SY 2020-2021

HOUSEKEEPING NC II
MODULE

LO2: Clean and prepare rooms for

incoming guests

Program Overview
The HOUSEKEEPING NC II Qualification
consists of competencies that a person must
achieve to prepare guest rooms, clean public
areas and equipment, provide housekeeping
services, provide valet services, handle
1
intoxicated guest, and laundry linen and guest
clothes to a range of accommodation services.
 LO2
LO2
PROVIDING GUESTROOM SERVICE

Objectives:
At the End of this unit, students were able to:
1. Identify the role of room attendant;
2. Prepare for cleaning duties;
3. Make beds;
4. Clean bathroom;
5. Clean room;
6. Provide additional housekeeping services;
7. Prepare for next shift.

INFORMATION SHEET 2.1

IDENTIFY THE ROLE OF ROOM ATTENDANT

INTRODUCTION
The hospitality business that provides accommodation to their guests has Guest Room Attendants (GRAs).
GRA's performance of their duty plays an important role in ensuring guest's memorable experience and
satisfaction.

The nature of the hotel business suggests that rooms are occupied by different guests day after day. But each
time a guest enters the room, he/she expects the room to be thoroughly cleaned, safe, and comfortable. There
must be no evidence of the previous guest occupancy such as a single strand of hair, a droplet of water on a
surface or even a fingerprint.

Obviously, the primary function of the GRA is to ensure the cleanliness and maintenance of the guest rooms, as
well as the safety and security of the guest’s stay But more than this, they should also make sure that the guests
are satisfied with every request for services.

They must also be friendly and courteous to the guests, discreet in dealing, show product knowledge, and able
to handle guest requests and complaints.

Responsibilities of a Guest Room Attendant

Guest Relations
All employees, including the GRA, are supposed to greet guests cheerfully. Most of the time, GRAs work by
themselves and must use common sense to manage problems that occur without the supervision or help from
other staff.
If there is a complaint about a room, the GRA will take care of it.
Guest Safety
Part of the duties and responsibilities of the GRA is to ensure the safety of guests and their belongings.
Cleanliness
As discussed, the main responsibility of the GRA is to ensure that the room is clean and presentable.
Administration and Communication
2
GRAs must know what rooms they are assigned to clean and in what order based on the room status report.
Administration and communication is an important aspect in ensuring that rooms are presented to the guests
clean and ready for occupancy.

Daily activities
Following is a list of activities a room attendant may be required to complete on a daily
basis. As you can see there are many activities a room attendant is responsible for in a
normal work shift, involving a wide variety of knowledge and skills.
Prepare for work
 Collect master keys
 Collect daily room allocation sheets
 Stock housekeeping trolleys
 Stock and store supplies
 Determine the order of cleaning of rooms
 Identify any special requests
Enter room
 Knock on door in compliance with policy
 Open door
 Place trolley in door path.
Clean room
 Open curtains and windows for ventilation
 Remove used guest amenities and rubbish
 Clean showers, tubs, sinks and bathroom items
 Change linen and make beds
 Check for damaged linen items
 Inspect rooms for safety hazards and for the operating condition of equipment and
 report defects to the maintenance department
 Report lost and found articles, maintenance problems or
 special room problems
 Dust and clean room decorations, appliances and structural
 surfaces (wall fixtures, window sills, and vents)
 Dust, brush, polish vacuuming furniture.
 Replenish guest amenities and supplies
 Check, record and replenish mini bar
 Prepare rooms for guest arrival and respond to special guest
 requests, such as delivering newspapers or cleaning a spill.
 Deliver and retrieve items on loan to guests such as iron and
 ironing board
 Perform rotation cleaning duties (such as. steam clean of carpets) as required
 Vacuum and sweep carpets and other floor surfaces.
 Mop floor surfaces as needed.
 Record room status on work assignment sheets
 Phone supervisor or reception updating status of room
 Close door.
Provide information to guests
 Listen, and respond to guests‟ requests or complaints

3
 Explain room equipment and facilities
 Explain and handle dry cleaning and laundry requests
 Provide information to guests about hotel services, facilities and
 other amenities
 Provide information to guests about local attractions, services and
 location of places for religious worship
 Other specific information may include prayer and fasting times, location of prayer
mats and orientation for prayer.
Maintain storage areas and trolleys
 Return trolley to storage room
 Remove used and soiled linen from housekeeping cart
 Dispatch soiled linen to the laundry
 Replenish linen and guest amenities to normal stock levels on trolleys
 Handle lost property
 Clean cleaning equipment including mops and vacuum cleaners
 Remove rubbish
 Clean storage room floor.

Close shift
 Return work allocation sheets
 Return keys
The following sections containing in this manual will look in detail, the steps and
techniques used to successfully complete the necessary activities expected of room
attendants.
It is commonly recognized that the role of room attendant is physically demanding and
requires a wide scope of tasks to be performed. As such, it takes a special person to do
the job well.

4
INFORMATION SHEET 2.2
PREPARE FOR CLEANING DUTIES

Replenish linen room supplies

For most activities performed by a room attendant there are clear and precise instructions on how to
perform the tasks. In this section we will identify all the activities that will need to be performed before
rooms are cleaned. As you will see, preparation is the key in ensuring rooms are cleaned in an efficient and
timely manner. As room attendants often work in remote locations, not in close proximity to supplies, they
must ensure they have all the necessary items at their disposal before they enter and clean rooms. Before
guest rooms are serviced, there is a need to prepare the linen room supplies and trolley that will be used to
cart the cleaning materials and the room supplies to those rooms. This section will also identify the
equipment that needs to be selected and prepared, and identify the „rooms‟ that may be involved when
preparing guest rooms.

Equipment
Various pieces of equipment are needed to service a guest room. These are usually stored on a
housekeeping store room on each floor – or in some central location.
Equipment that needs to be correctly selected and prepared before it is used may include:

Housekeeping trolley
A housekeeping trolley is sometimes called a Maids‟ trolley‟. Check to see it is clean, presentable, and safe.
There should be no jagged bits, nothing should protrude to present a potential hazard, and the wheels
should move easily and smoothly.

Vacuum cleaner
This must be checked to see it is empty at the start of the shift, spare bags are available (where
appropriate), that the machine is fully functional and that there are no frayed cords or other safety
problems. Check should also be made to ensure that all the vacuum machine tools/accessories that need to
be used are available.

Mops
Ensure the mop head looks presentable as guests will be able to see this and may infer a lack of cleanliness
in other or all cleaning from seeing a dirty mop head. Also ensure it has been sanitized to kill bacteria. Mops
may include wet mops for washing floors and dry mops for polishing and dusting, depending on the areas to
be cleaned.

Brooms and brushes

These should be sufficient in number as dictated by the establishment, clean, and sufficiently bristled.
The most common types of brooms and brushes are:
 Carpet brush
 Scrubbing brush
 Sink brush
 Silk brush

5
  Toilet brush
 Wall brush
 Soft broom
 Hand brush.
Not all types will be required on all trolleys. It will depend on the facilities to be cleaned,
and what exists elsewhere in the property for staff to use such as brushes or brooms
available in-room.
All trolleys should have a dust pan and brush set.

Buckets
These should be fully operational, not leaking, easy to operate, and not smelly. Buckets may be required for
wet mopping and most room servicing trolleys will also feature a couple of plastic bucket-type containers
used to hold cleaning materials, cloths, chemicals and used to carry items into a guest room.
Protective gloves
A good supply of disposable gloves should be on each trolley. Specific house requirements in relation to
individual Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) issues may require other, more substantial protective
clothing (including gloves) be worn. It is standard procedure in all premises that room attendants wear
protective gloves when cleaning and handling chemicals.
Housekeeping uniform
The housekeeping uniform is also regarded as „protective clothing‟.
Cloths
Used for cleaning, polishing and dusting, every trolley will need to have lots of these.
Some are made from material and some are disposable.

Dust pan
A dust pan is vital to collect dirt, dust and rubbish.

Cleaning agents and chemicals

Cleaning agents and other chemicals are used to perform various tasks and clean various
surfaces.
Depending on what is in each room you may be required to have:
 Polishes
 Detergents
 Glass cleaner
 Multi-purpose cleaners
 Oven cleaners
 Stainless steel cleaners
 Leather cleaners
 Porcelain and ceramic cleaners
 Toilet and urinal cleaners
 Dishwashing detergent
 Sanitizers
 Disinfectants
 Deodorizers and air sprays
 Pest control sprays and similar.
Ordering and receiving supplies

6
Linen stores and housekeeping trolleys can be stocked at the beginning or end of each shift, but it is preferable
that they are fully re-stocked at the end of the days work, so they are
prepared for the next shift, and so that missing items are able to be bought in before the next shift. When
supplies in the floor housekeeping store room run low,
further supplies can be brought up from the housekeeping department where there is usually some form of
central store purely for housekeeping supplies.
When requesting supplies you may be required to complete a requisition form.

Requisition form
The requisition form is an internal stock ordering form that you fill in and give to the Head Housekeeper (or
other nominated person).
It will identify:
 Person requesting the items
 Type of items needed
 Quantity
 Date.
The majority of housekeeping departments will have a standard order or requisition form. Requisition forms
that are completed and forwarded to the Head Housekeeper at the end of shift today, should result in the
supplies that have been ordered (or “requisitioned”) being supplied to the appropriate floor housekeeping store
room later that day or early the next day before the next shift starts work.

The Maid’s Cart or Trolley

Maid cart is very important in housekeeping. It is like a giant tool box where all the supplies needed are placed
during room service. It should have space to carry all the supplies needed by a room attendant in a specific shift.

There are three deep shelves in a maid’s cart. The two lower shelves are stocking linens while the top shelf is
used for stocking supplies.

Items placed on the maid’s cart are determined based on the room category, guest amenities, and the size of
the cart. Below is the standard number of linen usually placed in the maid’s cart:
LINEN Par Stock
Bed Sheets 2 per bed
Bedspread 1 per bed
Face towels 1 per guest
Pillow Cases 2 per bed
Bath mats 1 per bathroom
Mattress Protector Limited number
Hand Towel 1 per guest

7
Steps in Setting up a Maid’s Cart or Trolley

A. Preparation
1. Get all items ready
2. Get assignment sheet from the housekeeping control desk.
3. Clean trolley; wipe all areas using a wiping cloth designated for wiping the trolley.
4. Collect the needed stock from the trolley.
5. Record all the needed items loaded on the cart on the room assignment sheet.
B. Procedure
1. Start stacking from the bottom shelf.
2. Stack at the middle shelf the bathroom linens.
3. Place on the top shelf all the amenities and bathroom supplies. Arrange neatly.
4. Stack the hand caddy with cleaning supplies starting from all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner, dusting
solution, and bowl brush. Place the trash bag on the left side of the trolley.
5. Position vacuum and sweeping equipment on one side of the trolley.
C. Inspection
1. Inspect to ensure that trolley is properly stacked, properly arranged, and cleaned.
2. Check if the linen bag and trash bin are empty and clean.

8
Self Check 2.2.1

Do the following activity.

- Make a list of all the cleaning tools, materials, and cleaning agents that you have at home.
- Recommend the cleaning tools, materials, and cleaning agents that you think should be added to the list
and why it should be.
- Ask your mother about the advantages and disadvantages of using traditional cleaning materials.
- Write your answers on a bond paper or yellow sheet of paper