Hotel Cleaning

[amygeorge]

I'm encapping with a Cimex for our local Holiday Inn and Hampton Inn hotels. We average 15 rooms when we clean (vacancy/availability dictates.). These two locations are the only hotels we service. American and locally owned... I would like to know what the average price is on this type of account. We used to charge $25/room/HWE and .25/sqft for halls, etc. Also, do any of you have a service contract in place? I would like to make sure I'm on target with my pricing and would like to present a service contract to the owner. Currently, we clean every 12-18 months the last 3 years because we've had a pipeline come thru town, 2 wind farms and before the bottom fell out of the oil business - lots of land men were here. They have a commercial Hoover upright machine and spot clean with RESOLVE!!! The biggest obstacle we face is their lack of vacancy - which is a good thing for them and our community. My former employee and now competitor has been begging the owner for this account. This is why I'm asking and there is a meeting next month of the hotel franchise owners and I know this subject is going to be brought up. Apparently, the equipment guys have been calling... We all gotta make a living. We gotta sell our services and they gotta sell their equipment.

 

[Mikey P]

Don't worry about what others charge Amy.

Go for your hourly rate that covers your expenses and leaves a decent, not great, profit for you.

Great will lose you the account.


Are they ok with you Cimexing the rooms? Do they understand the process?

 

[hogjowl]

Don't sell yourself short and put enough in to HWE when the dirty sock calls start coming in.

 

[Bob Pruitt]

Amy,
Vernon seems to be a long way from the big metro areas... so I'm sure this account is important to you- I haven't been there so maybe I'm wrong. You also know I haven't been actively in business for a few years but that's not going to stop me from giving you my opinion since we are now friends.
When we did Hotel chains we would't do them for less than $600 for our day. There was always plenty for them to give us to make the 600 and the average in these jobs was over 800 for us. We didn't charge more than you are charging...we just required they give us more work.
These guys working on these projects want their rooms clean and most will co-operate by throwing all their stuff on top of their beds so we can clean and deodorize the rooms. We pick a section of the Hotel and start on it early in the morning and leave a dryer in each room as we clean down the halls. Our empty rooms were never taken off the can be rented lists as they were dry within a couple hours. Often we would spend the night in the Hotels because the Managers would want us to clean lobby furniture and additional areas the following day...multiple vans so we could do it.
Teach the Manager why Resolve is bad and sell them whatever you give to Home Owners. Double your price and put it on the invoice as spot cleaning. Something like this. https://www.saigers.com/supplies/pr...n-remover-for-home-owners/category_pathway-14
When I finally get to Texas Amy I will be more help.

 

[amygeorge]

thanks guys. I guess I'm just not familiar with what other guys charge (ballpark) to know where I stand on the average. Price has only recently become and issue/concern since the owner has been solicited by my competitor. I know my competitor has gone out to the majority of my commercial accounts wanting to start a service contract. He has taken a good size account that way (new property manager and he got there before I did.)

Yes, were encapping this time. Normally we only do the halls that way. It's a test. Encapped the breakfast area and they loved it. Wanted to do the whole place and try it out.

 

[Jimmy L]

Bonnet clean them using carpet sanitizer.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I agree with Jimmy, use a 175 and bonnet in the rooms. Cimex is fine for public areas.


We've never cleaned rooms just hallways but we once bid rooms for $25.00 but didn't get them.

 

[steve_64]

I've bid rooms at $12 EA and was under bid lol.

Mikey wth. First it's smaller equipment and now lower prices.

The Sierras sure have changed you.

 

[Mikey P]

Santa Cruz is a perfect storm for that location. Very rarely duplicable.

 

[Mikey P]

Only one S in Sierra btw.


Its already plural.

 

[hogjowl]

You, of all people, have no business offering spelling correction.

 

[steve_64]

Only one S in Sierra btw.


Its already plural.

It was spellcheck lol

 

[amygeorge]

I only clean for the 2 nicer chains in town. If I wanted to make $8/room, I would have all the other motels. NO THANK YOU.

 

[ruff]

Even at her most resentful she's still polite
Go Amy.
I hope you get it and at the right price.

 

[Mikey P]

She's far ruder in real life.

 

[Old Coastie]

Amy, my impression is that business aside, there is an element of hurt to this. A former employee is now trying to undercut you. That sort of betrayal would bug me, too.

I took over a nursing home account by offering encap. On cgd, it offers several advantages, such as rapid drying, low incidence of wickback, and most important, the cumulative effect of the protectant.

You'll find that it gets easier and easier and looks better and better.

What I did was extract the rooms to empty the carpet out. Subsequent cleanings were with Releasit DS2 (you may have a favorite product). Hallways are DS2. Since rooms have a short plush and the halls are cgd, I periodically have to extract the rooms, given special needs of nursing homes.
I charge $30/room, with no minimum, because they only get cleaned when someone moves out or it gets nasty. Hotels won't get so nasty.
About $700 to do all halls and lobbies. It works out to .20/foot on the latter. Hotels might be less, because of the constant volume.

For a hotel, I think Bob Pruitt has it nailed. Set a minimum amount of work, or rooms. I'm sure the arithmetic is simple: so many square feet per hour, necessary return/hour and so on. Bear in mind that with encap, the carpet will look better longer (oh how the HWE guys will howl at that one) and your job will actually be a bit easier each time. To encap or extract, I'd use the same product; if it looks good after scrubbing in, leave it. The staff will vacuum within a few hours.

So my approach would be;
A trial clean of a hallway.
A trial clean of a room.
Explain why the product builds protection instead of stripping it.
Offer ancillary supportive service, one spot call/month or somesuch.
This can be a deal clincher, assuring the hotel of no-hassle rapid response.

Mention that you do upholstery.
Mention that you have been around a long time and actually trained (your competitor). Not slagging him, just that you are the more experienced.

Call Rick Gelinas and have him explain his products (or one of the other vendors here). Communicate with Shorty about his extensive commercial experience.

Give 'em 'all that and a bag of chips' and see how it works. Good luck!

 

[steve_64]

If they are using a former employee of mine to get me to lower my price I'd tell em to go for it and raise my prices

Maybe you have better relationship with the hotel but I don't like doing business with people like that.

And if you can do a room in five minutes $8 ain't too bad lol. I've seen it done. They got what they paid for.

 

[Jimmy L]

But once you drag a wand across all of that encrapped carpet.....the truth will set you free.

 

[Desk Jockey]

She's far ruder in real life.

Or on the phone. I love the accent when she's scolding me. Too cute!

 

[Nate The Great]

She had me at y'all....

We did corridors for a nicer hotel, using a portable and got paid $16,000 for 4 days worth of cleaning.. They had someone else cleaning the rooms.. We don't work for that cheap.. I believe it was 14 floors of wool carpet..