Unit 6: Housekeeping Control Desk

6.1. Introduction

Control desk is the central hub of the housekeeping department as a information center. This is the area in the department where all information’s are received and from where messages are conveyed to housekeeping and other staff. Thus, it acts as a nerve center for to and fro communication in the housekeeping department. One of the main functions of the control desk is to ensure co-ordination between housekeeping and other departments such as maintenance, front office, food and beverages, security, sales and marketing, etc. The location of control desk is normally adjacent to or near by the executive housekeeper’s office. Control desk supervisor is responsible for managing the desk operation and desk is manned 24 hours.

6.2. Roles of the Control Desk

The role of the housekeeping control desk is to smoothen the progress of operation in various parts of the hotel. This role can be exercised in many forms which areas follows:

• The control desk receives messages from in-house guests over the telephone apart from maintaining the intra-and inter departmental channels of communication. Hotel room directoriesprovidethecontroldeskextensionnumberoftheguestswhichthey can use if they require housekeeping services.
• The control desk attendant receives the messages of the guests such as are quest for extra blankets, baby-sitter services, which s/he transmits to the concerned floor supervisor for further action.
• Front office also alerts the desk attendant about the expected and existing crews in the house. So that the rooms can be made ready for the new arriving crew after the departure of the existing crew in a short period.
• In most of the hotels, this is the area where housekeeping employees report for work; collect keys and sign for them; pursue the logbook, get their briefing done and at the end of their shift, report to the same area.
• It is the control room attendants who receive departure room numbers from the front office and transmit them to the appropriate floor supervisor.
• The floor supervisor informs the desk attendant once rooms are cleaned and ready for sale and this is updated in the computer so that front office can easily obtain the information of the status of room.
• The main physical feature visible in most control desks is the key cabinet. On the wall, where all floors’ master keys and stores keys are kept under lock and key themselves.
• Another common feature is a large notice board displaying notices like:
  a. Room numbers of the groups in the house
  b. Room numbers of crews in the house
  c. Night cleaning schedule
  d. VIPs in the house
  e. Weekly cleaning schedules
  f. Daily roster of supervisors and staff
  g. Any other significant information relating to in-house guests or the hotel staff.
• One of the most important roles of the control desk is maintaining various important records, registers, forms and formats so that they are available and easily accessible for reference to managers and supervisors.

6.3. Types of Register and Files Maintained

Registers and files are both are used to record important information .Registers serve the purpose of keeping clear and timely records thereby fostering good communication. Similarly, files help to record data for easy reference. Here are some important files and registers maintained by housekeeping control desk:

Registers:

1. Log book

It is the single most important register as it is here that instructions to staff of the next shift are written. This log book is referred to the supervisors at the beginning of any shift for instructions by the previous shift. The log-book will also record room numbers of different guest, roll-away bed distribution, etc.

2. Expected arrival register

It keeps the track of pre-registered guests and their profile as regular/ VIP/ other, marital status, expected check-in time, and any special request to be fulfilled, This register also keeps track of change of status of guest rooms from dirty to clean for reselling.

3. Guest Message Register

I t is the register where guest messages are recorded and passed to the concerned staff. In this register any relevant messages pertaining to guest rooms and adjoining areas are noted down. The messages may be second service or guest loan items, maintenance, requests, special instructions etc. It helps un keeping a track of the completion of the activity and the duration of the same.

4. Guest Loan Register

This register is maintained to record the delivery and recovery of the loan items given to the guests. The items are given free to the guests.

5. Guest Supplies Control Register

The guest room supplies are considered as guest essentials. The items provided on request are given to the guests when they ask for them. These are the supplies apart from regular supplies required by some guest. This register is maintained to record guest supplies.

6. Damage/ Breakage Registers

If any hotel property placed in the guest room is found damaged or broken, it is recorded in this registers.

7. Lost / Found Registers

If a housekeeping guest room attendant finds any guest-owned article left in the check-out room then it is recorded into the lost/found registers and sent to the same cell of the housekeeping department. It also records any personal article found in the hotel premises.

If a housekeeping guest room attendant finds any guest-owned article left in the check-out room then it is recorded into the lost/found register and sent to the same cell of the housekeeping department. It also records any personal article found in the hotel premises.

8. Key Control Registers

This is one of the most important at housekeeping control desk. It is the part of key security system to be followed by the housekeeping department. Each employee who has taken the key has to sign this before taking the key and also sign the register after the handover of keys.

9. Room Status Registers

This registers records the list of all rooms and their current status such as V, VC, OOO, OOS, etc.

VI: Vacant for inspection	SO: Slept Out
OD: Occupied & Dirty	VC: Vacant and Cleaned
OOO: Out of Order	VD: Vacant and Dirty
DND: Do Not Disturb	OR: Occupied and Ready
V/O or O/V: Status Unclear	OC: Occupied and Cleaned
LO: Lock Out	OD: Occupied and Dirty
DO: Due Out	CO: Check Out
DNCO: Did Not Check Out	H/L: Heavy Luggage
VCI: Vacant, Cleaned and Inspected	L/L: Light Luggage
DL: Double Lock	N/L: No Luggage
CL: Chain Lock	NS: No Show
HU: House Use	BLO: Blocked
NCI: Newly Checked In	V: Vacant
MUR: Make Up Room	VR: Vacant and Ready
SR: Service Refused	XB: Extra Bed
NNS: No Need Service	ED: Expected
NR: Near	UR: Under Repair

10. Linen Control Register

It records the movement of linen between the laundry and the guest rooms or dining area. It makes the housekeeping staff easy to keep the track of clean and soiled laundry.

11. Baby Sitting Register

Baby-sitting is provided as a service by most hotel’s housekeeping departments for guest who have small children. The guests requiring the service contact the housekeeping control desk and the desk attendant enters the request in the baby sitting register.

12. Memo Book

This contains the records of all the pending maintenance work for which the housekeeping department initiated word order. This information is made copies so as to alert the concerned housekeeping supervisor that work is incomplete.

13. Maintenance Register

This register is used for recording all the maintenance work required in rooms. Based on the information contained in the register, the control desk attendant fills out the work order from to be sent to the maintenance department.

14. Guest Request Tracker

A guest service request tracker is used to track requests made by the guest to front desk/housekeeping staff. Guests may request special equipment and supplies to their room during their stay. There should be a reliable method of recording these requests and then also to relays these requests to the appropriate hotel department for processing.

Finally, they should also follow up on these requests to ensure that this request has been processed and the guest is satisfied.

Files

1. Room Inspection Checklist File

All room inspection checklists are filled in the room inspection checklists file kept at the control desk. These reports may be referred to in case there are guest complaints on cleaning. The executive housekeeper will be able to find the supervisor in charge inspecting the particular guest room in this file and confirm whether s/he checked the particular surface in question.

2. Room Occupancy Report File

All room occupancy report is filed for the future reference. The room occupancy report are important to the Executive Housekeeper, to determine the level of workload anticipated so as to provide, the necessary staff to meet the requirement each day.

3. Duty Roaster File

The roaster file is filed for information, if required by anyone in the department. It shows the allotment of jobs, hours of duty, and days off for each member of the staff. The work shift or timings may vary according to the hotel occupancy and peak business days. It also ensures that the staffs have sufficient time to note their schedule for the following week/month.

Duty roaster file must be simple in format, easy to interpret, clearly written, and displayed on the staff notice board at least a weak in advance.