For the head of housekeeping
What does a head of housekeeping need from software?
Short answer
A head of housekeeping needs a room board that matches the PMS, a fair way to share rooms among the attendants on shift, guest instructions that reach the right person, and messages each attendant can read in their own language. Room status should flow back to front office the moment a room is inspected.
Written by the founder of Oste, who is building it with ten founding hotels. Reviewed by the founder. Last updated: . First published: .
Key facts
- One room board, in step with the PMS.
- Rooms shared by credits or time, not by guesswork.
- Guest instructions, such as allergies, shown on the room card.
- Chat translated for each attendant.
- Inspected rooms reach front office at once.
What does the head of housekeeping’s morning look like?
Print the departures, count the attendants who turned up, share the rooms, then spend the day answering “is 214 ready?”. Every change at front office, an early arrival or a room move, has to reach the floor by phone or by walking.
What should a room board show?
- Status per room in the codes the team already uses (clean, dirty, inspected, out of order).
- Arrivals and departures from the PMS, with early check-in and late check-out requests.
- Guest instructions that must be followed, with who may see them.
- Who is cleaning which room, and since when.
How do instructions reach a multilingual team?
Oste translates chat and task text into each colleague’s language, so an instruction written in German reaches a Romanian-speaking attendant in Romanian. The original stays available for anyone who wants to check it.
Questions people ask
Does Oste tell me how fast each attendant cleans?
Per-person performance analytics are off by default. The board shows the state of rooms and the work, not a ranking of people.
Can the team use their own phones?
Yes. The phone app is designed for iOS and Android, in each person’s language, and works offline.
Is there a free room checklist?
Yes, a printable room attendant checklist with a CSV version is in the templates.
Read next
Oste is in build
Where to next?
This is the paper version. What a head of housekeeping needs from software: a room board in step with the PMS, fair room allocation and instructions that reach every attendant.
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