Housekeeping and the real impact on your hotel's reputation

Nothing repels guests more than poor housekeeping. Your hotel’s cleanliness immediately sets the tone for quality, while showing guests how much you care about them and your business.

With hotel hygiene being high on a guest’s priority list, their opinion can do grave damage to your reputation if it doesn’t meet expectations.

Just one negative review can lose hotels around 30 guests, according to an Emprise study. It’s not surprising this can have severe consequences in revenue losses.

But if you invest in your housekeeping operations and establish strict quality standards, this can set a clear division between you and your competitors.

Good housekeeping can provide a sure fire way to gain the edge, enhance the guest experience and improve your bottom line.

Your hotel’s reputation is sacred. The last thing browsing guests want to see is a hotel that’s been labelled filthy. Here’s why good housekeeping is imperative and the real power it has over your success.

‍

How important is housekeeping to guests?

‍

According to the Emprise white paper, 97% of travellers say cleanliness is an important factor when booking accommodation.

So when your hotel receives a damaging review describing your hotel as ‘dirty’, you can just imagine the kind of impact that one word has on your bookings.

In fact, the study also revealed 90% of travellers will avoid booking hotels described as being ‘dirty’ in a review.

Cleanliness is so important to European and American guests, they prioritise housekeeping above bed and furniture comfort, customer service, room lighting and internet access.

‍

Cleanliness is just the beginning

‍

‍

Guests visit a hotel with a certain set of expectations. Being presented with a clean room is presumed. Guests do not expect to be greeted by dusty furniture and stained bedding. So a guests reaction when this does happen is justifiably one of shock and disgust.

Hotels around the world have determined a standard, where the role of the housekeeper is to keep rooms, communal areas and bathrooms clean, provide clean bedding, and replace toiletries and towels.

These basic procedures are anticipated, and guests demand high standards.

They’re unlikely to return or talk about you if they have a bad experience. And if they resort to posting a bad review, this can radically influence the decisions of future guests.

The result of these negative comments will cost significantly more in lost revenue than if you’d just implemented adequate housekeeping processes in the first place.

‍

Added value housekeeping services

‍

Coming at this from a positive slant, your housekeeping facilities can be the very reason guests choose to book. It can be your USP, and something they truly value on their travels.

Besides room cleanliness, offering value added services such as dry cleaning, ironing, laundry or shoe polishing can be real deal breakers for guests.

These types of services may seem more suited to business visitors. However, travellers staying for longer periods and families with young children will also appreciate the added comfort and luxury.

If for example a guest is left devastated after spilling red wine on her favourite cocktail dress, just imagine how grateful she’d be when you deliver the dress back the next morning looking brand new…

It would give her a reason to share her experience and tell the world why travellers should visit you.

Value added services enhance the guest experience immeasurably and give guests positive memories they want to share with others.

‍

Online reviews can hurt

‍

‍

Guests feel passionate about proper housekeeping. Passionate enough that they’re more likely to write a negative review if it falls below their own ideals.

These negative reviews hold great social power and have the ability to severely damage your reputation and revenue potential.

And it seems guests have no problem changing their accommodation plans after browsing social media. 35% will reconsider their hotel choice if they lose confidence due to feedback from others.

If that doesn’t alarm you, 40% of travellers said they would not stay in a hotel with more than 3 negative reviews.

But even if your hotel has negative reviews right now, you can still turn it around. A study by GuestRevu claims just a 10% improvement in review ratings can increase sales by 4.4%.

Adequate housekeeping will ensure your hotel is a clean, safe and comfortable environment for travellers. It also creates a great first impression that remains with your guests for the duration of their stay.

The more boxes you can tick to satisfy their basic hygiene requirements, the better your guest satisfaction rates and the more likely you’ll build a positive online community. Never forget, your reputation is directly linked to your occupancy rates, and dictates your revenue.

As one of the biggest operations at your hotel, it pays to invest in building a superior housekeeping department.