A TV Series. Sports. Facilities management.
Two of these should be filled with plot twists, high emotions, and chaos. The other one, not so much.
Hotels are, indeed, highly dynamic, complex ecosystems. On the more concrete (pun intended) side of things, there are physical facilities to be taken care of, the need for equipment in pristine condition and all sorts of systems, from the electrical to plumbing, or HVAC.
As an industry constantly monitored by authorities and customers alike, hospitality also needs to deal with the legal side of things – Service Level Agreements, compliance and the ever-growing rating system in booking platforms.
What is hotel maintenance?
Hotel maintenance refers to the processes and practices involved in keeping a hotel’s physical assets in optimal working order. This includes routine inspections, repairs, and upkeep of various facilities such as guest rooms, common areas, pools, and restaurant spaces.
Effective hotel maintenance encompasses both preventive and corrective measures, ensuring that potential issues are addressed before they escalate into significant problems. By maintaining high standards of cleanliness, safety, and functionality, hotels can enhance the overall guest experience and drive repeat business.
Keeping all of this running smoothly and coping with today’s challenges requires tomorrow’s solution — a flexible, interconnected system that could facilitate communication and give hotel managers full visibility over operations, enhancing reporting and analysis.
How much does maintenance represent of a hotel’s budget?
According to public data, costs relating to maintaining technical facilities like HVAC equipment, fire alarms, electrical system, and security can reach up to 60% of a hotels’ total operating costs.
For this reason, a bit of thought and investment into streamlining your hotel’s budget can yield huge rewards when it comes to maximising the quality of your facilities, equipment and team performance.
Hotel maintenance costs include both corrective and preventive maintenance and whilst they will always represent an outlay of money, hotel managers should see them as an investment and not as just another expense.
To tackle these issues, an increasing number of hotel managers and facility managers are looking for holistic but simple software solutions that enable them to comprehensively manage maintenance operations and reduce costs.
Why you should use hotel maintenance management software
Implementing hotel maintenance management software can revolutionise how hotels handle their maintenance operations. Here are several reasons why investing in such software is beneficial:
- Streamlined processes: Maintenance management software automates and streamlines various tasks, such as work order creation, tracking, and reporting. This leads to increased efficiency and allows staff to focus on providing exceptional guest experiences.
- Real-time monitoring: With the ability to monitor assets and track maintenance activities in real time, hotels can proactively address issues before they disrupt operations. This reduces downtime and enhances overall guest satisfaction.
- Data-driven decision making: Maintenance management software provides valuable insights through data analytics, helping hotel managers identify trends, optimise resources, and make informed decisions about maintenance strategies and budgets.
- Improved communication: These tools facilitate better communication between maintenance staff, management, and other departments, ensuring that everyone is informed about ongoing maintenance tasks and priorities.
- Enhanced compliance: Maintenance management software helps hotels adhere to safety and regulatory standards by tracking inspections, maintenance schedules, and compliance-related tasks, minimising legal risks and enhancing guest safety.
Welsh Celtic Manor Resort, for example, transformed its maintenance management by implementing Infraspeak’s hotel maintenance management solution, which streamlined processes and improved communication among teams. The system enabled real-time tracking of maintenance tasks, allowing the resort to address issues proactively and minimise equipment downtime. This shift not only resulted in operational efficiency gains, but also significantly boosted guest satisfaction by ensuring high-quality service across the extensive property. For more details, read their customer story here.
Preventive maintenance is the name of the game
In order to improve hotel maintenance, facility managers should seek routine maintenance as the golden standard, as opposed to its reactive counterpart. Needless to say, maintenance teams will always have some degree of unpredictability and problems that should be dealt with in a reactive fashion — that doesn’t mean that such problems cannot be reduced or more easily solved.
Research indicates that up to 80% of guest complaints are related to maintenance issues? A focus on proactive maintenance strategies can significantly enhance overall guest satisfaction and lead to higher occupancy rates.
Also, studies show that implementing a preventive maintenance programme can result in cost savings of 12% to 18% compared to reactive maintenance approaches. Regular maintenance can extend the life of hotel assets, such as HVAC systems and elevators, by an average of 20% to 30%.
Remember when we said that facilities management should avoid chaos, plot twists and emotions running high? The ideal way to do that is by avoiding problems instead of seeking answers to issues. With an Infraspeak, you can effortlessly track an asset’s condition, lifecycle and interventions log, thus improving risk assessment. In a 24/7 sector that thrives on cost-saving solutions, facility managers should pursue the most intelligent, insightful, stress-free and future-proof tools available.
