Hoteliers, The Key to Saving Capital is Planned Preventative Maintenance! Here’s How You Implement It

Hoteliers, The Key to Saving Capital is Planned Preventative Maintenance! Here’s How You Implement It…

Hoteliers, do you know how critical it is to have planned preventative maintenance built-in to your asset management? Keeping track of your contractors and having preventative maintenance schedules on a weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis will save your hotel a tremendous amount of money in preventable repairs.  Here are the keys to effectively implementing a planned preventative maintenance program for your hotel!

1. Keep Track of Your Contractors

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When a contractor fails to do the job, typically, a hotel manager or engineer immediately brings in a new contractor. The new contractor fixes the issues, points out all of missteps and maintenance failures of the last contractor and charges the hotel for the corrective actions. This added expense can easily be avoided if the manager follows up and makes sure contractors are following preventive maintenance schedules on a weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis.

2. Schedule and Follow Up!

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Even with a maintenance contract, it’s up to General Managers, Operation Managers, Chief Engineers, to ensure the contracted tasks are being completed. Every major piece of equipment comes with a manufacturer’s manual detailing which components should be changed and when. The manager is responsible to be aware of those preventative maintenance guidelines and not leave it solely to the contractor.

Preventative maintenance for hotels is more than just spring cleaning. There should be a continual, around-the-clock program to safeguard the hotel’s most valuable assets and support great customer service. Not having an effective preventative maintenance plan will cost your hotel in the long run.

Let’s look at a great example with Hilton Santa Fe – Buffalo Thunder. According to Rafael Avalos, Director of Housekeeping, machines breaking down is one of the largest challenges hotels face when maintaining a consistent and effective laundry operation.  “Machines breaking down is a big deal, especially with a large tunnel washer,” Avalos said. “It does 85 percent of all our laundry. Without it, you start to worry a little bit.” In order to stay on top of maintenance concerns, Avalos suggested maintaining close contact with chemical companies to stay informed of what is going into these machines and what sort of effects to expect. This also helps to maximize the machine’s efficiency. “Education is important, but some people let things be just because that is the way they’ve always been done,” Avalos said. “You want to be on the cutting edge, and vendors are there to help. If you ask them a question, they may not know the answer— but then again, they might. And the way I’ve learned everything is by asking, and talking to other hotels, too.”

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Educating our clients about the benefits of our process is key for us at The Refinishing Touch®, especially on the difference between a “touch up” versus our full refinishing process for your guestroom FF&E. This is where your long-term savings combined with planned preventative maintenance can really make a difference in extending the life and use of your FF&E. Why? Because touch ups do not provide consistent coverage and they generally will not meet brand standard guidelines or pass a PIP approval.

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Photo Credit: The Refinishing Touch® – Before Full Refinishing Process

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Photo Credit: The Refinishing Touch® – After Full Refinishing Process

Our team at The Refinishing Touch® provides constant communication with the Project Manager at every level of your FF&E project from providing your quote, research and development, all the way through to project completion. Through our community of services, we provide many levels of preventative maintenance solutions for maintaining and updating your hotel FF&E including providing pre-production samples, research and development for your guest room renovation, and on-site project management.

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Photo Credit: The Refinishing Touch®

3. Know Your Preventative Maintenance Budget

Depending upon the size of your hotel, maintenance accounts for between 4% and 6% of the hotel’s operating budget. That’s a fixed expense that includes personnel, equipment and supplies. On average, a hotel’s CapEx spending is approximately 8 percent of the total revenue!

This includes your hotel’s FF&E. The furniture in your hotel is one of the largest components of asset management. The Refinishing Touch® has been partnering with hotels for over 41 years and 7,000 completed projects, to provide sustainable, on-site refinishing, re-engineering and reupholstering for the hospitality industry. We are the trusted and Preferred Supplier for Hilton, Host Hotels and Resorts and many more!

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Our solutions are non-toxic, environmentally safe and affordable, 50% to as much as 80% savings! Even better, our refinishing process for your furniture extends the life of your FF&E and provides your hotel with additional savings for several more years. You can reinvest those savings into updating your HVAC systems, Plumbing, Elevators, Security Systems, Technology Services and much more. 

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Photo Credit: The Refinishing Touch®

Be sure and download our Go-Green Hotels: Green Ideas Guide for sustainable and cost-saving measures for all of your hotel operations.

Making the decision to refinish your FF&E is not only great preventative maintenance but also positively impacts the environment and community around your hotel. Look at the difference in your hotel CO2 impact when you sustainably choose to refinish! That translates into wellness for your hotel, your guests, your employees and your community.

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Photo Credit: The Refinishing Touch®

Call us today for your hotel’s FF&E Wellness Checkup at 1-800.523.9448 or email [email protected] for your free, online quote. When your guest rooms have a great checkup… your guests have an even greater check-in!

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