Hotel Laundry Operation and Laundry Flow chart
When it comes to managing a hotel’s laundry operations, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the flow of the process. A well-designed flow chart can help ensure that everything runs smoothly and efficiently.
The first step in the laundry process is collection. This involves gathering soiled linens and garments from guest rooms and other areas of the hotel. The next step is sorting, which involves separating items by color, fabric type, and level of soiling.
Once the items have been sorted, they are typically pre-treated to remove any stains or heavy soiling. Then, they are loaded into washing machines and cleaned according to their specific care instructions.
After the items have been washed, they are dried in large commercial dryers. This is followed by a process called finishing, which involves pressing and folding the items to give them a crisp, clean look.
Finally, the items are either stored for future use or returned to the appropriate areas of the hotel for guest use.
By following a clear laundry flow chart, hotels can ensure that their laundry operations are efficient and cost-effective, and provide guests with the highest level of cleanliness and comfort.
The laundry department has a basic cycle of operation with the below steps:-
1. Collecting Soiled Linen.
Housemaid and room boy should strip linens from beds and areas and put them onto the linen chute or the soiled linen carts stored on each floor pantry. Staff should never use any guest linen for any cleaning purpose.
The house boys should go for frequent rounds on each floor to collect the soiled linen from the linen chute or onto each floor pantry.
Supervisors should make sure that the soiled linens don’t pile up on the floor pantry which may cause further soil or damage as there are chances that people may walk on them.
2. Transport Soiled Linen to the Laundry department.
The linens from the Laundry chutes and floor pantry are carried to the laundry department by trolley. The housemen should make sure that the laundry items are not dragged on the floor this may further damage or soil the laundry.
3. Sorting of Linen and Uniforms.
The laundry sorting area of the hotel should be large enough to buffer one day’s worth of laundry and this sorting of laundry should not interfere with other laundry activities. Note: SOP for sorting of uniforms and linens. Sort linen and uniforms according to their stains, size, type, color, etc.
4. Washing and Dry cleaning.
After the linens and uniforms are sorted properly the laundry staff collects the batches of laundry and loads them to the washers. It is also a good process to always weigh the laundry items before loading them into the washers, this will ensure that the washers are not overloaded and help to run them in the optimum operation condition.
If required the soiled linens are treated to remove stains before the washing process. To reduce operational costs nowadays hotels use chemicals ( bleaches, detergents, softeners, etc.) during the washing process to remove stains instead of treating laundry items separately before washing.
5. Drying.
After the washing cycle is completed the washed items are dried on the dryer. The drying times and temperature vary considerably according to the type of linen/cloth.
Also, the drying should be followed by a gradual cool-down process to prevent the hot linens from being damaged or wrinkled by the rapid cooling and healing process.
6. Folding of Linen and Uniforms.
Even though a lot of flooding of linens is now automated, the hotels still do a lot of folding by hand. While folding the linens the laundry attendants should also look for any damages that occurred to them during the laundry process.
The folded items are then stored and stacked properly according to batches. The finished laundry items should last rest for 24hrs. as this will increase their life.
