Housekeeping with Tajness: The challenges of the Covid-19 era

Vijay Joshi, Executive Housekeeper, Taj Fort Aguada Resort & Spa, Goa elucidates on the tough task facing hospitality’s frontline warriors in the post-Covid era

Housekeeping associates are the frontline warriors, on whose shoulders rests the responsibility of ensuring safe surroundings for all guests and associates. Thorough cleanliness is a basic expectation of the hotel guests. The current situation has added more responsibility for the housekeeping staff. Not only do they have to ensure that the entire hotel is spotless and disinfected but at the same time take equal care of themselves.

Keeping the hotel touch points and surfaces disinfected is challenging when the process involves the risk of contracting Covid-19. The key is to take all precautionary measures to protect yourself while sanitising the guest rooms and common areas.

A few of our hotels have been converted into quarantine facilities with partner hospitals. At IHCL, we have carefully formulated exclusive SOPs to handle such guests as per the WHO Guidelines. Key challenges remain sanitisation of all the guest touch points periodically to avoid the spread of infection by adhering to all the safety norms.

Another key challenge is careful disposal of the soiled linen and garbage collected from these rooms with proper measures, as this is another potential high-risk. To ensure smooth and safe disposal of soiled linen, we have trained all associates to follow the disposal process strictly using designated colour disposal bags as instructed by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of India.

Thorough training of housekeeping staff on the use of disinfectants is of utmost importance. At Taj Fort Aguada Resort & Spa, Goa, safety of our staff remains the prime concern as they are directly exposed to the guests. We ensured that all associates, including housekeeping, are trained to follow the standard operating procedures based on the guidelines stated by MOHFW for the prevention and transmission of Covid-19.

With an unexpected decline in revenues, hotels are proactively going for cost reduction. Housekeeping departments are also currently spending their budget cautiously on all the priority essential services. In this crisis, we took the initiative to control the costs on certain expenses. At this juncture we also ensure that no wastage and unnecessary expenditure takes place. This makes it more difficult to keep the guests engaged, create value for the money spent by them and create magical moments for them during their stay.

The room cleaning time has also increased due to the addition of disinfection process before and after room cleaning which results in associates spending more time cleaning each room. Average increase in room cleaning time now is 15 to 20 minutes in addition to the regular cleaning time per room.

The biggest challenge is that the guests’ expectation around hygiene and sanitation has increased. Guests are very conscious about the cleaning process and would like to know about the disinfection measures in rooms and public areas.

IHCL is known for its warmth, sincere care and signature hospitality. While the pandemic has brought with it its own set of challenges and a new normal, our guests can be reassured that social distancing will not translate to distancing ourselves from the values of Tajness, which puts our guests at the centre of all that we do.