Do you ever wonder how hotels keep their rooms so fresh and clean?

Housekeepers and hotel maids know the best ways to get the next level clean you seek at home. As one of the best luxury bed and breakfasts in Williamsburg, Virginia, we know clean. We pride ourselves in maintaining that fresh, crisp, hotel clean feeling.

How do we do it?

 

Here are some hotel cleaning tips from our amazing housekeepers!

Start by Cleaning With the Right Tools

While discount cleaners may seem to save money, they’re not a good idea. Hotels and commercial housekeepers spend more money to use high end industrial cleaning products. This is because these products are more effective and more concentrated. These products will save you time and money in the long run. However, if you and your family are sensitive to harsh cleaners, try environmentally friendly cleaners.

Use cleaning rags instead of paper products. Fabric cloths are washable, meaning they can be reused. This is more environmentally friendly. These rags also hold up to scrubbing and will not tear when wet.

Carry Cleaning Tools With You

Hotel housekeepers save time by gathering all the tools they will need (cleaners, rags, vacuum, etc) before entering the room. This saves time spent going back and forth to the cleaning closet. You may not have access to one of those fancy hotel carts, but a small caddy can be very effective and easy to purchase. The less time spent outside the room you are cleaning, the better. 

Strip the Room First

The first thing housekeepers do when they get into a room is to remove the mess. Start by stripping the sheets, pillowcases, dirty towels, and bathmats. Then remove the trash, used dishes, and empty garbage containers. Next, organize or put away stray items and clear off counter tops so that wiping down surfaces will be quick and easy.

Clean From Top to Bottom

This is the golden rule of cleaning. Start by dusting the fans and upper shelves and work your way down to the baseboards. Working this way will ensure you wont have to wipe surfaces twice, as the dust, dirt, and particles fall from top to bottom. 

Clean in a Circle

Pick a corner of the room and start cleaning from there. Work your way around the room, cleaning from top to bottom, until you make it back to the corner where you started. This ensures you don’t miss any parts of the room by forgetting something. Housekeepers that approach a room in a systematic way save time and get better results than those that pick and choose what they clean.

Have Patience

Cleaning products need time to work to be the most effective. When cleaning areas with the most bacteria, like bathrooms and kitchens, it’s best to start by spraying especially dirty surfaces down first, dusting and cleaning something else, and coming back to wipe down and finish cleaning. This will save time and elbow grease as the products are given enough time to do their work.

Be Consistent

The biggest secret to getting that sought after hotel clean is the simple fact that hotel rooms and spaces are being cleaned every day. Sheets are changed, surfaced wiped down and dusted, and toilets and showers scrubbed on a daily basis. This is not practical to do every day for the at home housekeeper. However, getting into the habit of cleaning messes when they happen and implementing a consistent weekly cleaning schedule will get you closer to that fresh feel. 

 

Following these tips will help you reach a next level clean while spending half the time! Try them out