Chambermaid cleaning tips

Chambermaiding was where I started my cleaning career. A 5* in Stratford-upon-Avon back in the early 90s, during my degree. Happy days – although turn-down shift wasn’t all that much fun.

It’s astonishing how mucky people are when the stay in a hotel; they seem to lose all sense of cleanliness, so with 80 rooms to keep clean every day, the housekeeping team had our work cut out.

There are still tricks and tips I picked up back then that I use today – and will probably use for the rest of my life at home.

The funniest trick I ever saw? One of the older members of the team used to drag her feet around the room every other day to make it look as if she’d vacuumed – surely a room doesn’t need to be vacuumed every day – and those drag marks around the room really made it look cleaner! Not a bad tip for a spot check visit from the mother-in-law.

The most useful thing I learnt was the importance of a well-stocked caddy. Keeping a box to hand with topped up cleaning products, hand moisturiser and gloves meant that I could go from one room to the next without having to stop at my trolley.

I approached every room in exactly the same way: turn the TV on for some music (quietly then, less quietly now!) strip and/or make the beds, draw the curtains, close doors and drawers, fold or replace the towels, make a diamond in the toilet paper and replenish the freebies. I then went to the furthest point in the room and dusted every surface – walls included – in broad sweeping motions until I got to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, with one sponge I cleaned the toilet thoroughly before using the towel mat to dry the bowl and some tissue to dry the seat. With the other sponge I wiped the tiles, the taps and the sink, the bath and the shower again in wide sweeping motions, then rinsed it with the showerhead. With one of the used hand towels I dried everything to remove any watermarks. Obviously, both drying towels were sent to the laundry! With a spray of the glass cleaner, I gave the whole mirror and anything made of stainless steel a buff up.

Not being a foot-dragger, I then vacuumed my way out of the room, turning the music off as I went.

Even then, I was quite a stickler for perfection, so every room had perfect toilet roll points, no labels showed on any of my towels, the sheets had great hospital corners and all the toiletries were symmetrical. A room took me 45 minutes to do to 5* standard. I took so much pride in it, I was asked to clean the owners’ suite when they arrived – a three-room thing of beauty with a huge bathroom. It took me the whole day, but the tip was by far the biggest bonus I ever had for cleaning a room!

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