How To Clean A Hotel Room: 13 Tips & Ideas

Creating the right environment for every luxury hotel guest begins with cleanliness. Guests can relax and enjoy a comfortable stay when they know that their hotel room is clean, sanitized, and fresh.

Clean hotel rooms also support your establishment’s brand. In addition to meeting industry housekeeping standards, cleanliness improves the likelihood that guests will return for future visits and refer the hotel to their colleagues and friends.

How To Clean A Hotel Room Procedures & Best Practices

To meet the high standards and expectations of your guests, use these 12 tips and ideas to clean every hotel room thoroughly.

1. Follow A Cleaning Checklist

With a cleaning checklist, housekeepers and room attendants know the exact procedure for how to clean a hotel room. The cleaning checklist ensures uniformity among every hotel room, improves cleaning efficiency, and saves time.

2. Clean In A Methodical Manner

Start at the top of the room and clean from back to front. This plan simplifies the cleaning process, thoroughly eliminates debris, and reduces cross-contamination.

For example, when housekeepers start at the top of the room, debris, dirt, and dust fall onto surfaces that are still dirty and waiting to be cleaned. Likewise, working from back to front prevents tracking dirt and germs throughout the parts of the room that are already cleaned and sanitized.

3. Wash All Bedding

Sheets, bedspreads, and pillowcases should be replaced with clean bedding after each guest. Refuse to cut corners and change only the sheets.

Housekeepers should also inspect the bed carefully. They can look for signs of bedbugs and/or stains and remove trash that may be stuck in crevices, behind the baseboard, or between the mattress and boxspring.

4. Separate The Cleaning Cloths

Carry and use separate cleaning cloths for each task in the room. This tip reduces cross-contamination and ensures all surfaces are cleaned and sanitized properly.

For example, use blue cloths to disinfect surfaces and green cloths to remove dirt.

Remember to always replace a cloth after each task, too, rather than use the same cloth to dust furniture and wash off the trash cans. While this step does create more laundry for the hotel, it also demonstrates your commitment to cleanliness.

5. Vacuum Upholstery & Curtains

Dust, dirt, and allergens can build up on furniture and window treatments and create a dirty hotel room. Debris can also cause the upholstery to break down over time. Vacuum these surfaces regularly to improve cleanliness, increase the lifespan of the upholstery, and keep the room looking nice for guests.

6. Be Thorough With The Furniture

Special attention should be given to cleaning the furniture completely. Wipe dirt off the backs, sides, and undersides of chairs, sofas, desks, nightstands, and headboards. Remember to clean off the feet and rungs of the desks, chairs, and beds, too.

7. Take Care With Chemicals

Use cleaning chemicals with care. Always follow the usage directions on the chemical label, and never mix chemicals since the resulting vapors can be deadly.

Color code cleaning cloths, too, to track the chemicals you’re using.

For example, use a blue cloth for dusting and a red cloth for sanitizing to keep each chemical separate as your staff cleans and sanitizes all the surfaces properly.

8. Drain Irons & Coffeemakers

Water left in clothes irons and coffee makers can cause rust, discoloration, and odors. Rust in an iron will ruin the appliance and the clothing guests want to press, and the coffee or tea prepared in a dirty machine will taste terrible.

Drain the water from these two appliances each day to prevent rust, prolonging the life of the appliance, and meeting guest expectations.

9. Disinfect All Surfaces

It’s easy to remember to disinfect hot spots like the toilet, shower curtain, telephone, and doorknobs, but other hotel room surfaces can harbor germs, too.

Wipe off all the surfaces where germs can linger, such as the clock radio, television remote, closet hangers, mini-fridge shelves, luggage rack, and insides of the dresser drawers.

10. Pay Attention To Details

In the process of cleaning and sanitizing an entire hotel room, remember the details. Several cleaning tasks are easy to overlook but will be noticed by detail-oriented guests.

• Dust every crevice of lighting fixtures, including light bulbs and shades
• Remove drip marks from the exteriors of the trash cans, bathtub, and appliances
• Wipe off all sink, nightstand, and dresser drawer surfaces
• Clean the closet shelves and hangers
• Vacuum underneath and behind moveable furniture
• Wipe off the vents
• Dust wall and door trim, baseboards, artwork, and headboards
• Remove fingerprints or other marks from the walls, mirrors, coffee maker, and hairdryer
• Replace and/or sanitize items provided to guests, including guide books, pens and notepads, do-not-disturb signs, and laundry bags
• Wipe out the drains
• Clean corners, including the windowsills, under the bed, and behind dressers
• Remove odors

11. Clean The Cleaning Items

Vacuums can clog, and cleaning cloths can become thin, so take time to inspect, clean, and repair or replace the cleaning items regularly.

Wipe off the vacuum, replace brushes, and check the suction to improve efficiency. Replace worn-out cloths, inefficient chemicals, and creaky cleaning carts, too.

12. Perform A Final Inspection

After cleaning a room, housekeepers should take one final walk-through to ensure every part of the room is clean, sanitized, and ready to welcome guests. Now’s the time to verify that the cleaning plan is followed and to finish any tasks that were overlooked.

1. Restrooms

Restroom cleanliness and sanitation is paramount. It is critical that all surfaces are clean, sanitized and polished, eliminating all soap build up and residue. All bright work should be cleaned and polished and all hair removed. Floors must be free of all soil, hair and dust. Grout must be scrubbed.

How To Clean A Hotel Room Procedure For High-End Hotels & Resorts

Luxury hotel and resort guests expect a high standard of cleanliness when they visit your establishment. When a room is clean, sanitized, and fresh, guests enjoy a more comfortable stay and feel welcomed and valued. Satisfied guests are also likely to return and recommend you.

Consider outsourcing your cleaning tasks to an expert cleaning service. The trained, thorough, and motivated hospitality professionals at Hotel Cleaning Services specialize in cleaning luxury hotel rooms.