New tools help streamline housekeeping operations, while improving guest experiences.
NEW YORK – ALICE, the hotel operations platform that empowers operational excellence and meaningful guest experiences, announced ALICE Housekeeping, a new solution for hotel housekeeping staff that optimizes room assignments and streamlines communication between each other as well as all hotel departments. The solution was designed with direct input from the challenges housekeepers face today and is part of an entirely customizable platform based on department needs.
ALICE Housekeeping increases productivity and helps staff become more efficient, while also improving guest satisfaction with rooms being ready faster. The set of tools provide housekeeping managers with a comprehensive view of their department’s operations, including room attendant assignments and task sheets, room clean status and any special requests and personalized guest details. For the first time, managers will be able to automatically and quickly prepare staff task sheets and balance assignments based on location and priority level. For room attendants, they are given a clear plan for their day and can easily track cleaning status and report any unexpected issues with a room directly on their mobile devices.
“Our mission with ALICE Housekeeping is to help staff do their jobs better,” said Dmitry Koltunov, CTO, ALICE. “That’s why our design and product teams shadowed hotel staff to directly inform what tools are needed to make housekeepers’ lives easier. In addition, the response from our customers has been incredible. We are thrilled to bring a first-of-its-kind solution to market that will improve overall operations and productivity.”
Key benefits of ALICE Housekeeping include:
- Streamlined and Flexible Room Assignment: Housekeeping decreases the time and complexity that goes into manual daily room assignments. By allowing housekeeping managers to automatically assign room cleans to each attendant at the start of the day, and communicate urgent room cleans as necessary, they can better manage staff productivity and deliver better on guest expectations.
- Real-time Room Status Insights: In a single view, housekeeping managers can easily track cleaning progress throughout the day and ensure all rooms pass the inspection checklist. In turn, through a simple and easy to use Room Attendant module, room attendants will instantly receive notifications if there are any changes to their task sheet, such as a rush room clean for a priority guest with an early check-in time.
- Direct Communication with All Hotel Staff: Within the platform, housekeeping staff are able to directly communicate with other hotel departments should a room need special attention. For example, if the bathroom sink is leaking, the room attendant can notify maintenance with the option to send a picture to clearly show what needs to be attended to. Once resolved, housekeeping will be notified that the room is ready for inspection and the front desk alerted once it is ready for the guest.
- Reporting and Analytics: Housekeeping managers are provided with a high-level operational and analytics report, allowing them to forecast staff and business needs for their department by tracking productivity, assessing common problems (e.g. a certain room takes longer to clean than expected) and diagnosing these issues to enhance overall efficiency.
“The housekeeping department is the foundation of every hotel, contributing directly to guest satisfaction and, in turn, profitability,” said Alex Shashou, Co-founder and President, ALICE. “As one of the largest departments with the most staff, hoteliers can struggle to best manage housekeeping operations, schedules, and needs. We are helping housekeeping teams be more productive, spend less time with manual processes and more time on tasks that delight guests with a set of tools we know will make their lives easier.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
