sleepydog25
Been here awhile
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
Morning, Groupies! Although, it's Thursday, for me it's actually the start of my "weekend" the way my work schedule is laid out as I'm generally a Sun-Tue CM but often work an extra day which is usually Wed. Thus, my weekend beginneth...
In my occasional educational PSA series about working for the Mouse, I've mentioned the emphasis on customer service, how we try to make the experience for the guests as marvelous as can be, and little things such as how remarkable the housekeeping changeover at the resort is every single day. To that end, be assured the Mousekeepers and supporting staff (who might include moi) toil quickly and thoroughly to have your room prepared as quickly as humanly possible. I thought I was knowledgeable about the behind the scenes activity to prep rooms, but I only realized a small fraction of what goes on. Things that impact a room being ready: wear and tear that engineering may have to repair; guests who leave the room in shambles; waiting for runners to bring necessary items needing to be replaced such as a scarred cutting board, tarnished utensils, a broken hanger, etc.; waiting until a room inspector signs off on the room (which depending on how many rooms pop up can take awhile); and late checkouts.
The latter is the bane of housekeeping--it's common for guests to not vacate the room until right at 11 or fudge it a little to 11:30 or even nearly noon. Of course, the enhanced cleaning methods that have been used the past 16 months also play a role since every major (and many minor) surface is disinfected, mopped, or washed. That takes time, and the actual cleaning staff are assigned multiple rooms each shift. For example, one person may start with a total cleaning and new linens for a checkout of a 2BR suite which typically takes 3-4 hours, and while that person is doing things that take time (allowing floor to dry or washing the dirty dishes in the dishwasher), he/she will start in on two other rooms, say a studio that needs a full cleaning and then another 2BR that is a linen change out and moderate cleaning. Truly, the whole room changeover is a ballet of sorts, with the Mousekeepers at various stages in any given room, the attendants (a role I play) delivering needed items as quickly as possible while also attending to guests' needs, engineering fine tuning equipment in the rooms, inspectors hopping from room to room and building to building as rooms come ready--it is very much an intricate dance of sorts.
Here's a real-life example for illustration. The Mousekeeper is almost finished with a room near the back of the resort property, but she needs a replacement pillow (someone spilled coffee on one of the 13 pillows in a 2BR suite), as well as a new medium pot with lid (the old one is badly scratched from use), AND two more queen blankets. She puts in the request through an app which gets routed to an attendant (we'll just use yours truly as the attendant
). So, I'm actually near the building from where the request is coming; however, the pillows are kept in a small room halfway to the front of the resort, the blankets in the linen storage area near the front of the resort, and the medium pot in warehouse which is under the main building--yes, three separate stops a long way from the requestor. As I chug along in my 5-mph golf cart, I get a request from another Mousekeeper who needs a replacement spatula, a baking sheet, and a twin mattress pad. I try to coincide my visits to each of the places I need to go to fulfill all the requests so I'm not doubling back too much; however, now I have five items to two different locations. Meanwhile, those rooms can't be finished or inspected totally until the items are delivered. As I'm riding to collect my items, a guest stops me to ask for directions to the Beach House via bicycles, and guests take THE top priority, so I am more than happy to help them and answer their questions--it's the part of my job I love the most, the interacting with guests.
Some time later, after dropping off the items to the first request, I get another request for six different items for a Grand Villa which is nowhere near where I am. So, it's off to deliver the second requestor's items, and all the way back to the warehouse and/or linen storage area. It's not unusual to have requests from 3-4 different Mousekeepers going at one time. Then, out of the blue, I get a request for a coffee maker from a guest at yet another building, and we put a premium on fulfilling guest requests' first, so I have to postpone my other requests to go retrieve a new coffee maker from the warehouse. All of that, and in the meantime, used linens and garbage need to be picked up, as well. Whew! As you can likely tell, the complexities of "simply" cleaning and turning over rooms is quite the adventure...and I love it! So, when guests say something to me, as they often do, "I sure wish we could get (could have gotten) into the room earlier than, say, 3:30 p.m., I smile and tell them that the Mousekeepers make a tremendous effort to make sure the rooms are clean for them and their safety, and that simply takes time.
Well, that was long and likely boring, but it was enjoyable to talk about! Oh, and if you do have any questions about the process or anything else, I'll be glad to answer them, as always.
In my occasional educational PSA series about working for the Mouse, I've mentioned the emphasis on customer service, how we try to make the experience for the guests as marvelous as can be, and little things such as how remarkable the housekeeping changeover at the resort is every single day. To that end, be assured the Mousekeepers and supporting staff (who might include moi) toil quickly and thoroughly to have your room prepared as quickly as humanly possible. I thought I was knowledgeable about the behind the scenes activity to prep rooms, but I only realized a small fraction of what goes on. Things that impact a room being ready: wear and tear that engineering may have to repair; guests who leave the room in shambles; waiting for runners to bring necessary items needing to be replaced such as a scarred cutting board, tarnished utensils, a broken hanger, etc.; waiting until a room inspector signs off on the room (which depending on how many rooms pop up can take awhile); and late checkouts.
The latter is the bane of housekeeping--it's common for guests to not vacate the room until right at 11 or fudge it a little to 11:30 or even nearly noon. Of course, the enhanced cleaning methods that have been used the past 16 months also play a role since every major (and many minor) surface is disinfected, mopped, or washed. That takes time, and the actual cleaning staff are assigned multiple rooms each shift. For example, one person may start with a total cleaning and new linens for a checkout of a 2BR suite which typically takes 3-4 hours, and while that person is doing things that take time (allowing floor to dry or washing the dirty dishes in the dishwasher), he/she will start in on two other rooms, say a studio that needs a full cleaning and then another 2BR that is a linen change out and moderate cleaning. Truly, the whole room changeover is a ballet of sorts, with the Mousekeepers at various stages in any given room, the attendants (a role I play) delivering needed items as quickly as possible while also attending to guests' needs, engineering fine tuning equipment in the rooms, inspectors hopping from room to room and building to building as rooms come ready--it is very much an intricate dance of sorts.
Here's a real-life example for illustration. The Mousekeeper is almost finished with a room near the back of the resort property, but she needs a replacement pillow (someone spilled coffee on one of the 13 pillows in a 2BR suite), as well as a new medium pot with lid (the old one is badly scratched from use), AND two more queen blankets. She puts in the request through an app which gets routed to an attendant (we'll just use yours truly as the attendant
). So, I'm actually near the building from where the request is coming; however, the pillows are kept in a small room halfway to the front of the resort, the blankets in the linen storage area near the front of the resort, and the medium pot in warehouse which is under the main building--yes, three separate stops a long way from the requestor. As I chug along in my 5-mph golf cart, I get a request from another Mousekeeper who needs a replacement spatula, a baking sheet, and a twin mattress pad. I try to coincide my visits to each of the places I need to go to fulfill all the requests so I'm not doubling back too much; however, now I have five items to two different locations. Meanwhile, those rooms can't be finished or inspected totally until the items are delivered. As I'm riding to collect my items, a guest stops me to ask for directions to the Beach House via bicycles, and guests take THE top priority, so I am more than happy to help them and answer their questions--it's the part of my job I love the most, the interacting with guests.Some time later, after dropping off the items to the first request, I get another request for six different items for a Grand Villa which is nowhere near where I am. So, it's off to deliver the second requestor's items, and all the way back to the warehouse and/or linen storage area. It's not unusual to have requests from 3-4 different Mousekeepers going at one time. Then, out of the blue, I get a request for a coffee maker from a guest at yet another building, and we put a premium on fulfilling guest requests' first, so I have to postpone my other requests to go retrieve a new coffee maker from the warehouse. All of that, and in the meantime, used linens and garbage need to be picked up, as well. Whew! As you can likely tell, the complexities of "simply" cleaning and turning over rooms is quite the adventure...and I love it! So, when guests say something to me, as they often do, "I sure wish we could get (could have gotten) into the room earlier than, say, 3:30 p.m., I smile and tell them that the Mousekeepers make a tremendous effort to make sure the rooms are clean for them and their safety, and that simply takes time.
Well, that was long and likely boring, but it was enjoyable to talk about! Oh, and if you do have any questions about the process or anything else, I'll be glad to answer them, as always.
