The housekeepers fraternity gets together for a commemorative photograph on the occasion of the first-ever Housekeeper’s convention on Challenging Mindsets, an H&FS Connect and IPHA initiative, which was held at Sahara Star Hotel in Mumbai on June 19th. The challenge that lay ahead of housekeepers, was not so much about changing

landscapes but about changing perceptions. As Minakshi Agarwal of H&FS put it in her opening address, “We need fresh eyes not fresh landscapes…as perception is more real than reality.. “ The need of the hour was to have new prespectives on managing the customer, both internal as well external, which is what the sessions then proceeded to do

Meeting the needs of the “Connected Customer”

The first national housekeepers convention

are better than mops, said Tatjana, with the help of a short AV presentation. She also spoke about the virtues of scrubber driers, as well as microfibres to clean glass, stainless steel and ceramic surfaces and the Twister diamond pads to polish different floor surfaces.

She also emphasised the importance of having mattr-ess encasing and pillow protectors in all rooms. She also mentioned Opera, a hand-held device, which can upload guest preferences and maintenance jobs.

Tatjana Ahmed, Housek-eeping Manager of the Grand Hyatt, Dubai, who is also the current President of the UAE Housekeepers Association, delivered the keynote address at the first ever National Housekeepers Convention held at Sahara Star, Mumbai.

Tatjana spoke about the housekeepers association in UAE and then moved on to speak about housekeeping practices in Dubai. She first went on to enumerate the new cleaning systems used there which avoid cross contamination. “Machines

Tatjana Ahmed from Grand HyattDubai, gives the keynote address

Panelists, from left, Seema Chaturvedi (ITC Grand Maratha), Tatjana Ahmed (Grand Hyatt Dubai), Shreshtha Singh (The Lalit Group),

Rekha Mehta (Intercontinental Marine Drive), Janki Das (The Trident BKC) and Meenu Tognata (ITC Hotels)

What they said...

“I was so happy to see that despite the heavy rains, so many housekeepers turned up. The topics of discussion too were very interesting and the s p e a k e r s d i s p l a y e d g r e a t knowledge.” -Alka Sharma, India Bulls

“I felt it was very well organised. I loved the idea and I thought the content too was very good. It was informative and there was a lot to take back from it. I look forward to the next edition.” -Tariq Chaudhari, GM, Grand Res idency, Hotel & Service Apartments, Mumbai

“I l iked your select ion of speakers and it was a great learning experience.” - Amit Kumar Shastri, Housekeeping Manager, Jaypee Siddharth, New Delhi

“It was a great beginning. The entire conference was very professionally done and the hard work put in showed.”-Janki Das, Trident BKC, Mumbai

“ T h e o r g a n i s a t i o n w a s excel lent and so was the c o n t e n t . ” - B h a r a t i U p l e , E x e c u t i v e H o u s e k e e p e r, Kohinoor Continental, Mumbai

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‘Connect’ is an initiative by H&FS to create meaningful platforms for hospitality professionals, to host ‘Meetings’ around ideas, trends, insights...

Meeting the needs of the “Connected Customer”

“I strongly feel that its best to make a direct

one-to-one connection with the customer.”- Shreshtha Singh

“The need of the hour, therefore, is crisp and

accurate communication as time is at premium.”

- Seema Chaturvedi

“The best way of getting feedback is to directly ask the customer how

we fared.”- Rekha Mehta

“Today's customer is very different. Age profiles

have changed. Previously, the customer was usually in the 45-50 age group while today it has come down to 35.

He is more interested in things like wifi and

special check-ins. We have to give them the gift

of time.”- Meenu Tognata

“Today's customer is well exposed and definitely less tolerant than ever before. I feel that we

need to provide convenient service.”

- Janki Das

“The bottom line for a good hotel comes down

to service.”- Tatjana Ahmed

Some learnings:

• This is the age of the connected customer.

• Customer is spoilt for c h o i c e a n d s o m o r e d e m a n d i n g a n d intolerant.

• So research your customer

• Get on to the sales.

• Time is of premium for g u e s t s s o u s e a p p s i n t e l l i g e n t l y f o r communication.

• Important to connect to guest, right down to the last man who delivers the service.

• Wow effect means to go beyond expectations.

• Finally, a good hotel is one which provides great service.

‘Connect’ is an initiative by H&FS to create meaningful platforms for hospitality professionals, to host ‘Meetings’ around ideas, trends, insights...

CONNECTW H E R E H O S P I T A L I T Y M E E T S • J U N E 2 0 1 5

Manish Sodhi, GM, Sahara Star, in his opening remarks said that guest perceptions were changing and hence demands too were changing. He felt that housekeeping department and housekeepers needed to be more agile and more attuned to customer and guest needs as times were very competitive.

Ajoy Balakrishna, GM, Grand Sarovar Premier, also felt that overall the hotel industry was changing while Nischint Pathania, GM, Ramada Hotel Powai, felt that social media, technology and persona-

very fast and the attrition levels were 10-15% across the industry with cruise l i n e r s b e i n g t h e m a i n culprits. According to Ruby Pande, Grand Hyatt Mumbai, at least 5 to 7 housekeeping personnel leave for cruise liners every year.

However, they concurred with Meenu Tognata of ITC Corporate, when she said that attrition was a reality and that “100 per cent retention cannot happen.” They also agreed that competition and higher salaries was a reality.

Another point made was also a b o u t c r e a t i n g a m o r e equitable work-life balance. At Hyatt, according to Ruby, there were cash incentives as well as six holidays a month in a bid to help employees maintain a work-life balance. After all, even the literal customer wants to go home! At the Oberois, according to Janki Das, there was a buddy

Sess ion 3 - Nur tur ing , developing and retaining your internal customer.

Retention is one of the biggest challenges which every executive housekeeper faces. The housekeeping depart-ment has one of the highest staff turnovers in the indu-stry. Staff retention therefore figures very high on the list for most executive house-keepers. The task at hand for most is to motivate and retain staff by coming up with new ways to foster loyalty as well as to offer growth. The impressive panel got together to share the ways and means by which each one of them was coping with the issue and the resulting solutions.

One of the points which came across very strongly was a b o u t t h e p a u c i t y o f opportunities to grow vis-a-vis even front office exe-cutives. All panelists also agreed that the turnover was

Taking care of the “Internal Customer”

system in place for new entrants. The first part was to help them get the skill sets required for the job.

Indira Paul, The Oberoi, Nariman Point, also spoke of the buddy system and of the manager being like a mentor to the trainees. There was a two-tier help provided to the new joinees.

Besides the buddy system, there was also a 20 minute capsule training, post work. Indira also mentioned the concept of kudo cards to help inculcate the habit of appre-ciation. Obviously 100 per cent retention is not going to happen. The important thing was to grow more humane in one's dealings.

Alka Sharma, India Bulls, made a point about empo-wering the staff to find solutions. “Chambermaids and boys also have terrific ideas and suggestions,” she

said. Complementing her views was Tognata, who spoke about the importance of empathy. “We need to be more empathetic,” she said, especially with differently abled people also being inducted in the workforce. Cross hotel exposure was again one more idea mooted by the panelists.

Tatjana Ahmed, Grand Hyatt, Dubai, shared another novel concept which was that when someone joins Hyatt in Dubai, they ask the joinee to make an ‘I-plan’ – in which the individual charts out the journey he wants to take in the next 6-12 months within the organisation.

The main points that came out were the importance of empathy and appreciation, about mentoring and buddy systems, as well as of being able to impart a sense of ownership and empowe-rment to the workforce.

Some learnings:

• Attrition is a fact of life. We have to learn to live with it.

• Employers to create a more e q u i t a b l e w o r k - l i f e balance.

• Cash incentives work very well.

• Buddy System not only helps new employees to settle in but also fosters relationships.

• Management to have a more humane approach.

• Creating an environment o f a p p r e c i a t i o n a n d empathy go a long way. Concept of gifting each other kudo cards.

• Empowering staff to find solutions to problems.

• Cross-hotel exposure.

• I-plan, which helps new employees to formulate their goals and decide t h e i r j o u r n e y i n t h e organisation.

Panelists from left - Meenu Tognata (ITC Corporate), Tatjana Ahmed (Grand Hyatt, Dubai) Ruby Pande (Grand Hyatt, Mumbai)Alka Sharma, Indira Paul (India Bulls) and Janki Das (Trident BKC)

The session with the three General Managers raised some important points about the importance of housekeepers vis-à-vis other HoDs. There is a definite perception that the housekeepers contribution was in some manner less than that of the F&B managers. The concern voiced here was that one has hardly ever heard of a housekeeper becoming a General Manager.

The General Managers shared that Housekeeping was operations and a cost centre whereas Rooms Division and F&B brought in the revenues.

General Managers promise to take housekeepers more seriously

GMs All: (from left to right) Manish Sodhi, Hotel Sahara Star, Ajoy Balakrishna, Grand Sarovar Premier, Nischint Pathania, Ramada

Hotel Powai, The Residence Hotel and Apartments and The Convention Centre.

l isat ion were the game changers today. Talking of their wishlist, Nischinth said that he would like house-keepers to have more under-standing of finance and budgeting. There was a lot of interjection from the audience which consisted largely of housekeepers, most of who felt somewhere that the top management does not take them very seriously. But Sodhi tackled most of the queries and said he had utmost respect for house-keepers and there was no question of any kind of discrimination.

‘Connect’ is an initiative by H&FS to create meaningful platforms for hospitality professionals, to host ‘Meetings’ around ideas, trends, insights...

CONNECTW H E R E H O S P I T A L I T Y M E E T S • J U N E 2 0 1 5

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The final session of the Housekeeping convention was one on grooming and makeup. The hospitality industry is not just about service but is also about image and appearances.

Hence grooming does play a major role here. So image consultant Bharti Patel’s simple presentation on basic grooming tips for both men and women was like a primer. In the second half of the session, some make up tricks were shown by a professional make up artist Vimal Gudka, who did a makeover on one of the volunteers from the audience. Naturally, the men weren’t too keen on watching the make-up session. Bharti took care of that by condu-cting a small session on the various ways to knot the tie and fold that hankerchief for a suit pocket.

The grooming and makeover session

Thank you

Housekeepers at work and play

H&FS India Pvt Ltd, Bungalow 36, Block W Ist Floor, Opp LS Raheja College, Relief Road, Santacruz (W), Mumbai 400 054 Phone: 26606708 Email: info@hfsindia.in

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