With a vision to provide personal and professional growth for the housekeeping professionals in the industry, Vaishali Sinha, director, housekeeping, Meluha The Fern hotel, and president of Indian Professional Housekeepers Association (IPHA) talks about the trends that have transformed the industry and association with FHW exhibition By Saloni Bhatia
How has the role of IPHA evolved?
Just a year old, IPHA is an education organisation for individuals involved in or directly affiliated with housekeeping in hotels, hospitals, facilities management and allied professionals. As an upcoming organisation, the main aim is to grow, develop and connect to the industry worldwide. In the past one year the association has made a mark in the industry. This is the first time IPHA will be associating with FHW exhibition in Goa. The exhibition will see its first Housekeepers’ Challenge and FHW Housekeeper of the Year Awards.
How is technology assisting housekeeping operations today?
Today, the hospitality industry has seen a sea change. One such area that has seen rapid improvements brought on by the growing use of technology is housekeeping. Housekeeping has been steadily adopting technology to increase efficiency, provide guests with a seamless experience and add to customer delight. The newer technologies that are gaining entry in the hospitality segment are Wi-Fi, radio frequency identification, tracking inventory and guest data through cellular and wireless technologies, GPS (Global Positioning System), hand held communication devices, wireless local area networks (WLANs), mobile computers and iPads. All these things have assisted the housekeeping operations greatly.
What are the new trends in housekeeping?
Today’s traveller is tech-savvy, well-researched and has very different expectations from his hotel stay than he would have in the past. Hoteliers need to understand these changing traveller expectations to truly enhance service levels. The few changes in trends that we have seen in the past years are that in order to cut wastage, dispensers are replacing the 35 ml bottles in rooms and the new renovated rooms have shower cabins instead of tubs for the convenience of the traveller. Many hotels are now using environmental friendly products like energy conserving vacuum cleaners to cut down operational cost. Hotels pamper single female travellers by providing them with a special ladies kit which is taken care by the housekeeping staff. Similarly, the staff makes special arrangements in the guest’s room on their birthdays and anniversaries. There is more educated workforce in the field who are acquiring more professional skills.
As a young association how do you plan to move forward?
We are focusing on adding to the wealth of knowledge by getting more people on board. There is a plan to provide a social media forum where professionals can share views and interact on a regular basis. The association would enable senior housekeepers to nurture and guide younger professionals with their wealth of knowledge.
Any specific housekeeping trends in Goa?
Apart from the atmosphere and climatic change, the trends of housekeeping is same as mentioned above.
What are your expectations from FHW Goa 2016 exhibition?
IPHA takes great pride in being associated with FHW, for the Goa exhibition this year, along with other housekeepers of the industry. With the support of FHW we will be hosting a Housekeepers’ Challenge for towel art and flower decoration. It is a new concept that has never been done on such a platform before. There also will be the FHW Housekeepers Awards felicitating housekeeping professionals in Goa.