Take a look behind the scenes of the housekeeping department with us.

Each housekeeper receives a daily roster of rooms that vary in size or type and specific departures for outgoing, incoming and remaining. On average, there are over ten standard rooms per shift for each housekeeper. There are sometimes large suites as well. Whew! We'd like to give you a closer look at the workload of the "housekeeping" department, which ranks among the more physically demanding ones.

The work of the housekeepers at Hotel Lomnica begins with their arrival in the morning at 6.30 a.m. sharp, and their day ends at 3 p.m. Before the start of their work duties, there is an internal meeting at the housekeeping where they usually deal with the division of work. This gives each of the housekeepers a detailed overview of which part they have to go to on any given day and how many rooms are waiting for them.

In the morning they start by cleaning the lower areas of the hotel, which they wash and vacuum. They then move to the laundry room, where they get their cleaning trolleys ready. Yes, the very carts that many of us associate with the movie "Made in Manhattan" or "The Maid of Manhattan" where the lovely Jennifer Lopez was cast in the role of the housekeeper. But from a film world shrouded in Hollywood fiction, back to reality, which in places is much more challenging than you might think. They fill their aforementioned trolleys with laundry, cosmetics and after eight o'clock they're on their way to their assigned floor to set up their next trolley. After nine o'clock, they start knocking on the doors of the rooms they will be cleaning that day, according to a set schedule. From 12 noon onwards, guests officially start checking out, and so at this time the rooms are completely cleaned by them. If the housekeeper is alone in the room, it will take her approximately up to 30 minutes to clean the area. If there are two per room, it takes them on average between 20 and 25 minutes.

Cleaning that has rules

Since it is important to have a system in cleaning, we learned that the housekeepers of Hotel Lomnica have their own standards, which they strictly follow. "First of all, when I enter the room, I check the minibar and report what has been consumed from it, so that the guests can be replenished. Then I pick up the trash cans from both the room and the bathroom. I start cleaning from the area where the mess is bigger. Sometimes it's the bathroom, other times it's the room. Finally, I make the beds, dust, polish the mirrors and vacuum.

If I fulfill all my duties and finish cleaning earlier, for example, I will move to the laundry room before the end of the working hours, where we help with folding towels and the like," revealed one of the housekeepers of the Hotel Lomnica, also called the First Lady of the Tatras.

Interestingly, each hotel makes the bed or folds the towels according to its own muster, which is also the case with Hotel Lomnica. The bed has a precisely defined form in terms of the layout of pillows and blankets, and the same is the case with the shaping of the towels. Although some guests are truly exemplary and make their bed before leaving the room, the housekeepers always make it according to the aforementioned internal standards. We also learned that a guest's bed or desk is not cleaned if they have valuable items on it - luxury gowns, jewelry, electronics, etc., to prevent potential damage from mishandling. As they say, caution and guest satisfaction comes first.

Two quick questions for Anna Váradi, housekeeping manager

How would you describe the duties of the housekeepers from your perspective as a housekeeping manager?

Basically in a very simplified form, but to write about all the duties and work of the housekeepers and laundry would take one whole issue of the hotel newspaper, which is not the intention. However, it's good to start talking about this job, which is still quite neglected and misrepresented even today (see the Jennifer Lopez movie) :). Housekeeping (henceforth HSK) is one of the most important and extensive centres of the hotel. HSK is everywhere you look in the hotel. All that is expected of housekeeping is the cleanliness of not only the rooms, but also the public area that create the first impression. As my colleague has already stated, it is important to follow the right system and then pass that on to the staff.

Do guests have specific requirements for the HSK section?

At work, we often encounter various requests from guests, but it all depends on the preparedness of the housekeepers in terms of how they are able to resolve these requests or complaints. Also, there are certain cleaning rules that are part of the manuals and standards. For example, the way the bed is made, when it is not made - if a guest has personal and valuable items on the bed such as jewellery, mobile phones, laptop, iPod, a suitcase spread out, lots of clothes. We have developed other manuals that discuss in detail:

- How to enter the room,
- Communication with the guest,
- Dealing with guest complaints and requests,
- How to clean the departure room and bathroom,
- How to clean the check-out room and bathroom.

HSK employees must be proficient in safety and hygiene regulations, handling of cleaning products. They shall be proficient in standards and manuals for grooming carts, warehouses, handling of clean and dirty linen. The manuals specify exactly how the room should look like and where and how towels, cosmetics, bathrobes, slippers, minibars are stored, what the hotel map should contain... and, of course, clean up at the same time :).