The MVCI brand particularly focuses itself on creating resorts for vacation travelers seeking value, variety, flexibility, and high quality accommodations where inspired associates genuinely provide a lifetime of memorable vacation experiences.
The Playa Andaluza is grouped together in such a brand that has resorts in some of the most desirable destinations around the world, which are located on popular beach, golf and ski destinations.
The property is made up of 5 beautifully designed buildings, of which 4 comprise of 171 elegantly appointed and spacious 2 and 3 bedroom villas. The buildings are all named after popular Andalucían cities: Granada, Sevilla, Cadiz, Huelva and Almería.
There is only one building on the property, Malaga, that doesn’t consist of any accommodating rooms, as it is considered as the ‘hub’ of the property where much of the property’s operations are run through this building. It is also the oldest building within the vicinity. The Almería building is the newest building on the property and in fact it had only just opened a few weeks prior to my arrival.
Organisation’s Hierarchical Structure
3.0 AN OVERVIEW OF THE HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT
Nothing sends out a stronger message than cleanliness in a hospitality operation. No level of service, friendliness, or glamour can equal the sensation a guest has upon entering a spotless, tidy, and conveniently arranged room. The importance of this is enhanced within the service industry, more than any other industry, simply because a hotel predominantly focuses itself on the selling of an intangible product i.e. the service.
To send this message of quality, housekeeping must be endowed with the same professionalism as other hospitality functions. The tasks performed by the housekeeping department are critical to the smooth daily operation of the hotel.
Cleanliness of a hotel is efficiently managed by the housekeeping department. Margaret Kappa Et al (1997, Preface) have stated that the role of this department is to ensure the cleanliness, maintenance and aesthetic appeal of the property. The housekeeping department not only prepares clean guestrooms on a timely basis for arriving guests, but it also cleans and maintains everything in the hotel so that the property is as fresh and attractive as the day it opened for business.
The housekeeping department at the Marriott Playa Andaluza was under the charge of the Director of Services, Markus Eberl. The department was divided into two areas: housekeeping and public areas. The housekeeping staff was responsible for maintaining cleanliness of the apartments, whereas the public area staff was responsible for other areas around the resort, such as, landscaping, lobbies, swimming pools, toilets etc.
The housekeeping section consisted of 5 permanent staff of which 4 were supervisors who had been assigned responsibility for a building each and the remaining member of the team was responsible for most of the administration and ‘Lost and Found’. Public areas only had one supervisor. The department also received the additional support from trainee housekeeping supervisors, who are students conducting internships for their studies.
4.0 CURRENT PROCEDURE OF THE DAILY TIDY SERVICE
The daily tidy service is a cleaning service that is provided to the client on a daily basis. This is the most basic out of the cleaning services available and should only take the room attendants a maximum of 30 minutes to complete. This is a service that is completed everyday for an occupied apartment between the hours of 1000 and 1200. Although clients can make requests if they wish to receive their service at a particular time. Departure cleaning service is given priority over the daily tidy service, which means on busy days it can be delayed, as preparing rooms for the arrival of clients takes greater significance. The only time a daily tidy service is not carried out is if the client forfeits the service by placing a ‘Do-Not-Disturb’ sign on the outside of their door.
The daily tidy service covers cleaning of the kitchen, living/dining room, bathrooms and balcony. Below is a step-by-step approach of the order in which each room attendant is encouraged to undertake the daily tidy service. However, the department also provides the room attendants with the freedom to complete the task in whatever approach suits them best.
Kitchen
- Empty the coffee machine, and place carafe and drip cup in the dishwasher.
- Place all other dirty dishes in the dishwasher and start the cycle.
- Wipe down the countertops and straighten the items.
- Empty the bins.
- Replace bins with new bin bags.
- Replace dishwasher soap.
- Replace soiled kitchen linens.
- Sweep floor if needed.
Living/Dining Room
- Remake sofa bed with existing linen if possible.
- Fluff pillows and return to correct storage place.
- Straighten any literature, such as, magazines, the villa directory, etc.
- Replace pen and pad if necessary otherwise just straighten.
- Wipe down dining table and chairs.
- Vacuum if needed.
Bedrooms
- Remake beds with existing linen, however, replace if soiled.
- If any items were left on the bed; then fold and replace on the bed.
- Vacuum if needed.
Bathrooms
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Wipe down countertops.
-
Replace used towels.
- Replace used amenities, such as, shampoo and soap. Do not throw out shampoo bottles unless they are empty. Do not throw out soap bars unless they are too small to use. Leave one extra bar of soap and one extra bottle of shampoo.
- Empty bin.
- Sweep floors if needed.
Balcony
- Wipe off table top and chairs, and reposition chairs around the table.
As all procedures are clear and simple to understand, and demonstrate a regard for the client’s needs, no part of the service can be seen as a failure, and would therefore be deemed inappropriate to change the current procedures of the daily tidy service. However, an area that can be reviewed is how the housekeeping department can sustain the level of quality of the service being provided to the client.
The hierarchy of the housekeeping department at the resort is a good example of how everyone has an important role to play to ensure that a reliable service is provided to its clients. Although it will be the room attendants who will carry out the daily tidy service, it is however the responsibility of the supervisors to encourage the delivery of consistent quality service (Lockwood, 1996, p. 14).
The diagram below shows a systematic approach to quality management by illustrating the progression from Quality Inspection (QI) to Total Quality Management (TQM).
Figure 4.1 The Progression from QI to TQM
The most feasible framework that could be applied to the housekeeping operation at the resort is of the Quality Inspection (QI), which is seen as the ‘earliest and easiest approach to looking for quality’ (Lockwood, 1996, p. 14). However, it is important to understand that when the daily tidy service takes place the client may still be present in the apartment, so a defect can not only be identified by the housekeeping supervisor, it can also be identified by the client themselves. And for this reason the emphasis is put on the room attendants to get their job done right, at the first attempt. The current service procedure (SOP) shown earlier is the standard operating procedure for the daily tidy service, and is available for each of the room attendants to turn to whenever required. The SOP can also be used as simple guideline for what the housekeeping supervisors should be looking for when carrying out an inspection of the service. Due to the nature of the business it is not always possible to ask the room attendants to correct their mistakes, especially if the guest is still present in the apartment. Hospitality is about customer satisfaction so this may mean that it is the housekeeping supervisor who corrects the defects found in the service rather than the room attendant, to ensure overall customer satisfaction.
Another of the quality management frameworks that could be applied to the housekeeping operation is of the Quality Assurance (QA). Andrew Lockwood (1996, p.14) describes this stage of the framework as one that is not just focused on the system created to control quality of the service, but is one that focuses on developing a philosophy and approach that prevents the defects in the daily tidy service from arising in the first place. This is something that can be regarded as something significant to the housekeeping operation, as it has already been identified at the QI stage that it is not always possible to inspect and correct before providing it to the client.
It is difficult to try and implement the Total Quality Management (TQM) stage of the framework to the housekeeping operation, as it would be an approach that is enforced by the whole resort, and not just by the housekeeping department. It can however be looked upon the whole rooms division, where both the front office and the housekeeping department need to liaise to ensure that apartments are ready for the arrival of clients. But this is not something that can be directly related to just the daily tidy service, and this is why it would not be recommended.
Andrew Lockwood has mentioned in this text that ‘TQM approach places more emphasis on the people in the organisation, and their role, through a broadening of their outlook and skills, through encouragement or creativity, through training and empowerment, in measuring their own performance and finding ways to improve it’ (1996, p.15).
The Marriott brand standard is all about standardising its products and services; this is so that if you were to visit two hotel/resorts of the same Marriott brand, you can expect to experience the same ambience, with the only difference being the culture of the destination.
5.0 REVISED PROCEDURE
The previous section highlighted that the current service procedures of the daily tidy were sufficient for the purpose of the housekeeping operation, and therefore found it inappropriate to revise the service procedures. Instead the questions that arose were related to a systematic approach of quality management to ensure overall customer satisfaction. So this section looks at methods that could be implemented to ensure that quality of the daily tidy service delivered is consistent and reliable.
By using the diagram in figure 4.1, the appropriate stages of the framework were compared with the current service procedures of the daily tidy service, of which QI and QA were determined as the most suitable approach towards quality management.
It has already been mentioned that due to the nature of the business it will not always possible for the room attendant to carry out the daily tidy services in the absence of the client. So this restricts housekeeping supervisors in being able to inspect and then correct any defects in service, before the client is able to see the completed service. However, it may be possible for the housekeeping supervisor to put more emphasis on the daily tidy service as they do with the departure cleaning service. The departure cleaning service is provided to the apartment once the client has left, however, as an hotelier, the prime concern for the housekeeping department should be customer satisfaction. By bearing this in mind regular informal checks should be made upon room attendants so that defects can be identified and corrected as they arise and not once the room attendant has moved onto another apartment.
This compulsory inspection maybe criticised as it can not always be possible to carry out on busy days. However, over the summer I worked at the resort as a housekeeping supervisor and most of the week it was actually quiet, even during the peak period. I have included some daily accounts from my reflective journal in the Appendix to give you an idea of what the days were like. These accounts from my reflective journal show that the recommendation of putting more emphasis on the daily tidy service by making inspection compulsory rather than the option of a random inspection, can be both practicable and achievable as it ‘helps to move the emphasis from detection to prevention’ (Lockwood, 1996, p.14).
Although Marriott is an American company, the ambience of the Spanish culture flows throughout the Marriott Playa Andaluza, and this includes the style in which the resort, and in particular the housekeeping department is managed. The room attendants can be perceived as being emotional, which means a gentle approach is needed most of the time. This is something that the housekeeping supervisors must understand, especially if they are to try and encourage the room attendants to try and get the job done right, at the first attempt. This will require proactive approach, which includes motivating and rewarding staff.
Training is something that is already used by the resort to fulfill the legal aspects of employment. But as Marriott brand standards put a strong emphasis on the quality of the service it provides throughout its hotels and resorts, regular refresher sessions should be arranged. These sessions will not only be used as method of re-educating the room attendants, but can also be used as bonding session or a period where room attendants are rewarded. Maintaining the morale of the room attendants at the resort is the key to managing the quality of all cleaning services the housekeeping department has to provide, and not just the daily tidy service.
6.0 PROCEDURE MONITORING
The best method to monitor quality management at the Marriott Playa Andauza is to conduct random ‘Spot Checks’ just as they at various other Marriott properties. This is a tried monitoring procedure that has worked to good effects at hotels, such the Marriott London Heathrow Hotel and the Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel.
The ‘Spot Check’ is a random on the spot, thorough inspection that is carried out by the housekeeping supervisor in the presence of the room attendant, so that if any defects do come across they can not only be pointed out to the room attendant, but also educate the room attendant so that the same mistake is not repeated. The housekeeping supervisors will be set a number of ‘Spot Checks’ they are required to conduct throughout the week, and will be advised to conduct checks on as many different room attendants as possible. The check itself will be a formal inspection, which is documented and placed in the personal file of the room attendant. Each inspection is given a score out of 100, and a minimum score is also set for all room attendants to achieve.
By documenting the ‘’Spot Checks’ it gives the department to monitor who is continuously making mistakes, and in what areas are the most mistakes made. This is not something that will be used for disciplinary purpose, but more towards quality management, for example, if there is one area that the majority of room attendants keep making mistakes in then this is something the housekeeping management can look into to discover the cause.
CONCLUSION
According to Andrew Lockwood Et al (1996, p.12–16) managing quality in hospitality operations is difficult a prospect, especially when you consider the intangible parts of the operation. They expand on their views by stating that they believe there is the need for a systematic approach to the problem of having to manage the production of service elements over a short cycle of operations. However, there are only a few hospitality operations that have risen to the challenge. The housekeeping department of Marriott’s Playa Andaluza can be classified as one of those hospitality operations, as the consistent levels of quality associated with the service the department enforces them to focus on the needs of their clients. The efficient running of the operation is also backed up with excellent business results, as a result of customer satisfaction.
APPENDIX A: READING LIST
Kappa, M. Et al (1997) Housekeeping Management, Second Edition. Michigan, American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute.
P. Preface, 8.
Lattin, G.W. Et al (2005) The Lodging and Food Service Industry, Sixth Edition. Michigan, American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute.
P. 89-92.
Lockwood, A. Et al (1996) Quality Management in Hospitality, First Edition. London, Cassell.
P. 12-16
Distinguishing Marriott Vacation Club International Brands, v 1.1
Copyrighted, confidential and proprietary information of Marriott Vacation Club International
APPENDIX B: WEBSITES USED
‘Marriott International’ from the website of Wikipedia, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
‘Marriott Corporation’ from the website of Wikipedia, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
‘Host Marriott Services’ from the website of Wikipedia, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
‘Corporate Information’ from the website of Marriott UK & Ireland, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
‘Company Heritage’ from the website of Marriott UK & Ireland, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
‘The Marriott Timeline’ from the website of Marriott UK & Ireland, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
‘Marriott International’ from the website of Caterer Search, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
‘About Our Brands’ from the website of Marriott UK & Ireland, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
‘Corporate Profile’ from the website of Marriott International, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
APPENDIX C: IMAGES USED
The logo of Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of Renaissance Hotels & Resorts, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of Marriott Conference Centers, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of Ritz-Carlton Hotels & Resorts, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of BVLGARI Hotels & Resorts, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of Courtyard by Marriott, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of Fairfield Inn by Marriott, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of SpringHill Suites by Marriott, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of Residence Inn by Marriott, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of TownePlace Suites by Marriott, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of Marriott ExecuStay, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of Marriott Executive Apartments, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of Marriott Vacation Club International (MVCI), Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of Marriott Grand Residence Club, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
The logo of Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club, Accessed on 17th November 09 at:
APPENDIX C: DIAGRAMS
Figure 2.1: Organisation Hierarchical Structure
From: Pepa Moreno, Human Resources Assistant of Marriott’s Playa Andaluza
Figure 4.1: The Progression from QI to TQM
From: Lockwood, A. Et al (1996) Quality Management in Hospitality, First Edition. London, Cassell.
P.15.
SOP
SOP
REFELCTIVE JOURNAL
Whilst on placement I kept a daily journal to reflect on my thoughts and feelings about what I had done at work each day. Although this was something I needed to do for the purpose of my assessment, it was also something I was encouraged to by the Human Resources Department at Playa Andaluza as this would form the basis of my training.
Over the next few pages I have shared 6 random days as housekeeping supervisor at the Playa Andaluza, in this you will see the duties I was assigned each day, how busy the property was on each day and also whether I had any opinions on what I did.
Monday 22nd June 2009
Andrei had warned me about today that the day was going to drag. As most of the clientele checkout over the weekend, the early part of the week becomes extremely quiet; this is because the rooms are cleaned as soon as they leave so they are ready for the arrival of the new clients. And if no guests are checking out the chicas (Room Attendants) will mainly be carrying out “DT” (Daily Tidies).
Jenny and I didn’t divide the workload and worked through the resort together, we were looking or things to do rather than actually having anything to do. This gave us an opportunity to go and talk to some clients and get some feedback regarding the housekeeping services they had received during their stay. We decided to concentrate on those who had been affected by the system error on Sunday, and did not receive their tidies. We managed to speak to most of these guests and apologise for what had happened, and explain why it had happened. We tried to speak to all of these clients, however there were some who were not in their apartment, and we had to leave this to be carried out tomorrow.
In addition to the follow ups, the only real case that came up was an infestation of ants in an apartment. I and Jenny visited the apartment to inspect the situation. We had taken some ant killer with us so we could diffuse the situation until the exterminator arrives. After inspecting the apartment we felt it was appropriate to call for the exterminator. The earliest we could arrange for them to come out was by midday tomorrow.
Today was mine and Jenny’s first attempt in closing the office. Versela had showed us what was needed to be done in order to close the office the evening before, so it was just a case of recalling our notes.
There weren’t many problems in closing up, just a couple of incidents that needed to be sorted out before we could put the rooms in as “VR” (Vacant and Ready). What happens is that at 6pm when most of the room attendants finish work, they seem to drop everything and run. This means that if a room is not complete or it has something missing, we wont know until they come to hand in their papers, and then this would be something we would have to chase up, as we cannot leave work until all the allocated rooms for that day are “VR”.
Tuesday 23rd June 2009
Finally Its Tuesday, although it has been quite an experience and I have enjoyed my week, I was extremely glad when I got to work this morning knowing that I had Wednesday and Thursday off. I really needed the days off so I could organise myself.
Once again today we were light in the department in terms of the number of supervisors, there was myself and two others, but one could hardly argue that we needed anymore. The workload does seem to dry up during the early part of the week, and more than often it is you who is looking around trying to find something to do.
Like the previous day, I worked with Jenny, as there were not many checkouts it was pointless dividing the buildings and instead we stayed together and worked through the lot of them.
There were a couple of issues that came up one client had requested 2 sun beds to be delivered to his apartment before I started my shift, 2 hours into my shift I got a call saying that he still hadn’t received them, meaning he had been waiting for hours. After chasing up the housemen the client finally got his sun beds, but obviously he wasn’t very happy, I can understand why though, I wouldn’t be happy with the level of service, especially after paying so much to stay at the resort in the first place.
On Monday I chased up a complaint regarding the infestation of ants in a ground floor apartment in Sevilla. An exterminator had been booked to come today and treat the apartment. Upon their arrival me and Jenny led them to the apartment where the put some no-toxic gel at the bottom of the walls to kill off the ants. A non-toxic solution had been recommended as the client had young children.
It was in this apartment that I realised that this world is way too short. The client came from Langley, a mile or so down the road from Colnbrook, where my parents live. Yesterday I had stressed to my colleague that it feels as though I have seen this client before, which today proved my assumption was a little more than just a coincidence.
Once the chicas (room attendants) were located around the resort and the do not disturb signs were allocated, there wasn’t much more we could find to do, so we continued with the tidying up me started yesterday. The storage room now looked a lot more organised.
Just as yesterday, I and the Jenny (the other trainee) were left to close the office on our own. There were a couple of problems that came up but nothing too serious, just some things that had to corrected before we could put the rooms as “VR” (Vacant Ready).
I stayed an hour and half longer after work to use the internet and get some studying done. I had received permission earlier in the day from Pepa, and it was a lot better staying there later and using it for free than leaving work and paying a lot of money to use the internet at the Selenza Hotel.
Friday 26th June 2009
Today I was finally issued a master key to the property, now I could access the rooms myself, and did not have to shadow anyone. The only reason I would still need to shadow another housekeeping supervisor is because of my inability to speak Spanish.
I was assigned the rooms from the Huelva building. Jenny had not turned up so I was shadowing Versela, who is a senior housekeeping supervisor. She has been at the property for some time now, and as well as checking rooms, her main responsibility is to train the room attendants.
She taught me Spanish phrases that I would need to use when talking to the chicas (Room Attendants). I found this very helpful as it has given me much needed confidence that I needed to check rooms on my own.
After lunch I had a problem with my bleeding and I was given permission to go home at 1600, 3 hours earlier than scheduled.
Monday 29th June 2009
If yesterday was my best day so far, then today was the complete opposite. After yesterday I honestly expected things to get better by the day, but this was not the case.
A brother of one of the room attendants had an accident, so she had to leave work to go see him in hospital. Her rooms were therefore divided between the remaining room attendants.
What I was not impressed with was that I was asked to pair up with one of the room attendants, and I was asked to clean the toilets. As a good employee I carried out the tasks I was instructed to do, even though I was not happy. I did however voice my concerns about this incident, simply because this is not the first time I have worked in housekeeping and I have come here to learn something new. Right now I have not learnt anything new, and have just spent my time getting used to the daily routine of the housekeeping supervisors, improving my Spanish and getting to know the property.
Friday 3rd July 2009
Definitely my best day here so far, although I am already aware that the weekend is the busiest period for the property, however, what I realised today was that the peak period has well and truly begun, and I can expect the weekends to be extremely busy right through until August.
Today I was completely independent, as I was given the added responsibility of an additional building. I started the day taking complete responsibility of the Almería building.
Almería is the latest building on the property, however, it is plagued with operational problems, and is definitely challenging for any supervisor, regardless of how long they have been at the property. Luckily for me I didn’t have many problems to deal with, my biggest challenge of the day was probably trying to communicate with the room attendants, who speak no English at all, but this gives me the added incentive to improve my Spanish, even if it’s just to communicate with the room attendants.
I got off to a good start with the room attendants working swiftly through the check out rooms, this gave the me the chance to check for do not disturb cards, and also to talk to some of the guests, as they were not happy with the daily tidy service they were receiving, so we were instructed to get a feedback on today’s services.
After lunch I had to deal with a couple of uncomfortable incidents with two of the room attendants. One of the apartments were left in such a terrible state, and for that I do sympathise with the room attendant allocated with such a room, however, upon allocation of rooms, the rooms themselves are not inspected, so it is done completely randomly. But even so I was pleased with the standards the room was cleaned to. The only setback was that the washing machine was left unclean and soap was still visible in the soap compartment. I saw the condition the apartment was in when she started, so I decided not to take her up with this and cleaned it myself. This was a decision I had to take as I had two of my rooms in queue, meaning the guests were waiting in reception and I needed to get these rooms ready as quickly as possible.
A couple of the rooms caused me a few problems as lots of things were missing, or not in their correct places, due to the fact that these rooms were in queue I had to organise the apartments myself as this was the quickest method of getting the rooms ready on time. My job would be made a lot easier had I was given a key for the store rooms, which are located on each floor of the buildings. The store rooms are used in accordance with the housekeeping department as an area where we the department can store items needed to prepare a room. These store rooms allow the room attendants and housemen to carry out their duties a efficiently as possible.
I had received complaints from the room attendants regarding the store room on the first floor of the Almería building. The room attendants were unable to open the store room, as the door appeared to be jammed. All I could do was inform the maintenance department to rectify the issue as soon as possible, and instruct the room attendants to use up the items from the other store rooms in the Al Meria building. Obviously this meant that these store rooms would soon be bare, and the public area staffs were informed if this and would replenish the store rooms later in the evening.
Isabel (Housekeeping Supervisor) was due to finish at 1600 today, so I had to finish her Granada building and check the rooms that were scheduled to be ready by 1700 and 1800.
This was by far the busiest day I have experienced at the property, which justifies why the time flew by so quickly. My only worry for the remainder of my work experience is the heat, as I can feel it is getting warmer.
Saturday 4th July
I can see why everyone had been warning me about the weekends, this was the busiest day at the resort while I had been there, and this is just the start of the peak period.
It was a day plagued with problems in the Almería building. Yesterday I had mentioned that the store rooms in the building were running bare, and that the public area cleaners had been informed about replenishing the store rooms yesterday evening. Come this morning and the store rooms were still more or less empty, which affected the efficiency of the daily operations.
In one of the apartments the dishwasher had stopped working, for which maintenance had been called for, so that they could see if they could repair it. This apartment was in line for an 1800 check-in, so it needed to be sorted as soon as possible. The room attendant was a little hysterical because it takes approximately 3hours to clean the apartment to the standards Marriott expects, and the dishwasher takes the majority of that time to run a wash. This apartment delayed our operations significantly as it now had to be left to do last.
Managing Service Delivery & Improvement – Level 2 C324009 - -
