Housekeeping is very significant in making your guests feel like they are being pampered. However, the key rule of housekeeping is that it shouldn't take too long, especially if the client is in the room. For these intents and purposes, you should invest in a small housekeeping cart. It would be best to stock the cart with everything needed for housekeeping so that housekeepers don't have to run around looking for their cleaning supplies. Taking this step would reflect very poorly on the hotel as small things like this matter more than we would like to admit.
What Is a Small Housekeeping Cart?
As the name suggests, it's a small cart stocked with supplies that one may need while housekeeping. It is a metal basket on wheels that generally has many pockets and spaces to store cleaning supplies. Since here, we’re talking about small carts, it is unlikely that these will be used to move sheets and linen around like some of their larger counterparts.
How Do You Stock Items in a Small Housekeeping Cart?
Housekeeping personnel doesn't always know the correct method to stock items in a small housekeeping cart. For this, it would be prudent of you to provide your employees with a list of items defining the order in which they must be placed. This practice would make operations much more efficient for them and save the guests and you a lot of time.
The method of stocking a small cart might be slightly different, but the basics remain the same. Work your way from bottom to top. Have any small towels and linens at the bottom of the cart, then paper products like tissue boxes, toilet rolls, paper towels, etc., then finally top that off with amenities and cleaning supplies. This act will give your housekeeping staff a structure to follow that will make their work look seamless.
What Are Some of the Products You Should Stock?
As mentioned before, there are three tiers to stocking your housekeeping cart.
1) Linens and towels
2) Paper products
3) Amenities and cleaning supplies
Linens and Towels
We're talking about a smaller cart, so it can't carry some of the heavier weight. However, feel free to place the small hand towels, washcloths, and pillowcases here.
Paper Products
Various paper products can be stocked in this cart. You can stock paper towels, toilet paper rolls, tissue boxes, and even trashcan liners. This range ensures that as far as cleanliness goes, you're not lacking.
Amenities and Cleaning Supplies
Here is where there's the greatest amount of diversity in products. You can stock cleaning supplies like sanitizer, sponges, gloves, toilet brush, window cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, along with dusting cloths and polish. On the amenities side, you can carry little bottles of shampoo, lotion, and soap. This comprehensive list doesn't mean you have to carry all these products or have them in your hotel. If you do, however, have these products, this is how you should be carrying them.
What to Look For in a Small Housekeeping Cart?
Now that we have discussed what it is and what products to stock in it, we can move on to try and understand what you need to look for when buying a cart of this variety. Like everything, it depends on your requirements and the kind of operations you wish to run. However, here are some of the things you might want to look for.
1. Do the wheels have breaks?
You don't know the number of accidents that have happened because of an unstable housekeeping cart, and you don't want to know. Having breaks in a trolley makes it less likely to topple over or harm someone should it be left alone. You're likely to save both supplies and products if there are breaks on your cart.
2. Is it lightweight?
You would think since it is small, it would be lightweight. This isn't always the case, and you should opt for small and lightweight ones for obvious reasons. It is maneuverable and easy to handle by one person.
3. Is it easy to clean?
It would be slightly uncharacteristic if the very vehicle you use to clean a guest’s room is dirty itself. For this purpose, the small trolley should be easy to clean and maintain. If your staff requires hours to keep something so tiny clean, it is not efficient and therefore not worth it.
4. Is it functional?
An important thing to remember about these carts is that size should not exclude function. There should be adjustable shelves for keeping products of various heights, holders for bags, and brackets for small vacuums. All these items are needed to maintain and observe functionality and shouldn't be compromised.
5. Is it well-organized?
If it has multiple tiers, it is likely to be better organized, so invest in a housekeeping cart with these. Furthermore, if a cart has a built-in top-shelf organizer, it's already going to give your guests an impression of a well-organized operation. In addition, top-shelf organizers are also wonderful for products you want to access quickly.
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of factors to consider when buying small-housekeeping carts, but more than anything, these carts are tools to increase efficiency and satisfy your customers' expectations. Guests take notice of everything that a hotel presents to them, and the greater care you put into their stay, the likelier you are to receive a positive review.
If you want more information about small housekeeping carts for your hotel or you're interested in other hotel products, please visit us at www.hotels4humanity.com.