In the hospitality world, there are times of occupancy madness that kick every area of a hotel or resort into full gear. We know this as “peak season” and preparedness is the key to overcoming its challenges – especially in the laundry room. In this column, I offer several tips for ensuring a seamless peak season laundry operation.
Are your linens up to “Par?”
In preparing for peak season, be sure your linen and towel inventory is deep enough to cover full occupancy over several weeks. Always, always invest in high-quality linens. You want your guests to relish your hotel bedding and plush robes, bath towels and pool towels. Plus, when it comes to laundry, high-quality textiles are easier to care for. Remember without enough pars, it will cost you excess labor for housekeepers to return to rooms they didn’t properly turn the first time and for laundry operators to wait on laundry to be completed.
Can your laundry equipment handle full-tilt linen processing at full occupancy?
If not, adding automation can solve the problem and deliver a higher quality product. You’ll also drastically reduce labor costs. Consider adding a GI towel folder or ironing system.
Options include:
The FT Maxi towel folder is a highly productive, multi-use folder that classifies, folds and stacks pillowcases, hand towels, bath towels and pool towels. It folds up to 900 pieces/hour using one or two operators.
The Compact Pro all-in-one ironing system quickly feeds, dries, irons, folds and stacks/accumulates bed and table linens of all sizes. It also offers a compact design and flawlessly finishes linens at speeds of up to 49-feet-per-minute. This machine will process up to 210+ sheets per hour using two operators, and 140-165 sheets per hour with a single operator. This is a major labor savings and productivity boost.
An ironing line that includes a feeder, ironer and folder/stacker will provide even more productivity. GI’s product offering includes several models of each of these machines and your local distributor can recommend an option to exactly suit your productivity, quality and labor goals.
Is your laundry staff prepared?
You’ve got the right inventory of linens and the automation to handle the laundry load of high season. Now, you just need to be sure your laundry employees are prepared. Be certain your staff is cross-trained on all of your laundry equipment – especially the new additions. Your GI distributor will train staff on any newly installed machines. Then be sure you have enough carts, gloves and ancillary laundry items to make your workflow ergonomic and efficient.
Get expert help from your distributor.
If you’re concerned about peak season and being prepared in the laundry room, contact your local laundry expert – a GI distributor. Your distributor can analyze your current laundry operation and provide equipment and workflow suggestions to conquer peak season seamlessly. Find your distributor.
As Girbau Industrial’s (GI) national sales manager, Brennan Pollnow assists commercial and industrial laundries with laundry room design and workflow, proper equipment mix and sizing, as well as automation and efficiency recommendations. He interfaces closely with local distributors and customers to ensure seamless communication, installation and startup.