Hotel housekeeping services case studies
Accor - a nationwide presence
“We choose WGC to manage our housekeeping services at 54 of our hotels because it is capable of delivering a consistent and good quality service while remaining cost efficient and because it is a company with strong compliance procedures, which gives us peace of mind.”
Emmanuel Poignant, Operational Buyer, Accor Hotels
Present in 90 countries and with a portfolio of 4,200 hotels ranging from luxury to economy, Accor is the world’s leading hotel operator. Within the UK, the company has a significant presence and is responsible for operating hotel brands including Novotel, Mercure, Ibis, ETAP and Formule 1.
Cleaning services company WGC has worked closely with Accor for 9 years, and is responsible for managing our hotel housekeeping services at 54 of its 140-plus hotels across the UK. Central to its success at winning the tender to provide hotel housekeeping services for Accor is WGC’s ability to mobilise a nationwide workforce and equip it with the skills to not only provide high quality services but also to adapt to different brand cultures and working environments.
The Cumberland Hotel - expert housekeepers
“WGC is probably the best company in the market at what it does. It hires the right people to get the job done and it looks after its people, which helps a lot because it means they do their job well.”
Margie Merricks, Executive Housekeeper, the Cumberland Hotel
The Cumberland Hotel in London’s Marble Arch is a firm favourite with fans of contemporary art and design. Its vast ambient-light-filled lobby doubles as an art gallery and each of its 1,000 plus guestrooms features leading-edge designs and original artwork by UK contemporary artists. The hotel even boasts a Jimi Hendrix suite, as a tribute to the legendary guitarist whose last-known address was the Cumberland.
Projecting the right image is clearly key for the hotel and it is critical that as well as maintaining exceptional standards, everybody working at the Cumberland understands the culture and is capable of upholding brand standards. This includes the army of housekeeping staff from WGC, the cleaning company that has the contract to provide hotel housekeeping services at the Cumberland. Responsible for maintaining more than a 1,000 rooms, WGC’s workforce includes room attendants, floor porters, linen porters, housekeepers and office co-ordinators.
The Cumberland chooses to outsource its hotel housekeeping services for a number of reasons. It gives the hotel the flexibility to match staff numbers to occupancy levels and also achieves both time and cost savings because WGC takes responsibility for the lion’s share of the recruitment, training and management of the housekeeping workforce. Naturally, in an environment where exceptional standards are a must, an arrangement such as this can be perilous if the outsourcing company isn’t up to scratch. However, with WGC, the Cumberland is in safe hands.
As a highly experienced and exceptionally professional company, everyone delivering WGC’s hotel housekeeping services is thoroughly vetted and expertly trained before starting a new role to make sure they are capable of maintaining the standards expected of them. Due to the size of the workforce at the Cumberland, WGC also bases one of its trainers onsite to work alongside the Cumberland’s training department and help uphold standards. The quality of work is assessed constantly and WGC has strong systems in place to identify and resolve any issues quickly and to make sure its relationship with the Cumberland is running smoothly and that it continues to deliver exceptional housecleaning services.
WGC also provides public area and window cleaning at the Cumberland.
HMI - operating to brand standards
“The quality of WGC’s hotel housekeeping service is excellent and the company is adept at providing adjustments to meet the specific brand requirements of the different hotels we operate. Staff turnover at WGC is also low, which really helps maintain consistency and the level of quality that our guests demand.”
Trevor Lynn, Managing Director, Hospitality Management International
The ability to uphold brand standards is central to the success of Hospitality Management International (HMI), a privately owned company with responsibility for operating a number of hotels across the UK under the Wyndham Hotels, IHG and Hilton brands. Because of this, it is vital that the company works with service providers that also understand the value of brands and that are capable of adapting to meet different requirements.
One such provider is WGC, the cleaning services company that has taken care of the lion’s share of HMI’s hotel housekeeping needs for the past 10 years. WGC invests substantial resources in providing thorough and continuous training to ensure everybody delivering its services is equipped with the skills to integrate seamlessly into different working environments and to provide consistently high services that reflect the brand standards of each client.
For HMI, WGC largely provides a complete hotel housekeeping services package including an Executive Housekeeper who works as a part of the hotel’s management team. However, in one hotel WGC supplies housekeepers who report in to HMI’s own Executive Housekeeper reflecting the company’s flexibility in meeting client staffing needs.
Go Native - housekeeping at serviced apartments across the UK
“WGC is an established company with the experience to provide the high level of housekeeping standards that are central to the success of our serviced apartments. The company also has the scale and geographical reach to support our national operation of serviced apartments in diverse locations across the UK.”
Shaun Prime, Chief Operating Officer, Go Native
Established in 1997, Go Native is an award-winning provider of short and long-term corporate housing solutions in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and India. The company provides businesses with an outsourced corporate housing management service as well as giving individual travellers access to a comprehensive network of more than 25,000 serviced apartments, which are available on a flexible basis.
In the UK, Go Native operates a wide range of serviced apartments in locations as far afield as Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Manchester and London. These apartments provide a more spacious, relaxed and cost-effective alternative to hotels but without compromising on the comfort and quality that hotels offer.
To support its large-scale nationwide operation and ensure that its apartments are cleaned and presented to the highest standards, Go Native outsources its housekeeping service requirements to WGC. An established hotel housekeeping services provider, WGC has extensive experience of providing housekeeping services to five-star hotels and also possesses the large, well-trained and flexible UK-wide workforce that is capable of producing the results demanded by Go Native.
Hilton Hotel Metropole - housekeeping at the UK’s largest hotel
“We use WGC to maintain our 1,054 guestrooms because the company is a specialist in this field and can provide the trained and experienced workforce that is vital to maintaining quality standards throughout our hotel.”
Avner On, General Manager, Hilton London Metropole
With 1,054 guestrooms and the capacity to hold conferences for 3,000 delegates, the Hilton London Metropole is the largest hotel in the UK and one of the largest in Europe.
Managing guestrooms on this scale is a considerable organisational feat. The hotel must prepare rooms as early as possible in the day while also keeping a firm eye on standards to ensure quality is never compromised.
To help it succeed, the Hilton London Metropole has outsourced its housekeeping function to specialist hotel cleaning services company WGC. Focusing solely on providing hotel housekeeping services, WGC has the skilled workforce, capacity and experience to handle the demands of working in such a huge, fast-paced environment where quality is key.
WGC also provides public area, window and kitchen cleaning at the Hilton London Metropole.
Hilton Hotel Tower Bridge - exceptional housekeeping standards
“WGC has a long and successful history of providing hotel housekeeping services for Hilton and as a large, established company with a big pool of well-trained workers, we can be confident of receiving the service that is vital to the success of our hotel.”
Guy Klaiman, General Manager, Hilton Tower Bridge
The Hilton Tower Bridge is a stunning boutique-style hotel that sits just south of the River Thames overlooking London’s iconic Tower Bridge.
Opened in 2006, the hotel has 245 guestrooms and caters to a diverse international clientele made up of both tourists and business travellers.
Operating in a city that boasts some of the world’s most renowned hotels, the quality of the guestrooms at the Hilton Tower Bridge is absolutely vital to its success at attracting discerning visitors to London.
To ensure impeccable standards and consistency throughout the hotel, the Hilton Tower Bridge has entrusted hotel housekeeping services responsibilities to highly experienced cleaning services provider WGC. Working at the Hilton Tower Bridge since it first opened, WGC was chosen for the role because of the quality of its work at other hotels across the Hilton brand.
WGC also provides public area cleaning and kitchen stewarding services at the Hilton Tower Bridge.
