Housekeeping is intended to maintain the house clean, tidy, well-groomed, and healthy. The main objective of this department is to achieve the meaning of the English word in its comprehensive sense. This administration works all hours of the night and day (24) hours a day in order to provide the best services to guests, and to present the hotel in the most beautiful way possible.

This section is considered one of the most important sections of the hotel due to the complexity of its duties and the multiplicity of its responsibilities that are directly related to successfully operating operations in the hotel and thus increasing hotel revenues. Housekeeping is responsible for the cleanliness of the guest rooms and public areas in the hotel, as well as the employees’ offices and their areas except for the kitchen. It is also responsible for providing linens, furnishings, and uniforms for the employees.

Responsibilities of the housekeeping department

One of the most important responsibilities of the interior signage department is the participation of the hotel manager in working to raise the rate of room occupancy and maintaining an increase in this percentage by taking care of the cleanliness, arrangement and maintenance of guest rooms. The director of the interior signage department is also responsible for reducing operating costs by preserving transfers the hotel and its furniture during its cleaning and the use of appropriate methods and materials in the maintenance of these movables.

The responsibilities of the internal supervision department can be summarized as follows:

1. Maintaining a high level of cleanliness in the hotel to ensure guest satisfaction.
2. Report any required repairs as soon as possible.
3. Preventing or eliminating dangers by removing situations that could cause harm to inmates. a
4. Practicing healthy methods that meet the requirements of laws and health. 
5. Maintaining all public areas in terms of attractiveness and cleanliness. 
6. Preparing adequate supplies of linens, uniforms for workers, hygiene tools, guest tools, Paper publications.

7. Ensure the cleanliness and order of all service and staff locations. 
8. Maintaining all paths in terms of cleanliness, security, and freedom from obstacles. 
9. Clean all lighting devices and use light bulbs of correct wattage. 
10. Maintenance of all available devices and equipment. 
11. Maintaining the necessary records for the operation of the supervision department effectively. 12. Overseeing the department's records, which helps the hotel's profitability. 
12. Controlling the department's expenses, which helps the hotel's profitability. 
13. Strengthening the means of communication within the department and with other departments. 15. Scheduling workers according to the current occupancy rates.

Planning is considered the most important administrative function for the director of the internal supervision department, as he is responsible for cleaning and maintaining many different areas in the hotel. Planning the work of the department is a big and huge task, so the department manager must develop a systematic and gradual method in order to ensure not only the completion of the work in the department, but the completion of the work in a correct manner. And effective in the required time and at the lowest costs, and only find the director of the department himself confused among the hundreds of important details that must be directed.

About the author

Ossama Abdelhamid  is the Director of Housekeeping at The St. Regis Riyadh . Prior to this, he has worked for 10+ years in the Egypt housekeeping industry.