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Changing the Sheets - Whose business?

Housekeeping and Maintenance

Fireandmirth started this discussion 14 years 2 days ago

Does anyone have experience setting beds vs. handing out linens?

As we're planning a small hostel, I'm wondering if there is any sense in setting and resetting the beds ourselves. Granted, it's a larger time commitment, I can see a few (related) positives:
1) It could lift the aesthetics of the room by giving the rooms a more unified presentation and keeping them cleaner - plus, a long-stay guest in bunk four who hasn't showered in an eon can't hold the room hostage with rank sheets.
2) It could help with the housekeeping schedule - instead of being dependent on guests to return their sheets at some uncertain time, we would have more control over when things happened.

Any thoughts?

Also, for those who distribute linens from the front desk - are there ways to encourage longer-stay guests to turn in rank sheets? Is this even much of a problem?

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ACBBPatrick

14 years

Does anyone have experience setting beds vs. handing out linens?

As we're planning a small hostel, I'm wondering if there is any sense in setting and resetting the beds ourselves. Granted, it's a larger time commitment, I can see a few (related) positives:
1) It could lift the aesthetics of the room by giving the rooms a more unified presentation and keeping them cleaner - plus, a long-stay guest in bunk four who hasn't showered in an eon can't hold the room hostage with rank sheets.
2) It could help with the housekeeping schedule - instead of being dependent on guests to return their sheets at some uncertain time, we would have more control over when things happened.

Any thoughts?

Also, for those who distribute linens from the front desk - are there ways to encourage longer-stay guests to turn in rank sheets? Is this even much of a problem?

We give new sheets to longer term stays on a weekly basis or as needed. In our small hostel with longer stays we make the beds prior to arrival. In our larger hostel, shorter stays, we let the guests do it. However we do show them to the rooms in both hostels and informally discuss the basics of hostel room etiquette (among other things of course) in both hostels. This pertains to dorms only as we always make up our private rooms, of course which are of a high standard.

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Ria

14 years

We hand sheets to guests at check in who are in dorms. We make up the rooms for privates. Since we charge quite a bit more for privates we feel we should provide a more 'hotel' service there.

in 7 years never have i heard a complaint from a guest for having to make up their bed. In fact, often the sheets are still warm from the dryer so they probably have the feeling that they are getting clean sheets when we hand them to them.

We have 100-200 bed hostels btw.

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santa klaus

14 years

We hand sheets to guests at check in who are in dorms. We make up the rooms for privates. Since we charge quite a bit more for privates we feel we should provide a more 'hotel' service there.

Same here at Wombats.
Handing out the sheets for the guests to put them on themselves is such a wonderful tribute to the good old times of hostelling, isn´t it?
[and it saves us a lot of work :D]

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Funkard

13 years

Making the beds certainly helps with the housekeeping schedule. However, this means that the beds are made in advance and if the hostel does not fill up early for every night, it is possible that other guests in that room will place their stuff or sit on the free beds. Then you run the risk that the bed does not look clean enough for the new guest. Thus, bed covers become handy, which again may in some warmer climates be otherwise totally unnecessary. On the other hand, if the bed has to be remade, then it was just extra work to do it in the first place.

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ACBBPatrick

13 years

Unless your hostel is small and your turnover very low, making the beds is time that staff could be utilised better including yours. However... Make sure that you have staff in the rooms ensuring that the blankets are neatly folded with the pillows on top. The staff should also be on the look out for stained pillows and blankets at all times. Drool stains... really didn't understand this phenomenom until I started this business. (Yikes, the patterns.) We use pillow covers and mattress covers. NOT the plastic ones. I repeat not the plastic ones.

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soi1david

13 years

45 bed Hostel- seems we go against the norm, We Make the beds fully.
a few reasons come to mind.
1) Naked mattresses in a room look bad, full stop. Even if they are spotless, (And how many truley are? At alot of hostels I stayed at in the past it seemed that not many guest knew how to make a bed. so the sheets were often not covering the mattress and imo made the place look sloppy.
2) I hated arriving someplace and the 1st thing I had to do was make a bed. ( even more hated was the " wash your sheet fees that some places had.)
3) people are LESS likely to clutter another bed that is made up. A naked Mattress is like a shelf to put things. When a guest has used a made bed for a shelf, arriving guest in my experiance are very understanding.
4) all sheets are accounted for... ( It's not a large problem, but Honestly I have been guilty of it in my wild youth > from bed to desk sheets/towels can have a way of "Vanishing".) When left on the bed, they are accounted for 100%. and if damage is done or vanished you would usually know the source.
5) When linen gets past it's use by date, you are aware of it. ( we've just ordered new linen for all the beds.)

I do realize how much easier it is to just hand linen to arriving guest- But easier is not always best. Even with a full turn over of guest on the day- the job was done. If we were a 100 bed hostel I'd just hire another staff... The % of staff cost would be the same or less.
........................about the droll stains lol, some are like art.

Happy New Year!

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gordo

13 years

Dave,

Dont worry, you're not against the norm - every hostel (except 1) I've worked in (10 now I think) we've put the sheets on the beds for the guests and this ranges from 45 beds up to 385 - averaging about 300. And as you said, just because its easier for the hostel, that doesnt make it better. Primarily I've always figure its a better idea to make the beds because theres invariably 1 guest in every dorm that decides to make their bed hammered drunk at 3am waking up their room mates.

Whatever makes it easier for the guest is really what you should be aiming for - if your housekeepers are in the room cleaning surely they have a minute or 2 to make is each bed, especially if its like a lot of hostels where the simply have a fitted bottom sheet, a flat top sheet and then a blanket for warmth. If you use doonas/duvets then yes, its a bit of a pain in the ass but id wager your housekeepers can make a bed a damn site faster than your guests.

Sure it means you're paying the HK department a little more but if you're relying on paying Hkers as little as possible you can probably expect cleanliness to drop overall.

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Scotch Argus

13 years

We make up the beds for guests. Just seems that bit extra you can do. Although don't underestimate the extra work. When you're full it will take a fair but of your time. One of the reasons we went to this was that we found reasonable proportion of people did not bother to make their bed up, so they just used a bare duvet and pillow cause they couldn't be bothered making it. This made the duvets themselves dirty rather than just the covers.

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uktrail

13 years

As a guest, I am quite happy to make my own bed, but sometimes it is difficult to get a large duvet into a large bag. I have been exasperated by this more than once, and I end up by using the duvet cover as a sheet, and laying the duvet on top of it uncovered.

Do you ever have problems with knowing which bed(s) have been slept in? If you make the beds, and guests always return the sheets when they leave, there should be no problem; however, some people may forget to take off the sheets, and others will stay further nights and they may tidy their bed in the morning, so you may not be able to distinguish this from a bed that has not been slept in.

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Icaruss

13 years

We aways make up the beds in the private rooms. We try to get a hotel/B&B feeling with them and sometimes even have home made cookies ready in the rooms for arriving guests.
In the dorms we make sure all the duvets are in the duvet covers. But we place them folded at the end of the bed. To distinguish between a bed from a leaving guest and one from a staying guest I just ask the guest to leave their bed messy or place their bags on top of the bed. If I am confused their is usually still a guest around who I can ask who slept where.

I discovered making double beds is becoming quite the science. We have a whole lot of different sets of sheets and every set has it own way of looking the best when made up. When we just started here it was funny how my parter and I would often have heavy discussion on how to make a bed look good.

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