If you’re weighing whether to keep your on property laundry or partner with a hotel laundry service for some or all of your linens, you may be feeling lost in a sea of cost calculations, sustainability measures and uneasiness about change.
Properties that have never outsourced may quickly realize that they don’t know what they don’t know about the factors to consider, including current expenses and future possibilities for staff and space.
As you’re thinking through this important decision for your property, here are some pros and cons of outsourcing to a hotel laundry service.
Pro: Outsourcing Can Save You Money
Hospitality properties generally find that outsourcing saves up to 50 percent on their laundry costs, including equipment, fuel, electricity, water and labor.
Large laundry facilities can do more with less, and they’ll pass those savings on to you as a valued customer, without sacrificing quality.
Con: You’ll Need to Figure Out Your Current Laundry Costs First
To know whether outsourcing will save you money – and how much – you need a holistic accounting of how much you’re spending on laundry now. But: It isn’t uncommon for properties to lump the cost of their on property laundry into their overall utility and labor costs without separating it out.
If that’s the case for you, there are a number of benchmarking tools, consultants and calculators available that can help you determine the exact expenses of your on premise laundry.
Pro: Goodbye Expensive Commercial Laundry Equipment, Hello Housekeeping Freedom
Unless your property shares a large central laundry facility with other hotels in a shared group, chances are your smaller-scale commercial laundry equipment isn’t operating as efficiently as the high-tech machines run by hospitality laundry services.
The volume that laundry outsourcing providers has means they can – and should – invest in high-capacity equipment that saves as much fuel, electricity, water and labor as possible.
Outsourcing also means your housekeeping and maintenance staff won’t have to fight with machines that seem too large on some days and not large enough on others. Your laundry vendor should allow you to pay as you go, so you’ll only pay laundry costs for occupied rooms.
Con: You Won’t Get to Choose What Kinds of Laundry Machines are Used
Hospitality laundry professionals can be exceptionally loyal to their commercial machines, especially if they’ve used the same brand or vendor for some time. Letting go of your laundry service also means letting go of those machines and the choice to use them.
That’s one reason it’s so important to choose an outsourcing provider you can trust to make the right equipment decisions now and into the future. While you’ll be letting go of the old standby, you’ve got a chance to experience the new technology.
Pro: Did Somebody Say Spa Day?
Outsourcing to a hotel laundry service will free up your existing on property laundry space for a new venture that can generate revenue and rave reviews, such as a new spa. The space could also offer an opportunity to expand your meeting space, VIP lounge or common areas.
Con: Existing Laundry Staff Won’t Have as Much to Do
It’s true that the staff you currently have working in the laundry room and on laundry-related tasks won’t have as much to do, which will give you more incentive to quickly convert your laundry room into a new workspace for them. After all, you’ll need someone who knows you, your guests and your property to staff your new spa or conference center.
Pro: Worry-Free Sustainability
By choosing a green hospitality laundry service, your property gets to leave that area of sustainability to the professionals.
Environmentally friendly laundry providers not only use equipment that handles a higher volume of linens for less, they use non-toxic detergents that don’t release harmful chemicals into the air or water.
Only you and your knowledgable team can decide whether outsourcing to a hotel laundry service is the right business decision for your property, and it’s essential that you keep researching the pros and cons to make as informed a decision as possible.
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