In any given day, Hotel managers may have to deal with dozens of failures that will collectively represent a high maintenance cost and will have a pronounced impact on the guests’ experience.
The equipment used in hotel units has gone through major improvements over the last few years. They are becoming more automated, complex and their usage more widespread. They usually are expensive or imply higher investments, even if they do often have reduced amortisation periods.
Among the most common causes for failures include ageing, wear, mechanical issues and negligence, etc.
To effectively address these various causes of equipment failures, hotels need robust facility management software that can coordinate maintenance activities across all departments and track the root causes of recurring issues.
Whatever the cause, failures in equipment represent maintenance costs for the hotel and therefore should be reduced as far as possible. Excellent service is intrinsically linked to maintenance and a better capacity to make repair which comes down to good hotel management.
Most common failures in a Hotel
The regular use and the type of equipment make failures quite common for a Hotel manager on a daily basis. To have a clear idea, a 200-room hotel reports, on average, 1500 failures per month. This amounts to 50 per day, which is a very significant number if you consider they can become 50 daily claims.
For a Hotel manager, having to deal with a multitude of failures on a daily basis is a regular feature of their reality. When you consider that so many of the assets used are excessively used everyday and are either reliant on or based on technology, it is only natural that things will go wrong. Proper asset management software can help track and monitor these critical hotel assets. As an example, a 200-room hotel reports, on average, 1500 failures per month. This amounts to 50 failures a day!
Infraspeak collected information that showed how the most reported failures in a Hotel are related to HVAC systems, electrical installations, sanitary facilities, elevators and room items, such as televisions, mini-bars, and hairdryers.
Analysing these complaints, we were able to quickly identify some patterns between the reported failures. Most of the guests’ claims concern the same kind of situation: burnt bulbs, broken TVs, issues with switches, clogged baths and toilets, and air conditioners not working properly.
Addressing these common malfunctions efficiently requires hotels to maintain adequate stock of replacement parts and supplies. This is where inventory management software becomes crucial, ensuring that burnt bulbs, spare switches, and other essential components are readily available when failures occur.
Maintenance management to reduce failure costs
Most of the aforementioned situations are simple malfunctions that require immediate action. In other words, they need a corrective action plan which eliminate the failure and minimize discontent over this.
Reactive maintenance is fundamental in this kind of situation as it it includes a set of measures that immediately solve an issue.
While internal maintenance teams handle many reactive situations, hotels frequently need to call upon external contractors and specialized technicians for complex repairs. In these cases, field service management software becomes essential for coordinating external repair work and ensuring rapid response times.
However, quickly solving the problem does not guarantee that it will not happen again. It is important to identify its main cause so as to avoid it in the future.
An air conditioner that has noise problems or clogged filter reveals problems that require preventive maintenance. In the same way, a broken switch or a blown light bulb suggest poor circuiting of the equipment and the need for more comprehensive changes.
Beyond addressing immediate equipment issues, hotels must ensure that all maintenance work adheres to safety regulations and industry standards. This requirement makes compliance management software vital for documenting maintenance activities and ensuring regulatory compliance across all hotel operations.
Managing failures involves choosing the ways to prevent, correct or replace certain equipment. It also implies ensuring you consider all the associated costs. When managers focus their efforts on just correcting problems, it complicates their ability to invest time into preventive measures that will stop the problem from repeating itself.
For larger hotel properties with extensive facilities and complex maintenance requirements, implementing a comprehensive cafm system provides the integrated approach needed to manage both preventive and corrective maintenance strategies effectively while controlling associated costs.
A continuous presence of failures suggests the necessity of a powerful and efficient solution to maintenance management and failures. With cmms software such as Infraspeak, you can optimise hotel operations and reduce the number of guest complaints reporting and monitoring every failure in real-time.