Crowne Plaza Hotel'sRooms Division Service Standards - Provision of Household Facilities in the Hotels - Example

Report template assessment 3 Name: Institution: Date: Contents 1. Introduction: 3 1.1 Authorisation and purpose: 3 1.2 Limitations 3 1.3 Scope of the report 3 2. Crowne Plaza Hotel IClean system 4 2.1 IClean system 4 2.2 IClean system influence on service consistency 4 2.3 IClean system influence on service excellence 5 3. Crowne Plaza Hotel housekeeping equipment 6 3.1 Equipment 6 3.2 Service delivery 7 3.3 Employees’ occupational health and safety 7 4. Housekeeping trend, technology or system 8 4.1 Trend or technology or system 8 4.2 Productivity 9 5. Conclusion 10 References 12 1. Introduction: 1.1 Authorisation and purpose: This report is a review of the application of the knowledge and skills suitable for housekeeping practices. It is, therefore, a reflection on one of the most suitable and effectively employed programs in providing housekeeping services. The iclean programme is so rich that it has made Crowne Plaza Hotel attractive due to its high level of excellence and successful implementation. A review of this IClean programme will, therefore, offer the best understanding and knowledge on cleanliness in housekeeping among other practices. It will also provide an insight into the trends in the housekeeping field and how the trend helps in improving productivity. 1.2 Limitations One of the limitations when writing this report was getting information from various sources. This was a challenge since information is readily available about the hotel. Additionally, use of the latest technology such as chemical free and Yobot are new and only a little information about it is available. 1.3 Scope of the report The focus of the report is on Crowne Plaza Hotel which has great ambitions and capability to use the chemical-free cleaners tin the provision of household facilities in the hotels. The hotel has over the achieved excellence and success as a laundry installations and service provision. This report will cover definitions of several words such as consistency, and productivity and a descriptive explanation of certain concepts and systems such as iClean system. The report will consist of an in - depth description of the success and progress of Crowne Plaza Hotel in adopting the IClean system. This will be linked to the ability of technology to bring success, consistency and increase the productivity of the hotel. It will further provide a reflection on the equipment that is provided during the housekeeping session as well as its importance in regard to delivery of service and the employees’ occupational health and safety. The information used in this report is obtained from Crowne Plaza Hotel and from the internet. Other resources used include the industry material and academic references. 2. Crowne Plaza Hotel IClean system 2.1 IClean system The IClean system is an initiative that aimed at improving the different ways cleanliness of guest rooms has been previously done. It is a revolutionization programme to the housekeeping processes to offer the Crowne Plaza Hotel a competitive advantage over its competitors. The system offers the cleanliness services starting from training to room cleaning process specification, as well as results auditing and retraining. The iclean system aims at creating a certain type of a perception to the guest visiting the hotel. They look into these factors that create attention of the quest so as to be able to win them. These factors include the wear and tear on the furnishings and age. 2.2 IClean system influence on service consistency Consistency is a term that describes something that is steady hence not changing and which conforms to the policies, guidelines and set of rules. In business terms, when a business performs with close proximity to its previous performance and set targets then it is said to be consistent with its performance. Crowne Plaza Hotel uses IClean to achieve consistency by creating customer satisfaction. The satisfaction is achieved by coming up with a sequence, methods, chemicals and tools to do the cleaning work. In achieving consistency, the hotel also gains a competitive advantage. The step by step process of cleaning the guest room makes them admirable and this makes guest satisfied and as a result yield consistency. Doing the cleaning timely such that whenever the rooms are returned cleaning is done procedurally and immediately makes rooms readily available and gives customers a sense of satisfaction. 2.3 IClean system influence on service excellence Service excellence is achieving the best from what is available. It, therefore, implies delivering what the company has promised to deliver and responding effectively to the problems, complaints and queries raised by the customers (Johnston, et al., 2012). Hence by offering service excellence one does not to exceed the customer’s expectations but deliver as agreed. This is exactly what Crowne Plaza Hotel achieves and does through its IClean programme. In any business, inclusive of Crowne Plaza Hotel, the service excellence and customer consistency is the foundation of its success (Anthonisz, 2014)). Hence, a business works towards linking the service excellence and the consistency of the customers. Over the years, Crowne Plaza Hotel has achieved service excellence which is notable from the efficient service provision. This is evident by the factor that Crowne Plaza Hotel has become a highly rated hotel and has gained customer base and loyalty. Cleaning is done effectively and efficiently to the standards that customer need. The IClean programme attains guest satisfaction, service levels, and high GSTS scores by maintaining the rooms clean. Crowne Plaza Hotel achieves optimum inputs by devising a sequential cleaning process as well as chemicals, methods, and tools used in cleaning process. Service excellence is maintained by carrying out a random audit of the guest rooms that have been cleaned to ensure that the workers followed the cleaning process correctly. Through the auditing process, high standards of cleanliness are ensured hence eliminating any complaining that would have arose. This way the positive public image is maintained. Additionally, the iClean programme provides training and retraining of room attendant in an effective way which helps in the creation of service excellence. 3. Crowne Plaza Hotel housekeeping equipment 3.1 Equipment The equipment available at Crowne Plaza Hotel used for cleaning the guest rooms include the handy pack 1 such as 1 bottle of toilet cleaner, toilet brush blue chaimos, scrubbing brush, micro fibre blue pad, white tea towel, bottle of hard surface cleaner, bottle of glass cleaner, plain chaimos, pair of yellow gloves, blue gloves, toothbrush, large sponge, perforated chaimos, micro fibre green pad, spray bottle of water, small green sponge, and pair of goggles (Kinloch, 2016). Others include white door stopper, micro fibre green pad, and bottle of air freshener, vacuum cleaners (pull along vacuum cleaner, back pack vacuum cleaner) mop, micro fibre dust wand, buckets, brush, dustpan, and pair of pink gloves (Kinloch, 2016). 3.2 Service delivery The equipment used by the hotel in its IClean programme are efficient and as a result are able to lead to effective and efficient delivery of services. The programme uses the best equipment and this has helped in producing the best results in service delivery (Lu, et al., 2015). 3.3 Employees’ occupational health and safety With the rising issues in health and safety people have become more conscious of anything touching on the two issues. People are becoming more selective in terms of what they consume at what point, and how. Cleanliness is of paramount importance in a hotel and the employees and the staffs need to observe to the highest degree possible (Liu, et al., 2015). Satisfaction of the customers is highly dependent on the cleanliness of a room and the facilities found therein. Imperatively, cleanliness of everything is central to attracting and retaining customers within the hotel premises and to continue using the services. Customers will judge the nature of a hotel based on the picture they get right at the entrance of the door and also based on their response. By being able to maintain service quality and a degree of difference between the expectations of the customer and the perceptions that they have on performance, satisfactions attained. Cleanliness is very important as it helps to reduce such problems like bed bugs. According to Liu, et al., (2015) the issue on bed bug has become a crisis in most of the New York Hotels and this need to be addressed. To prevent such an occurrence, the best and most suitable way is to ensure that the employees are clean and provide clean services within the hotel facilities. 4. Housekeeping trend, technology or system 4.1 Trend or technology or system Although many industries and hotels are less conversant with technological, In the commercial sector, chemical – free cleaning has been the new trend as it has been found to be the most suitable to embrace in the current world. The chemical free cleaning consist of cleaners that do not have any chemical and examples include the salt - based split stream water technology (McCullough, 2014). These trending chemical free cleaners are likely to replace the traditional and conventional breaches and powders. The chemical cleaners are not preferred due to the effects that they cause to the body such as headaches, dizziness, lung damage, respiratory problems and rashes. The Occupational safety and health Administration has even raised signals on these negative and serious effects of chemicals in its public safety warnings. Although free of chemicals and highly preferred, the only problem that is notable with chemical free cleaning is the doubt on effectiveness and its expensiveness. Despite this, chemical free has been embraced by Reed where he uses water technology to clean surfaces, floors, and urinals among other areas. The beauty of chemical free cleaners is that it incorporates technology in it such as the sanitising facilities that have technologies like the spray vac systems and steam vapour system that uses pressurised water to eliminate loose soils along electrolyzed and ozonated systems by use of electricity to turn water into a cleaning agent. In the commercial industry, chemical free is not the only trend since there are tech – savvy which is a new technological trend in major hotels. The tech savvy uses the robotic bellhop referred to as Yobot and which works as a robotic luggage handler (Shu, 2015). The Yobot is useful in doing the work that would have been done by people such as putting away giant suitcases in the small hotel rooms. Another technological trend besides Yobot is the use of the automated check – outs and check - ins connatural to airport kiosks. Other include the streaming audio, Technowall consisting of flat – screen TV and adjustable smart beds got from Serta. The ability to check in and make service request have made the hotels mobile and brought revolution in the industry. The most sophisticated technology is the use of the keyless entry to hotels facilities using the smartphones when opening the doors (Shu, 2015). This is necessitated by the ability of Crowne Plaza Hotel to install its facilities with reliable internet access which allows the customers and other users to work even when they are away from the office. The wireless Cisco and HP, as well as the latest broadband technology, ensures that the customers access fast and reliable internet access, access to their accounts and utilisation of the VPN client software. However, among all the technological advancement discussed, use of chemical free cleaners is the most applicable trend for the iClean programme and is what the major technological trend under discussion is. 4.2 Productivity Productivity refers to the ability of an industry or initiative to become effectiveness and generate productive efforts. It is therefore taken to imply the ratio between what the organisation produces and what it inputs (Krugman, 1994). When the company is productive it means that it is able to measure its inputs, capital and labour efficiently. People are in love with the chemical free cleaning and by embracing this technology and then ascertaining the customers that it is workable, the company is going to gain first mover advantage and customer loyalty. The company will be seen as a solution provider making it establish a large customer base for its services. This is s because people will start using the chemical free cleaners which are preferred by OSHA. Importantly, technology comes with increased service quality which consequently leads to customer satisfaction. When both customers and the workers are satisfied, there is increased customer base and consequently the productivity of the company and its programmes. New technological advancement is key in increasing the productivity of a company. By embracing technology, the iClean programme will be able to offer greater services, more solutions, and attain greater customer satisfaction. One key thing that a company aims at is excellence in its service delivery and a new technology comes to create the desired excellence. Imperatively, the iClean programme will be able to revolutionise the processes used in housekeeping. Another way productivity will be achieved as a result of technological advancement is the efficient utilisation of time. For instance, when one uses keyless entry to hotel facilities by use of a smartphone, time is saved that would have been used to pull and push the door. With the current growth in technology, Crowne Plaza Hotel decision to install the internet in its facilities will increase the number of customers since it targets the needs of the customers. 5. Conclusion Crowne Plaza Hotel uses IClean programme to achieve consistency and service excellence as a result of making customers satisfied. By use of the right tools, methods and appropriate chemicals that the IClean programme have established the guest rooms are cleaned fully hence making guest satisfied. The core of IClean operation are to make the customers satisfied with the services they get so as to achieve service excellence and gain competitive advantage. Occasionally, the management points out the areas that are in need of improvement and development and in such situations retraining is done based on personalised data from a central system in a simple and straightforward follow-up that is in line with the implementation plan. The improvement in customer satisfaction has led to high scores in GSTS especially in areas that relate to guest cleanliness. The new technological advancement and the most applicable one in the iClean cleaning programme is the use of chemical free cleaners which saves the customers from the severely dangerous chemicals found in nowadays cleaners. Other technological advancements include the use of Yobot which greatly reduces the amount of work that an individual can do. Additionally, use of the automated check – outs and check - ins connatural to airport kiosks are also new technologies while other include the streaming audio, Technowall consisting of flat – screen TV and adjustable smart beds got from Serta. Greater importance is the increase in the productivity of the services offered by the programme due to improved service quality. References Anthonisz, A., 2014). Assessing the future ofhousekeeping operations in Dubai’s five-star hotel industry – room for innovation?. Emerald Insight , pp. 151-163. Johnston, R., Clark, G. & Shulver, M., 2012. Service Operations Management. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Kinloch, S., 2016. Business Operations Rooms 1 Room Standard: Crowne Plaza Hotel Adelaide. International College of Hotel Management Krugman, P., 1994. Defining and Measuring Productivity. New York: Wiley . Liu, B., Kim, H. & Pennington-Gray, L., 2015. Responding to the bed bug crisis in social media. International Journal of Hospitality Management , Volume 47, p. 76–84. Lu, C., Berchoux, C., Marek, M. W. & Chen, B., 2015. Service quality and customer satisfaction: qualitative research implications for luxury hotels. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 9(2), pp. 168 - 182. McCullough, D. G., 2014. 'Chemical-free' cleaning is trending in the commercial sector. The Guardian . Shu, L., 2015. Check into the Futuristic Hotels that push Technology beyond free WI - FI. Cool Tech. Read More