Bridging the gap between short staffs and high demands

Job postings are sitting idly on the internet and job fairs are facing low attendance. Meanwhile, travel-lovers are embarking on summer vacations with fervor. Workers’ reluctance to return to work is presenting a challenge across all industries, but particularly so in hospitality.

Travelers are bringing exceedingly high expectations with them. They want to enjoy the same experiences available in a pre-pandemic world, with heightened sensitivity to hygiene and higher demands of cleanliness. It’s a tough moment to meet, though, when many of the hotels and resorts they check into are (still) operating with skeleton crews.

One of the teams often coming up short-handed is the housekeeping staff. A report published earlier this year by the American Hotel & Lodging Association indicated that enhanced cleaning and hygiene practices were the second most important factor for guests in their choice of hotels, presenting a major challenge for customer satisfaction when hotel housekeepers are in short supply. Anecdotes are being swapped across the industry of everyone from Food & Beverage Directors to General Managers pitching in to make up for the staffing shortage.

A separate study found more than six in 10 adults named a fresh smelling bedroom as their top priority with respect to travel accommodations, followed by fresh smelling bed linen. Whether due to low occupancy or staffing shortages, rooms are being turned over less frequently. Add in summer weather, and you’ve got a better chance of checking into a room that feels more stale and musty than crisp and clean.

What can be done in the interim to satisfy guests? Solutions are needed that don’t require human resources, that keep working when no one’s around. A solution that acts to bridge a gap, not to cover up like a Band-Aid. A solution that specifically addresses top concerns – freshness, cleanliness, hygiene. SilvaClean is that solution.