Hotel Maintenance Department: How to Optimise It

In the hospitality business, it's all about excellent first impressions, great experiences and satisfied guests. Most of that comes from functional and guest-friendly lobbies, helpful front desks and great customer service. But very often, it's the hidden elements that make all of this possible.

Such an element is the hotel maintenance department. This back-of-the-house team is rarely seen, but it's their work, dedication and skills what keep the hotel going. They are the ones that support the core business and improve everyone's safety but they also do their best to improve the establishment's energy efficiency and reduce operating costs.

Initial considerations

There are many definitions of the maintenance department and they are all focusing on the following: it's all the work and activity undertaken in order to maintain (keep, improve and restore) the entire building, all its services and surroundings, sustain the value of the building and keep it all up to a required standard. Maintenance is closely connected with all technical and administrative actions with the common aim of keeping the physical asset in such a condition that it can perform its function properly.

Understandably, you need the friendly and kind hotel staff to communicate with the guests and you need the housekeeping to keep everything clean and tidy, but it's obvious that the maintenance staff is the one that keeps the lights on, the water running and the show going.

Here are just some of the responsibilities and duties of the maintenance staff that make the hotel operation possible.

Go-to people

Whenever there's even a tiny problem in guests' rooms, the maintenance is called. If the TV is broken, the bed squeaks, the light bulbs burned out, or the water flow from the showerhead is not strong enough, it's the maintenance that answers the call. They are the ones that respond in a timely fashion, to guests' requests to fix anything that might spoil their comfort in the hotel.

Prevention

It's always better to act in time and prevent failures from happening than spend additional resources to fix them later. It's obviously easier and less stressful to keep the elevators in top condition than to have guests stranded and panicking. This is something that is clear to all hotel managers so they make sure that the maintenance department runs smoothly and that they perform regular checks on all essential systems, such as heating, cooling, plumbing and electricity. Preventive maintenance performed weekly, monthly and yearly, is highly important and they also cover smaller units, such as air and pool filters, smoke detectors, ripped carpets and cracked tiles.

Reparation

As previously mentioned, preventive maintenance is crucial because if a crisis hits, the consequences can be catastrophic. Issues like electrical shortcuts and blackouts, stuck elevators or broken pipes and flooding cause not only angry and dissatisfied guests, but also incur additional costs to relocate them in order to repair the damages. If you have a highly-trained and experienced maintenance crew, they can respond quickly and prevent the problem from escalating.

Moreover, if they have the right equipment, even those problems that seem impossible, become solvable in no time. For instance, with a versatile boom lift solution, which is easy to use with high manoeuvrability, the maintenance crew can easily tackle areas hard to reach, like high ceilings and elevator shafts.

The responsibilities of the maintenance staff never end and they are needed 24/7. Their role is vitally important for any hotel establishment and they constitute the hidden force that keeps it all running smoothly. Having the maintenance staff comprised of well-trained, skilful and professional workers, who are also hospitable and ready to assist, is what can give the upper hand to any hotel.

Lillian Connors
Senior Digital Marketing Strategist
Bizzmark