Escape a Hairy Situation: 4 Housekeeping Tips for Inns

vacuum-cleaner-housekeeping-tipsWhether you wear it long or short, stray hair happens. A hair in the salad can mean doom and gloom for a restaurant, but the battleground for innkeepers extends well beyond the dinner table. In the spirit of securing every tress in time for the next check-in, we’re covering a few essential housekeeping tips and tools to add to your cleaning collection.

Buckle Down on the Bathroom

With so many nooks, crannies, and surfaces to keep sanitized, bathrooms are one of the most demanding areas to keep clean. Before you delve into the various bathroom surface cleaners, Larry Davis of the Willard Street Inn suggests enlisting the help of “the cornerstone of cleaning” — a handheld, cordless vacuum. “There are no wires or anything to chase around,” he explains, “It’s actually the first thing I use and the last thing I use.” Give the tub, counters, and floor a once-over with the vacuum to suck up initial hair and grime. Follow this with a cleaning brush with an extended tip to clean hard-to-reach areas behind faucets, inside shower doors, or along caulking. Be sure to do another sweep with the vacuum to take care of any stragglers you unlodge during the scrubbing stage.

Don’t Cry Over Spilt Wine

You can erase the evidence of mess throughout kitchen counters and bathroom floors, but a stained communal couch can put a stain on your inn’s reputation for cleanliness. One of the most important housekeeping tips for innkeepers is to keep a selection of stain solutions stocked and at the ready. If you offer wine (especially red), keep a wine-specific stain remover in the cleaning closet. We recommend finding one that cleans, removes, and deodorizes — you may be able to take care of the visual damage on that rug, but the musty coffee scent will linger on unless you have the proper tools to eliminate it.

Reuse the Daily News

Glass windowpanes are magnets for fingerprints, but wiping them away with a paper towel leads to leftover lint that’s nearly as unappealing as the original mess. Instead, our housekeeping tip is to collect old newspapers in your cleaning closet. A newspaper is the best glass cleaning solution for wiping away prints and oils without leaving behind ink or residue.  

Put Your Best Guest Bedroom Forward

Travelers want an experience that makes them feel at home, and that likely doesn’t include snuggling up to a stranger’s strands on their pillowcase. Before removing linens, give guest rooms and beds a once-over with the handheld vacuum. If you’ve previously found yourself at a loss when trying to track down a stain on a bedsheet, Leslie Malcahy of the Rabbit Hill Inn suggests enlisting the help of clothespins. Pin the stains as you find them while removing the sheets from the bed, and you’ll know exactly where to apply the stain remover when it comes time to wash. Another handy guestroom cleaning solution is a lint roller. In addition to vacuuming, lint rollers make the perfect final step for collecting every last bit of lint and hair on the carpet, inside dresser drawers, and along curtains.

Want more ideas on ways to keep your inn spic-and-span? Brush up on the latest Inside Innkeeping Podcast episodes for housekeeping tips and product recommendations from fellow innkeepers.

One thought on “Escape a Hairy Situation: 4 Housekeeping Tips for Inns

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *