Hotel Maintenance

Tips for managing maintenance in hotels

Anyone who stays in a hotel frequently must have come across some failure in accommodations with noisy air conditioning, infiltrations in walls, poor cleaning, bad television image, leaks, non-working phone, among others.

Those hotels that achieve the highest level of perfection can become an international reference. For this to happen, consequently, failures such as those mentioned above certainly cannot occur. Therefore, investment in maintenance in the hotel sector needs to happen with some frequency to remedy large and small failures.

Therefore, hotel maintenance is an activity that involves several areas of civil, electrical, mechanical, electronic and telecommunications engineering. With efficient maintenance planning, it is possible to remedy any flaw that exists in the hotel structure

See in this article the importance of hotel maintenance and how to carry out assertive management in the sector.

What is Hotel Maintenance?

Hotel maintenance is the practice that involves interventions aimed at ensuring the quality, safety, and efficient operation of all facilities and services offered in a hotel.

Proper maintenance of hotels provides a positive guest experience and contributes positively to maintaining the hotel's good reputation. Considering all types of maintenance, the most profitable is preventive maintenance.

Preventative maintenance in hotels not only reduces costs in the long run but also improves the guest experience, as it helps to avoid inconveniences caused by unforeseen failures.

What are the main objectives of hotel maintenance?

The hotel industry has many responsibilities that must be fulfilled, such as:

1.? Effectively provide maximum availability of rooms and equipment for the hotel operation;

2.? Contribute appropriately to the overall satisfaction of the guest with flexibility of actions;

3.? Contribute effectively to the efficient operation of other departments;

4.? Minimize the potential for accident and claim risks;

5.? Minimize or zero the problems experienced by the guest;

6.? Protect the investment (building and equipment);

7.? Exhaustively control maintenance costs;

Facilities management in the hotel sector

Facilities Management is the name used for the management of a variety of services to ensure the proper functioning of a company. It is applied in various sectors such as enterprises, hospitals, educational institutions, hotels, etc.

It contributes to optimizing operational efficiency and ensuring that all facilities are in perfect operation. In the hotel sector, facilities management aims to promote a functional environment that is in optimal operating conditions, providing comfort and quality for guests.

Many hotels outsource facilities management with cleaning, security, monitoring services, etc.

Types of hotel maintenance

As we know, hotel maintenance is essential to ensure the safety of the stay. For this, there are different types of hotel maintenance and each of them is used for specific purposes, depending on the demand of the business.

The following are the most common types:

·?????? Preventive Maintenance: In hotels, preventive maintenance is the most important, since regular inspections prevent unexpected failures or damage to equipment and facilities. Example: periodic inspections of plumbing, electrical systems, heating and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, electric generators, etc. A well-planned inspection will avoid problems during high season or increased consumption at peak times, for example.?

·?????? Corrective Maintenance: It is not feasible to rely only on corrective maintenance, but it happens frequently in hotels. This intervention is carried out after a problem or failure has happened, in order to correct them and restore the normal conditions of the equipment. Example: repairing a water leak or repairing a machine stopped by a breakdown.

·?????? Planned Corrective Maintenance: it is an intervention to correct a failure or defect, but which is carried out in a planned way, during periods of low occupancy of hotels. This minimizes the impacts on the operation of the establishment. Example: painting rooms, changing air conditioning filters, replacing upholstery, etc.

·?????? Predictive Maintenance: this type of intervention is based on constant monitoring of equipment and systems that predict possible failures before they occur. With this, it is possible to carry out a planned intervention and not suffer from unexpected stops, directly affecting hotel guests. Example: the use of sensors to monitor the wear of components and schedule replacements before a failure occurs. For the latter, the ideal is to integrate them with specialist systems that will treat the data correctly, issuing specific work orders to maintenance technicians.

With correct maintenance management, it is possible to anticipate and address problems before they become more serious and make the hotel's operation unfeasible. Focusing on the preservation of physical structures, such as buildings, installations, fa?ade repairs, air conditioners, power generators, ?etc., can lead to good savings for the establishment.

Therefore, choose the type of maintenance that best suits the various areas of your business, always considering your budget and current regulations. With a good maintenance manager, your business will not be surprised by unexpected downtime.

Tips for managing maintenance in hotels

After understanding the importance of correct maintenance in your hotel, I bring you some valuable tips that will ensure the comfort and safety of your guests during their stay, and also ensure that the hotel operates at maximum efficiency, without worrying about those unexpected failures.

Implement maintenance management software

As already said, assertive control of maintenance is crucial for the proper functioning of your hotel. For this, the implementation of a CMMS maintenance software is ideal to cover all bottlenecks in your maintenance, schedule maintenance and keep a history of all interventions.

Thinking about a mobile version can also be very important, because depending on the size of your facility, it will be very important for the maintenance technician to access information in real time, take photographic records, access important documents for information during maintenance, etc.

Prefer preventive maintenance

Hotel preventive maintenance is undoubtedly the ace up the sleeve of successful hotels. That's because no guest wants to be surprised in the middle of their stay by problems, no matter how small.

Therefore, frequently carry out inspections, identify problems before they become critical to your business and budget! Control electrical systems, plumbing, HVAC, installations, etc. Preventive maintenance will always be the most economical solution.

Make a maintenance checklist

The planning of actions is undoubtedly what brings a successful result. Therefore, make a checklist. List all the interventions that your company needs, with deadlines and history of interventions.

Define the criticalities, prioritize those that can make your hotel literally "stop". A power or water cut can cause a lot of inconvenience to your guests. To avoid forgetting, the checklist is the best way for your maintenance team.

Integrate your hotel's sectors

We are talking about maintenance, however, we know that in a hotel it is important that all sectors work in perfect harmony. Maintaining agile communication between departments such as reception, inventory, food, cleaning, can minimize impacts on the hotel's operation during some urgent maintenance.

Therefore, have your entire hotel integrated, with good communication so that no departments is surprised. Think of your hotel as a human body, you won't be able to stand up if both of your feet are broken. You don't move, because a part of it is inoperative. This is your hotel!

Manage your assets correctly

Have you ever thought about a machine stopping and lacking tools for immediate correction? This would lead to serious problems for your hotel. Not only in maintenance, the entire hotel needs to properly manage all its assets.

Therefore, keep an updated inventory of the entire hotel, of each departments. List all the tools and products you need so that your hotel can recover quickly from a failure. In this case, inventory control tools are a good option for reliable management of your hotel.

Train your maintenance team

For interventions to be carried out quickly, a well-trained team is needed, and one that knows every part of the hotel.? Continuously train your maintenance staff, and make sure everyone knows all the tools your business uses.

A widely used technique that brings excellent results, and which is a pillar of TPM (Total Productive Maintenance), is Autonomous Maintenance. Through it, your employee is trained to know the equipment so deeply that he develops a culture of "I take care of my machine".?

With this, each operator and maintenance technician has full knowledge of their equipment, knowing each different noise or inappropriate leak and acts quickly avoiding downtime and increasing the useful life of the equipment.

Continuously evaluate your business

Have you ever heard the saying "the customer is always right"? Well, collecting feedback from your guests can often show small problems that your management has not yet noticed, because they are too small, or because they are not yet on the maintenance checklist.

Therefore, carry out periodic performance analyses, try to update and improve processes. Continuous evaluation leads to a cycle of continuous improvement. The most famous and reputable hotels never stop changing and improving. So, take a good look at your business, what can be improved??

Maintenance Software for the Hospitality Industry

Any hotel, from small inns to large resorts, should always consider the well-being of its guests. For this, investing in the maintenance and good conservation of your business will bring many benefits to the hotel.

By implementing all the tips outlined in this article, your hotel can maintain optimal facilities and conditions, and not surprise your guests with annoying interruptions and promote a negative experience for them.

With the use of technology, you can have control not only of maintenance, but of your entire hotel in an integrated and simple way.?The software market for the hotel sector is immense and presents several options. The comfort of your guests depends only on you!