The RDP system includes a very powerful
housekeeping system which is designed
to forecast housekeeping requirements, provide a daily cleaning schedule, and offers
complete history by housekeeper and room.
Forecasted
Housekeeping
Requirements |
The housekeeping module is designed to forecast the
total number of housekeepers needed each day in the future based on
current guests in-house and expected arrivals/departures. For
example the forecast report may indicate that a total of 124 rooms will
be dirty tomorrow for a total cleaning time of 101 hours. The
following day shows 214 dirty rooms with a total cleaning time of 194
hours. Use this information to plan the work schedules for housekeepers
to make sure there are not too few or too many housekeepers each day.
Features include:
-
Forecast cleans up to 365 days in advance.
-
Store individual estimated clean times in user-defined
tables based on room type and clean type (daily clean, checkout
clean, "midweek tidy", etc.
-
Various Crystal
Reports are available which can be modified as needed.
-
Assign different "clean patterns" for each guest.
For example, in a condominium rental application, one guest can
have "checkout only" cleaning while another can purchase "full daily
cleaning."
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Daily
Housekeeping
Schedule |
The housekeeping module can automatically create a cleaning
schedule each day for each housekeeper based on the number of dirty
rooms, estimated clean time per room, and number of housekeepers.
A "housekeeping status screen" is the core element which tracks each
housekeeper and auto-refreshes as rooms are cleaned, inspected, and
other tasks are performed. Features include:
- Automatically assign dirty rooms to housekeepers based on total
cleaning time;
- Print daily cleaning schedule for each housekeeper;
- Track status from dirty to "ready for inspection" to "clean
and ready for guest";
- Rooms can be marked clean automatically using the in-room phone
or handheld wireless personal digital assistant (PDA).
- Guest requests can be scheduled. For example, if a guest
calls the front desk and requests "extra towels," the front desk
can input this request, which then appears on the Housekeeping Monitor
screen. The head housekeeper can then schedule someone to
complete this request. The notification to the housekeeper
can be automatically sent to a handheld wireless PDA or cell phone
with text E-mail.
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Housekeeping
History
Housekeeper
Performance
Reports |
The third major element of the housekeeping module is
historical reporting. It is possible to measure the performance
of each housekeeper by tracking the estimated clean time and actual
clean time, as well as variance. You can also track each time a room
was cleaned and by whom. For example, if a guest checks in to
a dirty room, you can determine which housekeeper erroneously marked
the room as clean. Features include:
- Various Crystal Reports
available that you can modify;
- Enter actual cleaning time and compare to forecasting time using
the phone in the room. For example, the housekeeper can press
"*1" when they enter the room, which stores the "Start clean time"
in housekeeping history. When done they type "*2" to mark
the room as "ready for inspection", which also stamps the "end clean
time". The system reports the actual clean time per room,
forecasted time, and variance to track housekeeper performance.
- Inspectors can enter comments on each clean.
- Inspectors can use the phone in the room to mark the room as
"ready for guest", which also stored the time the inspector finished.
Reports are available showing how much time elapsed between the
housekeeper marking the room as "ready for inspector" and the the
time the Inspector completed the inspection.
- Track all cleans per housekeeper; and
- Track all cleans per room.
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For more details please see
Housekeeping Forecast, Scheduling, and History
See RDP Owner Accounting Overview
Housekeeping Status Screen
The Housekeeping Status screen provides
one screen for the head housekeeper to manage all housekeeping functions.
A sample of the Housekeeping Schedule screen is shown below. Important things
to note about that screen are:
What is a
Housekeeping Board? |
A housekeeping board shows all the Dirty rooms that
one housekeeper should clean that day, along with special notes and
other information about the room or the guest. |
Creating Boards
and Assigning Housekeepers
|
Creation of the housekeeping boards can be performed
each day based on the following factors:
- Number of Dirty rooms at the property.
- Duration of time it takes to clean each room type (this is configurable).
- Number of housekeepers available.
- Logical cleaning order.
Each housekeeping board can be printed and given to one or more housekeepers
for execution.
|
| Scheduling Monitor Status
and Auto Refresh |
The Monitor Status screen can be used by the head housekeeper
to show a current snapshot of the room status. As rooms are cleaned,
the housekeepers can use a phone in the room to change the room status
to "Ready to Inspect" or Clean. The display will refresh within
seconds (this is configurable). |
Scheduling\Edit Schedule
Today's Summary |
The Today's Summary displays at the top. In the
example below, there were 33 Dirty rooms to start the day. Currently,
there are 10 Dirty rooms, 11 rooms "Ready to Inspect" and 12 rooms have
been cleaned and are ready for guests. This summary can be automatically
refreshed every minute. |
Navigation Bar
Clean Status - Pie Chart |
The housekeeping summary is also displayed as a pie
chart in the lower left. The legend is:
- Red - Dirty rooms that need to be cleaned.
- Yellow - Clean rooms marked Ready to Inspect.
- Green - Clean and inspected rooms ready for the guest.
- Blue - Room marked Clean at board creation, now Dirty.
|
Today's
Boards |
The "Today's Schedule" section below shows a summary
of the rooms for each board. This summary area can be expanded
to show detail for each Dirty room. |
| Print Boards |
The boards can be printed from the screen below and
then handed to housekeepers for cleaning. |
Expand all
Boards |
The detail for each housekeeper's board can be displayed
by clicking the "+" next to a given board in the "Today's Boards" section
below. Also the checkbox for "Expand all boards" can be used.
See expanded board example below. |
| Clean Status |
Notice the checkboxes below in the "show rooms" section.
These control the display to determine which rooms to display on the
housekeeping schedules. For example, just Dirty rooms or only rooms
Ready to Inspect, or any combination can be displayed. |
Housekeeping Status Screen
Expanded Board (Schedule for One Housekeeper)
The image below shows the expanded board, which is the schedule for one housekeeper
for the day. Additional information can be added for each Dirty room, such
as the number of people, special requests, etc. This schedule can be printed
with the "print board" option and handed to the housekeeper.
Housekeeping Monitor Status Display
The Monitor Status graph shows one bar for each board. This
display make it easy to see the progress for the day.
The system allows the detail of any schedule to be displayed with
a mouse click. Point the cursor anywhere in this display and the user will
be taken to the Expanded Board view as shown in the sample
directly above.
As rooms are marked "Ready to Inspect" or Clean, this display automatically
refreshes. Room Status can be changed in the room by using the
Housekeeping
Interface.
Flow Of
Events
The flow of events in the RDPWin
Housekeeping Scheduling is as follows:
Forecast
Housekeeping
Requirements |
The housekeeping module is designed to forecast the
total number of housekeepers needed for each day in the future based
on current guests in-house and expected arrivals/departures. This
information can be used to accurately plan the work schedules of housekeepers
to assure staff is not shorthanded or excessive. |
| Rooms Marked
as Dirty Each Night
|
The housekeeping module automatically posts room and
tax each night, as well as
packages, to all occupied rooms. The rooms are marked Dirty
during this process. |
Configure
"Clean Time"
Per Room Type
OR
Per Room Number
|
System tables are created once to store the "Clean Time"
for each room type for each Clean Type. A sample of this table
appears below:
| Unit Type |
Clean Type |
Clean Time (Minutes) |
| King |
Daily |
20 |
| King |
Checkout |
35 |
| Double-Double |
Daily |
30 |
| Double-Double |
Checkout |
45 |
| Suite |
Daily |
45 |
| Suite |
Checkout |
55 |
|
| Create Cleaning
Schedules Daily
|
The system creates cleaning schedules based on the number
of Dirty rooms, the number of housekeepers available, and the "Clean
Time" from the table above. A sample of this is shown in the
Housekeeping Status screen above. |
| Clean the Rooms |
The housekeepers clean the rooms in the order printed
on their daily schedule. This order is predefined to make sure the rooms
are cleaned in a logical order, since room number sequence may not be
the most efficient order to clean rooms. For example, rooms can
be cleaned in a pre-designed order such as 101, 102, 106, 213.
If the
optional housekeeper-phone interface is installed, the housekeeper
can press a key on the in-room phone to indicate they have started cleaning.
This stamps the "Clean start time" into the housekeeping history file.
Housekeepers can press a different key to indicate they have completed
the Clean, which stamps the end time and marks the room "Ready to Inspect".
Reports are then available showing the actual cleaning time per room,
as well as the expected cleaning time and variance. |
Mark Rooms Ready
for Inspection |
The housekeepers change the room status from Dirty to
"Ready to Inspect" as rooms are cleaned. The Inspection step is
optional and can be turned off so rooms can go directly from Dirty to
Clean. The room status can be changed various ways, as follows:
- The housekeeper can use the phone in the room to directly change
the room status using RDP's optional
phone-housekeeping interface. For example, the housekeeper
may dial "*2" to change the room to "Ready to Inspect." This
changes the room status immediately and is the most efficient procedure.
It also stamps the ending time for the Clean into the housekeeping
history files.
- The housekeeper can call the front desk or the housekeeping
department, and ask them to change the room status using the
Housekeeping Status screen
above.
- Housekeepers can mark the room as "Ready to Inspect" or "Clean'
on their schedule and use a workstation to change the room status
later. This procedure delays changing the room status and
is not suggested.
|
Inspect Rooms
Mark As Clean OrSchedule Re-Clean
|
If your property uses an Inspector, the system prints
reports of rooms "Ready to Inspect." After the room is inspected,
the inspector has the following options:
- The inspector can mark the room as Clean, using the phone in
the room. If the
optional housekeeper-phone interface is installed this action
will also stamp the time the inspector finished into the housekeeping
history file. This allows you to view reports showing how
much time elapsed between when the housekeeper marked the room as
"Ready to Inspect" and the inspector finished.
- If the inspector determines that the room is not properly cleaned,
the room status can be changed back back to Dirty again using the
phone in the room. This room then appears on the head housekeeper's
status display within seconds, who can then assign a housekeeper
to re-clean the room. The "Re-Clean" display can include comments,
such as "shower needs proper cleaning".
- The Inspector can enter comments about the room, such as "poor
job." This information is then available to track housekeeper performance.
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Schedule Cleaning Of Additional
Dirty Rooms
During the Day |
Housekeeping is a 24-hour job at many hotels.
For example:
- A guest may check-in to the hotel at 11:00 AM and check out
at 2:00 PM.
- The system marks this room as Dirty upon checkout.
- The Housekeeping Status
screen will show this new Dirty room within seconds.
- The head housekeeper can assign this Dirty room to a housekeeper's
schedule for cleaning.
|
Interface to
Work Order System |
The housekeeping system interfaces to RDP's
Work Orders and Asset Management
system. For example, assume the housekeeper discovers that the
TV is broken. The RDPWin system
has the capability to:
- Generate a work order;
- Mark the room room "out of service;"
- Assign work orders to specific maintenance personnel and track
their progress; and
- If RDP's Condominium
Owner billing module is installed, the owner can be billed for
the repairs.
Please see Work Order Module
for details.
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Housekeeping Requests
(Extra Blankets, etc.) |
Guests frequently make requests by calling the front
desk or concierge for a wide variety of items such as extra blankets,
pillows, etc. Any RDPWin workstation can be used to enter and
direct these requests to the housekeeping department, such as, "Please
put extra blankets in room 123." These requests appear on the
Housekeeping Status screen and
can be assigned to housekeepers for completion.
Please see
Messaging and To-Do List Module for details.
|
Housekeeping
History |
It is possible to measure the performance of each housekeeper
by tracking the Estimated Clean Time and Actual Clean Time, as well
as variance. You can also track each time a room was cleaned and by
whom. For example, if a guest checks in to a Dirty room you can
determine which housekeeper marked the room as Clean. See screens
below. |
History
Sample screens for housekeeping history are below.
Summary
RDP's Housekeeping module is available immediately and is designed
to run a busy housekeeping department from one screen. For more information,
please call RDP Sales directly. Other related links are below.
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