May it be a five star hotel to a small hostel, linens are one of the most commented items in a room. It’s more vital today since most people have access to the internet and can simply complain about your quality of service to websites that rate your hotel. It’s not a great thing to get a bad review filled with insults and disqualify you in their roster of suggested properties. Cleanliness is as important as smiling staff when they welcome the guests with open arms.

Linens are one of the most tedious items to clean in the hotel – you simply can’t reuse it unless the guests permit you to do so. Linens need to be in good quality – and sometimes, the higher the thread count, the more expensive it is. It makes the guests happy and when they’re happy with the service, it only means you have a good rating online and more people to stay in your hotel.

But does that mean you have to get your own laundry machines to work overtime? Or can it be outsourced? While you can entrust your rooms to professional cleaners, linens can be simply handled by your cleaning staff.

Advantages of having your own laundry machines:

1. It saves you more time and effort – You don’t have to call up someone to deliver heaps of linens to the laundry shop for them to clean. Simply push it down the chute and have it cleaned in your hotel.
2. It saves you money – While the machines are expensive, it actually saves you money since you don’t have to rush everything whenever you send linens to clean. It will be handled as soon as it reaches the basement handling for cleaning.
3. Less likely to experience pilferage – Missing items could be one of the main reasons why some people are discouraged get their laundry done in a different establishment. With your own laundry room, the likelihood of missing linens are low.

Effective Laundry Management:

1. Collect dirty linen. Make it a rule for your cleaning staff to collect the linen as soon as it’s removed from the bed. Check all the rooms and make sure the accumulated linens are collected and are ready for washing.
2. Segregate the linen accordingly. Aside from the colours and fabrics, it should also be segregated according to the severity of the stains on the fabric. It should also be separated according to what room it was used in and always be handled with gloves to avoid direct contact.
3. Pre-treat stains. Since some of the stains can be removed before washing, always treat it with cleaning chemicals before you dump it in with the other sheets. Depending on the severity of the stain, you should make sure that the actual colour of the linen doesn’t fade.
4. Washing the linens. Before putting the linens in the washer, make sure that they are grouped together in terms of fabric and colour. You can set the proper settings and time for each sheet to make sure it’s washed properly. You can also control the amount of fabric conditioner and soap for the sheets to make sure it smells good and feels soft.
5. Dry linens. Some of the linens are heavier than before, this is because of the water absorbed during washing. It’s important that the dryer you have has the hot air and spin dry options to make sure it polishes off the lint from the surface. Industrial dryers save more since they use lesser electricity and provides soft and clean linen.
6. Store the linen. Before you can stuff it in the cabinets, you need to know that there might be other linens that need repairs – so make sure that your staff delivers it to the tailor shop to have it fixed. Iron the linens as well before folding them to be stored in the storage to be used by new guests.
7. Deliver linens. Your staff can now deliver the clean linens and have them replace the beddings after check out or per request. They will surely appreciate the warm and fresh linens on the comfortable bed.