Two sick housekeepers, 60% of the towels and a 13:00 VIP
A 140-room business hotel is running at 92% occupancy. Today there are 74 departures, 55 stayovers and 11 early check-ins booked from 12:00; normal check-in is 15:00. The executive housekeeper has 14 room attendants scheduled, each credited with 14 rooms per shift, plus two floor supervisors. At 07:00 two attendants call in sick and one supervisor is called to a water leak on the third floor. The linen supplier delivers late at 09:30, and only 60% of the usual bath towels arrive. Two rooms are blocked for maintenance. The general manager has promised a VIP suite by 13:00 and a small conference group of 12 rooms by 14:00. Checkout time is 11:00. The hotel's standard is that all arrival rooms are ready by 15:00 and stayovers are serviced by 16:00.
1. How should the remaining attendants be deployed and sequenced? Show the capacity calculation.
Read the worked answer
Available attendants: 14 scheduled minus 2 sick = 12. At 14 rooms each, capacity is 168 room credits. Rooms to service: 74 departures + 55 stayovers = 129; the two blocked rooms are not serviced. Capacity is therefore sufficient on paper, with 39 credits of slack, but the constraint is timing and linen, not total credits.
Sequence by arrival commitment. The 24 priority rooms are 11 early check-ins, the VIP suite and 12 conference rooms. Assign 4 attendants to strip and clean those 24 rooms first, starting with the VIP suite and the early check-ins whose previous guests have departed. Assign 5 attendants to the remaining 50 departures, because arrival rooms cannot be finished until departures are cleared. Assign 3 attendants to the 55 stayovers, with the two floor supervisors checking priority rooms rather than cleaning. After 12:00, the four priority attendants move to stayovers to protect the 16:00 standard. If a third attendant calls in sick, the first thing to flex is stayover timing, not arrival readiness; tell the affected guests rather than leaving rooms unserviced without explanation.
2. How should the towel shortage be managed without breaching the hotel's standard?
Read the worked answer
With only 60% of bath towels, the hotel cannot give every room a full fresh set. Prioritise arrivals, the VIP suite and the conference group, because those guests are checking in and will notice immediately. For stayovers, replace towels only if they are soiled or visibly used; fold and hang dry towels rather than automatically replacing them. Put a short, honest card in stayover rooms explaining that fresh towels are available on request, and make sure the request is fulfilled quickly. Do not put damp or torn towels back into rooms, and do not leave a room short without telling the guest.
Operationally, call the linen supplier and ask for an emergency partial delivery or borrow from a nearby hotel. Supervisors should check the VIP and conference rooms personally, because a missing towel in a VIP suite is a complaint that could have been avoided. Record the shortfall and the rooms affected. If the supplier cannot deliver by 14:00, the executive housekeeper should inform the front office so that reception can manage expectations at check-in. The standard is not 'every room gets the same towel count today'; it is 'no arrival room is knowingly short without a recovery plan'.
3. What records and follow-up actions should the executive housekeeper take?
Read the worked answer
Record the sick calls, the revised allocation, the priority room list, the linen delivery time and quantity, the rooms that received reduced towel sets, and any guest requests or complaints. Update room status in real time so reception does not send guests to unfinished rooms. Log the VIP and conference rooms as checked by a supervisor, with the time. If any stayover is not serviced by 16:00, record why and what was offered.
Follow up the same day with the linen supplier and ask for a written explanation and a contingency plan. Review the staffing model: 168 credits against 129 rooms looks comfortable, but the hotel had almost no buffer once two attendants were absent and one supervisor was diverted. A business hotel with 92% occupancy and 11 early check-ins needs a peak-day buffer or a multi-skilled front-office team that can make beds. Finally, review the maintenance block: two blocked rooms reduce capacity, and six blocked rooms would have made this situation unmanageable. The follow-up should change the plan for the next high-occupancy day, not just explain today's delay.