Linen loss is a fact of life for hotels, resorts, and motels. Linens refer to sheets, bedding, hotel towels, and other supplies. Even the most thoughtful hotel housekeeping advice can’t guarantee that none of your plush towels and robes will get damaged with time. Hospitality facilities lose an average of between 5 to 20 percent of their supplies alone every month. So what can you do to help reduce and prevent linen loss in your hospitality operation? Start tracking your losses by knowing exactly how many linens you have onsite.
Also, there are some useful steps you can take to avoid linen loss and will help ensure that they stay for a longer time.
-
Table of Contents
Provide Cleaning Products to Guests
If you fail to provide rags to your staff members, they will use the hand towels and washcloths instead. Not only does this harm the material, but it can also cause stains, both of which lessen the lifecycle of your textiles. Make sure your housekeeping staff has the materials they need for cleaning and that guest rooms are provided with paper towels.
-
Form a Linen Policy Committee
Create a group of people that meet on a regular basis to determine areas in which your facility could better prevent linen loss. Then, allow the committee to set policies that fix weak areas.
-
Educate your Employees
Educating employees is the key. Ultimately, preventing linen loss starts and ends with your staff. They are often unaware of how it could potentially affect them. Consider creating a Linen Awareness Day to train your employees to your hospitality linen service provider, and educate them on how different linens should be used and in what amounts.
-
Review your Linens Regularly
Even if you are working efficiently on every point to avoid the loss, things change and people become forgetful. To make sure that you don’t lose all of your progress, consult with your linen provider regularly and review your hotel bedding and other supplies to keep a proper check. Also, place warning and educational signs near any closet as reminders.
-
Laundry Outsourcing
The best industrial laundry service will have numerous processes and checks to prevent losses and provide you with a complete accounting of all of your linen if you outsource your laundry. Each delivery should provide you with details of how many pounds are: clean, damaged beyond repair or stained, and requiring a special wash.
-
Keep Enough Pars
Even though having enough pars on hand at all times won’t guarantee success, it will put you in a better position to handle any losses in the future. The recommended par level is at least four:
- 1 in room
- 1 in the closet to be used next in the room
- 1 dirty that just came out of the room
- 1 being washed
