Keeping Guests Happy: Hotel Standard Operating Procedures

The quality and comfort of hotel guest rooms are a hotel’s highest priority. Maintenance managers need to focus efforts on the hotel areas where preventive maintenance needs to be highest to build customer satisfaction and a positive guest experience. Hotels operate in regulated environments. Front desks and managers need to assess quality issues to proactively prevent problems and react to them quickly when they appear.

From business professionals to families, hotels constantly have guests checking in and out of their facilities. Along with a revolving door, filled with guests, comes the responsibility of ensuring hotel maintenance meets and exceeds guests’ standards. Without quality assurance plans and trained hotel maintenance teams, hotel amenities and services break down, leading to guest dissatisfaction and a drop in bookings.

Hotel Maintenance Systems and Operations

Hotel staff and maintenance employees are increasingly under pressure to complete assignments quickly to ensure guest satisfaction. Maintenance systems include general building operations such as HVAC, electrical, and plumbing. Customer needs vary widely, and their scope depends on the size of the hotel and the services they offer.

Hotels can manage maintenance and compliance regulations through standard operating procedures (SOPs) that promote quality assurance and continuous improvement. SOPs that include preventive maintenance and regulatory standards ensure quality and safety, increase customer satisfaction and re-bookings, and meet industry compliance. The range of preventive, and reactive, maintenance needs requires hotel maintenance crews. It also means that maintenance planning is crucial for hotel maintenance success.

Hotel maintenance operations include:

• Heating and Cooling Systems
• Plumbing and Water Supply
• Electrical
• Lighting
• Guest Safety
• Sanitation Services and Replenishment
• Furniture
• Facility Exterior
• Equipment and Supplies
• Meeting Spaces

Hotel Maintenance Standard Operating Procedures

Preventive operational maintenance schedules reduce emergency maintenance requests, allow staff to stay on top of work orders, and provide guests with accommodations they expect and appreciate.

Via cloud-based technologies and Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), management and staff can stay on top of preventative maintenance SOP. Managers can input work orders and hotel maintenance standard operating procedures, and then assign, track, and monitor what team members get completed. This maintenance planning software can help hotels improve hotel maintenance management using a paperless system.

SOP should follow laws and regulations and outline routine checks, from door locks to showerheads and toilets to elevators and hotel fitness center equipment.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) has no specific rules governing the hospitality industry. However, hotels need to comply with OSHA’s General Duty Clause that enforces worker safety. OSHA inspectors look for anything that can cause potential danger or bodily harm and impact an employee’s life on or off the job.

Hotel Regulatory Compliance Checklists

Hotel standard operating procedures with regulatory compliance checklists should include:

• Emergency Evacuations and Lock-Down Procedures
• Housekeeping and Cleaning Operations
• Laundry Operations and Facilities
• Food and Beverage Services and Kitchen Operations
• Guest Room and Floor Safety

These operations are regulated at federal, state, and/or local levels. Industry-specific organizations, such as those for electricians and plumbing, heating, and cooling contractors, also provide their own standards and required training and certifications. Fire safety is a major concern in the hotel industry. Fire safety regulations require more than simply installing extinguishers and fire exit signs.

Hotel Maintenance and Regulations

All staff should be fully trained in fire safety and have a complete understanding of the hotel’s fire escape plan. The Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act requires:

1. hard-wired, single-station smoke detectors work in each guest room, following the appropriate American National Standard for Fire Alarm Systems; and
2. automatic sprinkler systems are installed under the American National Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, except in hotels three stories or lower.

Guests expect hotels to offer food, whether in the hotel’s restaurant and bar, by room service, and/or on a snack tray in the lobby. Managers need to make sure that staff and vendors follow standard operating procedures (SOP) and Food Quality and Safety regulations. Hotel restaurants also need to follow fire safety laws, including occupancy limits, clearly marked exits, and open aisles in case of emergencies.

Likewise, SOPs need to be clear about Electrical, Gas, and Water regulations.

For example, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) requires that hotels complete the Legionella Risk Assessment. This assessment can easily be integrated into preventive maintenance orders and SOPs.

Hotel Maintenance Document Management

Document management is crucial to pass inspection and head off legal problems. With online work orders and SOP dashboards, hotels can manage quality assurance plans, checklists, certifications, and preventive and reactive maintenance. Dashboards help hotel managers and owners quickly assess and audit workers’ abilities to complete work orders on time and according to standards.

Facility Maintenance software, like MaintainX, provides analytics and reporting capabilities. Customizable dashboards, work orders, and reports enable hotel management to view completed preventive maintenance work orders and regulatory SOP in real-time.

Cloud-based technologies help management and guest services stay on top of preventative maintenance by setting up a CMMS solutions system. Managers and the Front Office can input work orders and standard operating procedures, and then assign, track, and monitor what gets completed. This maintenance planning software can help hotels improve hotel maintenance management using a paperless system.

Get MaintainX for Your Hotel SOPs

Strong quality management plans that include hotel SOPs and regulatory checklists generate quality data across teams and functions. Such records are valuable resources to prove adherence to the range of regulations and standards for hotels and human resource teams. Employees who know and understand hospitality laws keep more accurate records online and on the spot.

Check out how MaintainX keeps inspection records at your fingertips.