Amidst the pandemic crisis, hoteliers were forced to lay off workers to stay afloat. But as we progress from the pandemic, many hoteliers have decided to continue with a leaner operation (with fewer employees) and had to experience talent shortages as the tides have changed.
A housekeeping management system can be used to resolve inefficient task execution, and poor team collaboration and make it easier for newer housekeepers to learn the job. In this guide, we'll introduce you to the system and disclose which features are a must-have for any modern hotel operations.
Table of Content
What Is a Housekeeping Management System?
The system is a collaborative task management tool that makes it easier and more efficient for housekeeping and service personnel to create, maintain, and assign tasks. Typically, it comes with two components: a back-end system for managing advanced functionalities and a front-end application for employees on-the-go. It can come as a module within your Property Management System (PMS), or be bought as standalone software.
The software is designed to facilitate better collaboration in operations. It centralizes on digitalizing the task workflow, creating better task visibility, and a more efficient operation. However, it can come in a range of shapes and forms depending on which vendor you select.
Functionalities to Look Out for in a Housekeeping Management System
A modern housekeeping management system should improve your workflow and productivity and be intuitive to use. When looking for a solution, ensure it contains some - if not all - of these parts we considered are “fundamental” functionalities to task delegation in housekeeping departments in hotels.
1. Task Management
Every vendor will include a task management module used to create and manage tasks within your operations. The task management module will allow your employees to schedule tasks in advance, create them on demand and gain a transparent overview of who's doing what task, at what time, and where.
Tip: Look out for a solution with an automated task delegation process. That way, your managers don't have to manually assign an employee to the task upon creating it. Instead, the system will automatically forward the task to an available employee - saving you time.
2. Support Multi-platform
You've got to make sure the system can be run by you and your staff on multiple platforms, including your desktop or mobile device. Most of your hotel cleaning staff will use the system while they are doing their daily work. For example, vacuuming floors in the corridors, cleaning hotel rooms, emptying trash cans, etcetera. It is best to choose a vendor with a hotel housekeeping app.
3. Relay Task Notifications
Your housekeepers will use the system while they are running around on your property. There will be certain black spots in your property that are not covered by either cellular data or Wi-Fi. Make sure the system can relay task notifications. For example, by sending a notification to the employee when the Wi-Fi coverage is back, or sending an SMS to the hotel cleaning staff.
4. Real-time Data Synchronization
Did the employee start the task? Did the room have a "do not disturb" sign? The software should be able to display the real-time status of each task to provide your management with immediate visibility for tasks. Aside from that, it may need an interface to your PMS if you want it to be your primary tool for assigning hotel room cleaning tasks.
5. Order Housekeeping Services On-Demand
Large chains like Hilton, Marriott - and more have already decided to ditch daily housekeeping and offer it upon request. But be aware, some guests will still expect daily housekeeping service and replenishments of their amenities.
In fact, dirty rooms are rated as the top reason for a negative stay. Asking your guests in today's modern hospitality stay to call your front desk to request housekeeping services is inefficient. A few vendors nowadays, like our TaskHub solution at Metasphere, have included on-demand housekeeping ordering using a simple QR-code web-based platform/hotel housekeeping app. If you're one of the many hoteliers that eliminated daily hotel cleaning systems, then this could be a function worth looking into.
6. Multi-departmental Ability
Let's be honest. Every department in the hotel deals with a vast amount of daily tasks. While they may not be as reoccurring or high-volume as hotel cleaning activities, it is still a good idea to digitalize the task workflow across your entire hotel department.
Make sure the system can be used as a hotel maintenance software that allows your housekeepers to log a water leak directly to the maintenance department, or for front desk agents to send a reminder to the bellboy to bring the guest's luggage down.
7. Data Analytics and Reports for Decision-Making
Did you know that according to research, it takes on average 15 minutes to clean a stayover standard room and 27 minutes for checkout suite cleaning? Making the bed, cleaning the tables, "washbasin, mirror, and shower screen”, “scrubbing bathroom floor”, and “hoovering” make up for 2/3 of the total time required for cleaning a hotel room.
The benefit of many hotel housekeeping software is their inclusion of intuitive dashboards that give you a detailed insight into your hotel operations. You'll be able to gain insights of the number of tasks completed, the length of time to complete each task, and other valuable metrics that will be helpful in your day-to-day operations and strategic decision-making.
What Are the Advantages of a Housekeeping Management System?
Walk into the back office of a hotel today, and I bet you'll find papers scattered around, containing barely readable handwritten notes about guest inquiries, lists of to-do's, and follow-ups. And it is in these situations things can go wrong. Quickly.
Hotel housekeeping management systems come with a range of advantages, and we've listed our top three below.
1. Improve Productivity in Hotels
Given the nature of hospitality businesses, a large portion of expenses comes from fixed costs. This is where task management systems can come in handy. The system digitizing manual processes provides a better workload overview for every employee and makes housekeeping time management easier.
It is easy to delegate tasks to employees, keep track of each task's status in real-time, and it is quicker for employees to report their progress and create new tasks like logging maintenance issues.
2. Task Visibility in Hotel Operations
Hotel operations are always hectic. With the rapid flow of hotel guests checking in and out, things can very quickly go wrong. Especially when it comes to tasks. Every hotel has probably faced situations where two employees had a dispute over who was responsible for completing a task.
The best part of the housekeeping management system is it creates transparent internal task visibility, where employees can see who was delegated a certain task, at what time, and by whom.
3. Abundance of Analytics and Reports
The last benefit of housekeeping management systems is they track data from all aspects. Whether it's employee productivity metrics such as the length of time it takes to complete a task or the number of tasks completed during a shift, each statistic can be used to make operational data-driven decisions. The best apps for hotel housekeeping would include multiple reports.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What Is the Benefit of a Housekeeping System?
In short, the system helps hoteliers reduce inefficient task execution by digitizing and automating the task management workflow. This gives employees greater task visibility and transparency and enables management to track data and undertake highly data-driven operational decision-making.
What Is the Pricing Module for Housekeeping Systems?
The solutions are typically cloud-based and licensed as a Software as a Service-type. You’ll likely pay a monthly fee per room/or hotel. In addition to this, some vendors may charge extra for the installation and include maintenance fees.
How Long Time Does It Take To Install a Housekeeping Management Software in a Hotel?
The solution can typically be up and running within a few days' time. The installation process involves setting up user accounts, downloading apps on your mobile devices, creating tasks and inspection categories, and other relevant configurations.
But the installation process can take longer if you need an interface to your PMS, as that typically involves collaboration with your PMS provider. At Metasphere, we can offer an alternative solution to retrieve data from your PMS to mitigate this challenge.
Conclusion: Housekeeping Management System: Key Things To Know [2022 Edition]
Many businesses face problems with inefficient task execution and poor collaboration across departments - and this is where a housekeeping management system can come in handy.
The software makes it easier for supervisors to delegate tasks to subordinates and for housekeepers to keep track of their tasks. By digitalizing the task management workflow, hoteliers can extract key operational reports - and use these to make highly data-driven operational decision-making.
Given this, you’ll want to make sure your housekeeping management software includes a task management module (most basic functionality) and offer the ability to operate the system on-the-go via a hotel housekeeping app. Some extra features you’ve should look into is:
Relay Task Notifications - Allows your housekeepers to receive messages even when they’re not covered by cellular data or Wi-Fi.
Realtime Data Synchronization - Get access to real-time data from your PMS, such as room statuses and reservations.
On-demand Housekeeping - A QR-code scanning system for guests to order housekeeping services contactless.
Multi-departmental Ability - Configure the system to support multi-departmental usage, such as the front office to the engineering department to the housekeeping department.
Data Analytics and Reports for Decision-Making - Intuitive dashboard and reports to extract key operational insights.
Are you ready to stop being a victim of inefficient task delegation? We at Metasphere developed TaskHub, a cutting-edge hotel housekeeping management system that includes features like guest requests, task prioritization rules, and more.
It also provides managers with an at-a-glance view of the operational indicators. It's easy to install, affordable, and comes with a back-end system and mobile app.
Click on the link below to learn more!