Train your housekeeping staff on energy maintenance

Housekeeping staff are responsible for room condition on a day-to-day basis, and constitute a key control point for energy management and maintenance. Continuous staff training and clear reporting procedures are essential. The following key check points are relevant:

 

  • turn off unnecessary equipment in guest rooms, including lights, TVs on standby, air conditioning and heaters;
  • where it is policy to leave heaters or air-conditioners on for guest arrival, housekeeping staff should adjust these to an appropriate temperature, i.e.:  26 ºC when cooling and 18 ºC when heating
  • check for poorly fitting doors, windows, any draughts etc., and report to maintenance;
  • check for malfunctioning toilets, excessive water flow, leaking plugs

 

Train your housekeeping staff to turn down the heating and cooling when cleaning the room and close shutters or curtains to avoid unwanted solar gain during the day. Also, train your staff to check that there are no leaking in the rooms and report leaking water fittings.

Energy management, maintenance and reporting during housekeeping activities can make important contributions towards energy and water minimisation.

 

 

Environmental benefits

  • Energy savings

Reducing thermostat settings by just 1 ºC in winter can reduce heating energy consumption by 10 %, and similar savings in cooling energy consumption can be achieved in summer by correct thermostat adjustment. Closing shutters or curtains to avoid unwanted solar gain during the day can reduce or avoid cooling energy consumption.

  • Water savings

Reporting leaking water fittings so that they are fixed promptly can reduce room water consumption by hundreds of litres per day



Reduced costs

Simple measures to reduce energy use during housekeeping can save significant amounts of money, especially in relation to temperature regulation. In the absence of a building management system, reducing thermostat temperature by just 1 ºC can reduce heating energy consumption by up to 10 %, whilst closing shutters and curtains in summer can significantly reduce the demand on air conditioning systems.

Efficient cleaning techniques reduce chemical and water costs. For example, one less toilet flush every time a room is cleaned in a 100-room hotel could save EUR 330 per year, at a water price of EUR 2.00 per litre.

Through substitution of cleaning chemicals in laundry and housekeeping operations, a small 14-room hotel in the UK was able to save EUR 1 700 per year (Envirowise, 2008).

Despite significantly higher upfront costs for microfiber compared with conventional mops (EUR 2.72 compared with EUR 0.33 per 100 rooms cleaned), and higher washing costs (EUR 23.52 compared with EUR 3.92 per 100 rooms cleaned), the lifecycle cost of cleaning using microfiber mops is 5 % lower than conventional mops owing to 95 % chemical and water savings and 10 % labour savings (Espinozal et al., 2010).



 

Video

 

 The use of this video on this site has been granted by The Travel Foundation.

 

 

 

Еко карта