One Million Pounds and Counting – How to Master Commercial Laundry Challenges in the Hospitality Industry
Challenge:
A large hotel in a major Midwestern city was finding it difficult to operate a reliable and efficient laundry facility to meet the demands of its guests. Previously, property managers could rely on its in-house staff for maintenance and repairs in its busy laundry unit. However, this became increasingly difficult as experienced maintenance staff retired and new, skilled labor was hard to find.
Situation:
This hotel, located in the heart of the city, offers more than 450 rooms to accommodate guests, as well as conference rooms, meeting spaces and ballrooms. While it often hosts local events such as wedding receptions or corporate meetings, due to its location, space and amenities, this hotel also meets the list of requirements necessary to house professional sports teams traveling to away games.
Any hotel that can successfully manage a sports team’s visit often can count on not only repeat visits for future competitions, but also build a reputation for its professional management services. It is imperative the facility keeps its equipment and services in top working order to retain its clientele.
In regard to its laundry services, the in-house staff was overwhelmed with the volume of work, and the hotel’s aging equipment was causing frequent breakdowns. A hotel this size can face severe financial or reputational consequences when laundry services are down or reduced.
According to one industry trade publication, a hotel operating 400 rooms at 65% occupancy can generate more than one million pounds of laundry per year. The hotel might be forced to limit the number of available rooms, turn away lucrative business, lose revenue or risk cancelling contracted events if it could not supply clean linens. Finding a reliable laundry service to outsource the business, particularly on short notice, can be difficult and expensive.
Without a functioning, high-capacity on-premise laundry facility, a hotel could risk tarnishing its reputation for exceptional hospitality. Faced with these mounting challenges, the hotel recognized its need for a comprehensive solution that could restore reliability and efficiency to its laundry operations.
Solution:
H-M Company, a premier provider of commercial laundry equipment, stepped in to provide a comprehensive solution for the hotel’s laundry needs. This included:
- Assessing the hotel’s equipment and recommending upgrades to increase capacity and efficiency
- Coordinating the installation of new, larger-capacity washers and dryers, even in the face of space constraints
- Offering same-day or next-day service to quickly resolve any equipment issues and keep the laundry running
- Providing knowledgeable and reliable technicians to handle maintenance and repairs, freeing up the hotel’s staff to focus on other priorities
New equipment installations posed a challenge because the hotel’s dated laundry facilities presented physical constraints with doorways too narrow to accommodate new, larger capacity washing machines. H-M overcame this obstacle through creative problem-solving, carefully disassembling and then reassembling a commercial washer to get it through the doorway and professionally installed. This level of adaptability and hands-on support is critical to help the hotel maintain its operations and avoid turning guests away.
The hotel staff knows it can rely on H-M’s responsiveness in critical situations, with direct contact information and personal cell phone numbers for the hotel staff to use to reach H-M immediately.
The obstacles previously faced by this hotel – the aging equipment, limited space, and the need for uninterrupted service – are shared by other hotels or hospitality venues, regardless of guest capacity. As a leading provider of commercial laundry solutions, H-M Company has extensive experience in designing, installing and maintaining high-performance systems that meet the demands of these commercial and complex environments.
H-M also has the flexibility of drawing on the industry’s best, quality-built domestic equipment that supplies the rugged durability and life expectancy for the high volumes and turnover typical in a hospitality environment. In this instance, H-M recommended and installed 170-lb. load-capacity washers and matched them with appropriately sized dryers to handle the laundry’s massive volume. This equipment specification and the extraordinary measures HM took to install the equipment in tight spaces, resulted in significantly boosting the laundry’s throughput and efficiency.
Whether it is maximizing productivity in a constrained footprint, supplying 24/7 reliable service, or keeping up with the relentless laundry needs of thousands of guests, H-M’s comprehensive approach empowers its hospitality partners to seamlessly manage this critical behind-the-scenes operation.
H-M Company empowers its customers to focus on maintaining service standards expected from a world-class hospitality brand by delivering durable, modern equipment backed by responsive, personalized service. Is your hospitality environment struggling with outside laundry services or a lack of skilled personnel available for service on existing equipment? Call H-M Company and talk to our sales and service team about a better solution to your commercial laundry needs.
