Laundry and house keeping are the less glamorous sides to a hospitality business. Yet they are essential as two of the most important functions of a hotel or guest cottage. Whether you are running a 3 bedroom Air BnB or a multi storey hotel, laundering bedroom linen and towels is a repetitive task.
According to a research conducted by www.hotelanalyst.co.uk , out sourcing can be a very cost effective method especially for labour intensive operations. Some of the functions most likely to be outsourced in a hotel include laundry, pool maintenance, grounds keeping as well as equipment maintenance.
Hotels have two options when it comes to laundry. They can either choose to wash their linens in house or out source it to a commercial laundry cleaning facility. While having in house laundry operations does give you a certain control, it can be hard to monitor quality and keep staff motivated when there are so many other tasks to attend to. This blog post looks at the benefits of outsourcing your hotel laundry to help you decide whether it is a good practice for your hotel.
- Money saving
Outsourcing your hotel laundry to a third party means you will save in multiple ways. There will be minimal detergent costs as well as no hefty laundry related electricity bills to pay. Housekeeping labour costs are also reduced as less staff needs to be engaged. Lastly, you do not have to undertake the headache of compensation claims by employees due to laundry chemical spills or any other risks or hazards caused by equipment malfunctioning etc.
- Reduction in fixed costs
It is no secret that running your in house laundry operations requires investing in a lot of expensive machinery such as boilers, industrial sized washing machine and dryers. These machines must then be maintained and kept in perfect working condition as clean linen is pertinent to the success of the hotel. By outsourcing your hotel laundry, you can eliminate the fixed costs of expensive machinery as well as the regular upkeep they require due to constant usage.
- Allows you to focus on your core business
Outsourcing your hotel’s laundry will allow you to focus on your core business. There are plenty of tasks which will require your time and attention on a day to day basis especially during holiday season and having the laundry taken care of means one less thing to worry about. Your core business as a hotel is customer service and ensuring your customers have the best possible stay which makes them come back and recommend your establishment to others. Thus, it is important as a hotelier to focus on the core business and leave menial chores like laundry to expert third parties.
- Free up more space in your hotel
On site laundry facilities consume a lot of space which could be dedicated to revenue generating areas such as conference rooms, gym facilities or a pool/sauna. You can have more useful space in your hotel which could be used for a much better purpose if you out source your laundry.
- Consistency in quality
Motivating staff and ensuring bed linen and towels are laundered to a high standard is a time consuming task. Whereas, laundry facilities will ensure consistent quality and punctuality in pick ups and deliveries as this is their livelihood and big hotels do tend to generate a lot of business for such companies.
Deciding whether or not to outsource your hotel’s laundry is a big decision. Weigh the pros and cons of both options and then conduct a cost analysis to choose the best and most cost effective method. Once you have made the decision, choose a reputable laundry company like Gold Dry Cleaners. We can negotiate a contract with you and cater to any special requirements you may have.
Currently serving many big chains such as Marriot and Hilton Hotels, our impeccable service and quality make us a top choice when it comes to hotel laundry in London. We can even provide chef jacket and uniform cleaning for the staff in addition to bed linen and towels. Pick ups and deliveries to hotels are done daily as we understand the nature of the hospitality industry. Guest laundry demands can also be catered to any time of the day or night. So choose the best in the business, choose Gold Dry Cleaners!
