"From the Floor: A Housekeeping Manager's Journal"

Episode 22 — Circulation Over Paperwork — Assessing the Real Situation on the Spot
In previous episodes, we have gone through systems you can apply, procedures, pro tips, training techniques, cleaning schedules, budget management, and so much more. There is, however, a starting action that, if not done at the beginning of your working day as a housekeeping manager, will diminish your efficiency by 60%. What is this? Read more...
Episode 19 — New Staff in Peak Season: Sink or Swim
  You did your Zoom interviews months ago and you have four chamber maids coming from a foreign country to work in your department. During those interviews you did your best to give them a clear picture — the work environment, the training they would receive (because many candidates simply do not apply if they have no prior experience), the work itself, the housing arrangements, the distance from the hotel, and the areas they could visit and enjoy on their days off. You completed the paperwork. You know you need... Read more...
Episode 21 — Short-Staffed in August: How to Cover the Gap
You did everything right from the beginning of the season. You did your budgeting, you filled every position with the right people, you purchased your linen and cleaning equipment, and your season started strongly with high room occupancy. June and July go extremely well. Everybody is in position, the operation runs smoothly, and then — around the 10th of August — the fatigue sets in and you get your first deserters. Two room attendants decide to resign. One got tired, the other received a better job offer elsewhere. It happens.... Read more...
Episode 17 — The Guest Who Claims Something Was Stolen
Sometimes you will receive a complaint from a guest — hopefully not often — claiming that something was stolen from their room. The report will land on your desk in written form from Reception, and suddenly you will feel like Sherlock Holmes. It can happen on any day in a hotel, but let us suppose it happens during peak season — when you are already stretched thin preparing rooms for arrivals, cleaning stayovers, keeping public areas clean, and managing your personnel's productivity. And then, it starts. You read the incident... Read more...
Episode 16 — How Do You Keep Your Personnel?
Staff retention in housekeeping starts with one thing above all else — environment. Episode 16 breaks down what it really takes to keep your best people, from fair scheduling and proper equipment to knowing who will crack first under peak season pressure. Read more...
Episode 15 — The Linen Crisis: When You're Running Out Mid-Season
If you work in Housekeeping, you can immediately relate to this issue. For some reason, even if you have done your purchasing beforehand at the beginning of the season, this problem surfaces the moment the first wave of 100% occupancy hits your property. And it gets even more hectic if the high occupancy runs back to back for two to four weeks continuously. The truth is that once occupancy hits 100% and stays there for days and weeks, it is like engine pistons starting to shift under pressure — the... Read more...
Episode 14 — Peak Season: How Do You Keep Going Despite Setbacks?
As I write this episode, I can picture many of you — housekeeping managers, supervisors, reception personnel — taking a much-needed breath after the heavy check-ins and check-outs of another Sunday. You're staring at next week's climbing room occupancy, wondering how on earth you'll keep up with this pace: the lack of personnel, the absences, the functions coming in. And it's only just beginning. If you were lucky enough to have worked at this property for at least one year, you know the ropes — the ups and downs —... Read more...
Episode 13 — How to Deal with Negative Feedback
Not everything is roses and butterflies in housekeeping management, as you will soon realize. Sometimes in your career — hopefully not too often — you will receive negative feedback, even if you are the best housekeeping manager in the world. Stress, hectic seasonal operations with back-to-back arrivals, a guest complaint about the cleaning service, a mystery shopper report, a presentation that did not go as planned, a managing director criticizing you over a cleaning detail — these are all real situations that every housekeeping manager will face at some point.... Read more...
Episode 12 — How Do You Prefer Your Room: Twin Beds or Double? The Tricky Question
It is high season. The hotel is generating revenue from walk-in guests — people who made no reservation and simply turned up at the front desk. "Yes, we have rooms," says the smiling receptionist. And then comes the question: "How do you prefer your room — twin beds or double?" If your housekeeping room setup was done correctly, you might be lucky enough to have the bed configuration the guest is asking for. But it is peak season — and even with the best preparation, you will not be able... Read more...
Episode 11 — Housekeeping & Reception: The Gap That Costs You More Than You Think
As a Housekeeping Manager, you need to build excellent co-operation with Reception — not rivalry, not vendetta. You will be surprised how much room revenue can be lost on a daily basis when there is no clear communication and mutual understanding between these two key departments. Here are a few scenarios of what can go wrong when Reception and Housekeeping are not aligned: A receptionist who does not understand housekeeping operations and constraints will sell rooms that cannot be cleaned in time — leaving guests waiting two hours for check-in,... Read more...
Episode 10 — Job Change: A Challenging Period
In previous episodes, we followed a new Housekeeping Manager stepping straight out of hotel school into the real workplace. He gains experience, sets up his procedures, fine-tunes his systems, works closely with his team, and after 1.5 to 2 years of daily effort — inspections, challenges, failures, and retries — his department becomes a well-oiled, systematic, and highly effective cleaning operation.Then one day, a new property opens in your city and you realise that a great career opportunity is right in front of you. New hotel openings are always exciting... Read more...
Episode 09 — The Work Routine Traps: What Every Housekeeping Manager Should Be Careful About
In this episode, we will review certain housekeeping management routine habits that can actually trigger a devastating avalanche effect on your department's performance — costing you money, time, peace of mind, and possibly your position in the long run. Trap 1 — Cruising When You Should Still Be Steering You established your procedures, completed your training programmes, your team is highly motivated, and the department is running well. You have seen the full yearly cycle — low season, high season — and learned your lessons from past mistakes. Everything feels... Read more...
Episode 08 — When Staff Improvise with Cleaning Products: Real Stories from the Floor
We all lived through the Covid-19 period, and if you were working in a hotel during that time, you will remember the new cleaning protocols that were introduced. Disinfectant products were brought in, fumigation and spray guns were used after every guest departure — it was a very challenging period, doing all of this with a mask on your face. During that period we had implemented strict cleaning and disinfecting procedures for room cleaning. As always, there are some people who find shortcuts in procedures, thinking their shortcut will not... Read more...
Episode 07 — Eco-Friendly Cleaning: Save Money and the Planet at the Same Time
During my career as Housekeeping Manager, I tested eco-friendly products on many occasions, but I was not always fully satisfied with the cleaning results. That said, there are some eco-friendly products I tested and can genuinely recommend — and I will share those with confidence. 1. Window Cleaning — Especially Large Sliding Door Windows Forget cloths and window detergent. All you need is two squeegees — one with a microfibre/fur sleeve for applying water, and one with a rubber blade for wiping — plus a single bucket of clean water.... Read more...
Episode 06 — Surviving Peak Season: Without Losing Control
It was July — full peak season — and I had just been given something rare: four days off. My family had flown in to visit me, and for once, the beach was calling. But walking away from a large property in the middle of peak season is not something you do lightly. It is something you earn — through preparation, through trust, and through the team you have built long before that moment arrives. By my second year at that property, I had done exactly that. The department was... Read more...
Episode 05 — Great Mentors: What No Training Manual Ever Taught Me
If you are lucky enough to work alongside one seasoned mentor for at least 2 years, your growth will develop 5x faster than through solo experience alone. Here is what no training manual ever taught me. Read more...
Episode 04 — When the Team Doesn't Show Up: Absenteeism in Housekeeping and What You Can Actually Do About It
One of the main pain points in housekeeping management is no-show personnel during hectic periods — during the periods you need them most. High room occupancy, multiple functions running simultaneously, back-to-back checkouts, heavy-duty cleaning. It happens in every type of property, small or large. In this episode we will review some of the types of absenteeism in housekeeping departments. I remember working in a large property when one day we had planned a significant volume of cleaning activities. That morning, two male cleaners called in sick. At the time I... Read more...
Episode 03 — From Hotel School to the Floor: The Drama Queens
Once you start working and interacting with people — especially with housekeeping frontline employees such as chambermaids, laundry attendants, and supervisors — you quickly realise that hotel school did not prepare you to become a character analyst or a psychologist. But believe me, to become a great Housekeeping Manager, you need to become one.Different characters from all walks of life who need clear instructions, task assignments, empowerment, discipline, and the ability to get along with each other to get the job done. Most of the personnel manage this — except... Read more...
Episode 02 — From Hotel School to the Floor: Taking Control of the Floor
Once I realised that the solution was to take direct control of the personnel shift planning, my next move was clear: I had to speak with the General Manager. It was not a comfortable conversation to have as a 23-year-old manager who had been in the role for only a few weeks. But the chaos on the floors was real, and I had the evidence in front of me... Read more...
Episode 01 — From Hotel School to the Floor: A Housekeeping Manager's Real Education
Episode 1: A fresh hotel school graduate steps onto the floor as housekeeping manager for the first time — and discovers that real education starts where the classroom ends. Read more...