With more people keen to travel this year compared to 2020, hotels will need to be even more prepared for increased foot traffic during the holiday season. While the vaccine has seen widespread availability, the pandemic has left a lasting impact on travelers that hotel property and housekeeping managers will need to be ready to address. Additionally, these leaders need to remember that this holiday season may be the first time some guests have traveled and stayed in a hotel in over a year. Thus, to deliver a five-star experience, hotels must exceed the new cleanliness and service expectations of travelers.

Making Spirits Bright

Appearance shapes guests’ perceptions of cleanliness, and hotels will need to look their absolute best to capture glowing reviews this year. In fact, JD Power’s 2020 North American Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study found that cleanliness was the driving factor for guest satisfaction in hotels. Consequently, hotels will need to take extra care to provide guests with the things they expect when staying at a hotel, including a clean room, beautiful lobby, and impeccable service.

Carpet plays a fundamental role in the way guests experience hotels because it is often present throughout most properties. From the lobby to entertainment spaces to guest rooms, carpet is a design element that brings color, pattern, softness, and warmth. Practicing effective, routine carpet care to remove soils and stains preserves a hotel’s overall appearance and promotes guest satisfaction. The new public standards and expectations around cleanliness have made it even more vital for hotels to prioritize carpet care throughout the year.

Impressing Guests through Hotel Carpet Cleaning

• Regularly vacuum – Regularly vacuuming high-, medium-, and low-traffic areas is crucial to preserving carpet’s cleanliness and prolonging its lifespan. High-traffic environments like lobbies or restaurants may need to be vacuumed daily, given that these areas are more likely to accumulate dust and soil from visitors’ shoes. It is important to develop a vacuuming schedule that is specific to your facility’s needs, as spaces like ballrooms may be in frequent use for weddings, conferences, and other events.

In addition to promoting a facility’s overall cleanliness, routine vacuuming promotes good indoor air quality (IAQ). Poor IAQ can aggravate asthma and allergies in both guests and employees, which could significantly affect the experience of guests who suffer from these conditions and your staff’s productivity and wellbeing.

• Install matting in entrance areas – While matting can improve the bottom line throughout the year, it is especially instrumental during the winter. This is because matting helps stop water and soil at the door. Say goodbye to guests tracking snow, sand, and salt throughout the rest of the hotel. Matting that has scraping features and retains moisture preserves carpet’s appearance and makes daily maintenance more efficient. It also lowers costs over time by reducing the frequency that carpet needs to be replaced and helping to prevent damage associated with repeated scraping from shoes.
• Adopt an efficient approach to carpet care – It is in hotel’s nature to be consistently busy, especially during the holidays. This means that cleaning staff are frequently preparing rooms in anticipation of the next guest’s arrival. While there is no surefire way to predict exactly how much carpet care a room will require, utilizing a quick and simple approach, like low-moisture encapsulation, can streamline the process. Encapsulation carpet cleaning requires much less water than other methods, like hot water extraction, thus greatly reducing the time it takes carpet to fully dry. Because encapsulation requires less water, it is also a more sustainable alternative.
• Select quality, cost-effective machines – When selecting a carpet care machine, it is important to weigh long-term vs. short-term costs. For instance, some machines may cost less initially, but the level of quality they deliver may end up costing more in labor and upkeep in the long term. How can you easily find a high-quality carpet care machine? Select machines that have been certified by third-party organizations such as the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI). This guarantees that a machine has been rigorously tested according to specific quality and sustainability requirements. It makes it easier to vet manufacturers based on quality as well as your hotel property’s specific needs.
• Use effective chemistry – The holidays are a busy time and spills of varying types are bound to occur during guests’ stays. Maintain a steady supply of chemistry that can remove each type of stain without damaging carpet or leaving a sticky residue behind. For example, Whittaker’s CRYSTAL® chemistry products address numerous common stains, including those caused by vomit, oil, grease, wax, wine, coffee, and more. The chemistry is specifically designed to clean efficiently, prevent the discoloration of carpet, and preserve carpet’s lifespan.

Fulfilling Holiday Wishes

With travel projected to reach pre-pandemic levels this holiday season, hotels will need to keep in mind that guests will have very different expectations for cleanliness. Securing excellent reviews and satisfying guests will be much more dependent on the appearance of the hotel than in years prior. Carpet is often the first thing guests see upon entering a hotel. By prioritizing carpet care, hotels can help put travelers at ease while also supporting the long-term success of their cleaning program.