satisfaction

After a culture is in place and your housekeepers are well-trained, the last step is figuring out how to maintain high levels of cleanliness and overall performance. In order to do this, you need to have a system in place that provides feedback on how your team is performing. An effective way to accomplish this is to use software that collects data from your supervisors when they conduct their inspections. This data provides insight into what your team is doing well and what areas are being missed or overlooked. Equipped with this data, you can provide specific feedback and continuous training programs that are tailored to areas that you know your team needs to work on.

The job of a housekeeper goes far beyond cleaning. Housekeepers are an indispensable part of your resort’s ability to provide guests with an outstanding experience. Investing in your housekeeping team by building culture, developing a training program, and implementing a system of accountability will lead to higher levels of cleanliness and increased guest satisfaction.