Working with a hotel laundry provider should be a dream – you’re realizing savings in cost, time and resources and turning over your linens to professionals.
So if anything about your current laundry contract is keeping you up at night, keep in mind that you do have options for making things better. If you’re still operating an on-premise laundry (OPL) and considering outsourcing, these tips are for you, too.
We’re here to help you rest easy with ways to hold your hotel laundry provider accountable.
Get Clarity on What Your Contract Covers
If you and your staff keep waiting for the savings to roll in but are getting bigger and bigger hotel laundry bills, it’s time to call a time out and go over your contract, line by line if you have to.
Not all laundry vendors bill the same way, and one company’s quote may come in much lower than everyone else’s because they have a low base but charge extra for things like sorting, pickup and delivery, EPA fees and fuel. Ask for an explanation of the full laundry costs, preferably before you sign or renew your contract.
Since the person at your property who signed the laundry contract likely isn’t the same person paying the invoice, make sure everyone is talking regularly to ensure that you’re getting – and spending – what you expected and agreed to.
Get a Scale and Use It
If your hotel laundry provider didn’t give you a scale when you signed on with them, ask for one that you can keep onsite. Have staff weigh your linens when they leave your property and when they return, and ask the laundry to provide their own tallies.
Ideally, you’re paying for clean pounds, not dirty, and you’ll need an accurately calibrated scale to ensure accountability.
Get Everything Back
Accidents, stains and damage happen, that’s the nature of the hospitality industry. But some of the factors that send linens to the rag pile early can be prevented. To get a full picture of what’s causing stains or damage to your linens, you and your staff need to be able to inspect it yourselves, and that means getting it back from your linen service.
Instead of discarding your ragout items, ask your provider to return them in a separate bag or container than the rest of your clean linen that’s ready to go. If you’re experiencing an unusually high rate of loss, you’ll also be able to rule out the laundry as the culprit.
Get Regular Face Time with Laundry Staff
After you first sign with a linen service, they’ll typically send sales and service representatives out to meet with your staff for training and to answer any questions.
To keep those lines of communication open, those kinds of meetings should be happening regularly. Giving staff who handle your laundry day in and day out a chance to talk to your laundry vendor will help surface issues quickly so you can resolve them and move on.
Get a Grand Tour
If you still have lingering questions or want to see the laundry plant with your own eyes, ask for a tour. Seeing how the facility operates, how high-tech the equipment is and how efficiently the staff works will give you peace of mind that your investment has been worth it and demonstrates that you care enough to check in.
Get Ready
Holding your laundry provider accountable doesn’t have to be difficult and can restore that dream-like quality to your outsourcing relationship.
With the right linen handling, not only will you and your staff sleep easier, your guests will, too.
{{cta(‘d023df5e-9bec-4f38-97d2-98acff84ce4d’)}}