Oil-Flo: For on-spot cleaning in a high-traffic environment
Shobana Malikarjun, executive housekeeper of Millenium Airport Hotel refers to Oil-Flo, a magical product 
The nature, schedule and pattern of cleaning in any environment depends on the rate of usage of the facilities to be cleaned. However, the volume and frequency of traffic in any environment is also an important yardstick in determining the right cleaning measures, aides and principles.
This month, Clean Middle East went to Millenium Airport Hotel, a four-star rated hotel with round-the-clock traffic. We talked to Shobana Malikarjun, the hotel’s executive housekeeper on some of the products which help her ensure effective cleaning in such a busy environment.
Tell us about Millenium Airport Hotel and the cleaning challenges you face?
This is the leading airport hotel in the Middle East with 716 rooms, five restaurants and some other 250 rooms are under construction. At present, over 600 rooms in the Emirates wing cater to the transit passengers of Emirates Airlines while the other rooms are for corporate guests. It is not only a large hotel, but also a unique one, given the type and frequency of guests that we handle.
We handle a minimum of 700 guests per day, and most of them being transit passengers with Emirates Airlines who may also use the facilities for just a few hours. Due to the high turnover, the challenge in this scenario is to make the entire hotel facilities ever-ready for the next visitors, almost immediately after the earlier ones have left.
Does the unique nature of the guests of Millenium Airport Hotel differentiate the cleaning pattern and procedures from other hotels?
Yes it does. While most hotels deal with visitors who are on the go, our visitors are always on the run. The cleaning processes in this hotel are therefore a continuous necessity, and this calls for specialized cleaning chemicals which provide quick solutions to remove dirt and stains.
What is the average room usage per day?
Most of our rooms are used at least twice a day.
So how do you address the housekeeping challenge that you talked about?
In response to this, I would like to highlight a very useful product called the Oil-Flo cleaning product, which is a non-volatile safety solvent cleaner. This chemical can effectively and quickly clean smooth and hard surfaces by dissolving various hard-to-clean substances such as asphalt, tar, oils, tree pitch, adhesive stickers, gum, candle wax, silicon, roof tar etc. It is a versatile and effective cleaner that works especially well for removing graffiti. It can be used to clean glass, vinyl, concrete, metals, carpets and even on fabrics.
This chemical has instant results. It is very important to us, bearing in mind that we work in very limited time frames.
Can you give us some more details about Oil-Flo?
Oil-Flo is water soluble and has a very slow evaporation rate. Once the contaminants are dissolved, they can be washed away with water leaving behind zero residues.
It has an exceptional cleaning ability, water-soluble features, and relatively high safety characteristics.
How did you come to know about this chemical?
Previously, we had cleaning challenges which needed quick and effective removal of gum, grease and oil stains in car parks, restaurant floors and other common high traffic areas. The traditional means that we used earlier involved the ‘scrub-wash with detergent’ processes and this was time consuming and also required additional man power.
We were therefore on the look out for a chemical which could give us an instant solution.
However, we are constantly doing market research for better cleaning methods and when this sales executive called and explained to me that a chemical which would instantly remove stains and grease from car parks and other surfaces had been introduced, I asked her to come over for a demonstration which was very useful and impressive.
How do you justify the need for Oil-Flo in this hotel?
We have a large number of visitors and guests on a daily basis. It is therefore important for us to be able to handle all types of stains and residues on surfaces. This implies that most of our common areas and restaurant floors, apart from rooms and guest laundry require special cleaning. Not all stains are easily removable or can be removed by the normal cleaning procedures. So we segregate them and remove them individually using Oil-Flo.
How and where do you apply it?
The dilution depends on the stubbornness of the stain. If the stain is stubborn, we use the solution directly. We use it in the car parks, restaurant floors and laundry. Oil Flo is available in cans which are transferred to spray bottles. The area has to be sprayed, left for a few minutes for activation, then scrubbed and washed with water. Even when sprayed on chewing gum, it solidifies it, making it easily removable.
What about the laundry aspect?
The nature and mobility of most of our guests implies that there are different types of stains on fabrics or clothing. They include food stains, ink and grease stains, blood stains, etc. Oil-Flo can quickly remove all of these from fabrics. This helps us save time and expenditure on other fabric stain removers.
How does it work in laundry applications?
Oil-Flo is harmless on fabrics. However, it removes strong stains from fabrics, as soon as it touches the affected part. It is a quick dissolving solution which can remove any type of stains from surfaces, as compared to other chemicals.
How long have you been using this Oil-Flo cleaning chemical?
I have been using it for the past one year, but it think it has been in the market for close to two years.
Have you noticed any challenges associated with using it?
When grease or alcohol seeps into the porous floors, this chemical is not effective. It also takes a little more time to remove stains from rough surfaces as compared to smooth surfaces, but eventually it works.
What message would you pass on to your fellow housekeepers regarding this chemical?
Hotel housekeepers are always looking for products which can effectively solve a lot of problems, because housekeeping is the department in a hotel where failure is not an option. 
Using Oil-Flo saves you time and manpower. It is also better to use this chemical, instead of buying cheaper chemicals where repeated use is a must to remove stains.
What is the level of usage of Oil-Flo in this hotel?
We use about four cans in a month considering this a large hotel.
