To my future career

My focus for the first week was to know very well on how beds are being made and on clean washrooms; because there are lots of details I need to remember. For an example one king size bed rooms and double bed rooms have the different standard, in our hotel for the king size room we put three face towels, three hand towels and three bath towels. But in the double beds rooms we put four of each towel and these are very important details I needed to be remember. For the first week I am doing a really good job making beds and dusting, when I make the beds I always try to make the flat sheet and blanket nice and straight so that they don’t have any crease. My colleague said I did a really good job making beds. For the dust part I dust everything in the room, furniture, picture frames, window ledges, headboards, inside drawers, and light fixtures. Therefore at the end of the first week the skill that I developed most is to make beds and dusting skills.     

Weekly Journal Date: May 22th Week 1-2

Weekly Journal Date: June 6 Week3-4

In the first weekly journal, I hope I can use time efficiently and I achieved it in this week. Summer is a good time to travel around, therefore, every day there are lots of guests come to stay in our hotel. So our housekeeping manager makes two housekeepers together become a team, obviously, teamwork is faster than the individual work. Last weekend I have 27 rooms and there are 15 checks out rooms and 12 stays over rooms, but for some reasons my partner did not show up that day, which means I have to clean everything by myself and that is a big challenge for me. But the good thing is my colleagues came to help me after they finish their own duties and we did all the rooms by 4 p.m. That experience teaches me how to use less time do more things, which is use time efficiently.     

By the way, my supervisor said the room that I clean is super clean and I am very happy about it. Every week I learn more about our guests, this week I learned when the guests put some money on the flat that is the tip for the housekeeper. That always happen is some stay over the room; usually, guests will leave a paper beside the money that shows the money is the tip. In some cases, guests leave some dollar on the flat without any notice, and normally we don’t take it. But yesterday a guest found me and told me that the money they left on the flat is the tip for the housekeeper.    

My focus for next week is acquiring more knowledge about another hotel apartments within the hotel, for example how the front desk did the guest service recovery and how the banquet servers prepare for the meeting or wedding banquet.

Weekly Journal Date: June 20 Week5-6

In my first assignment, I have three goals that are 1. Know housekeeping skills well. 2. Built a personal relationship with colleagues. 3. Know more information about other hotel apartments. Until know I almost achieve my three goals, I learned lots of things from other experienced colleagues and I practice a lot with it. Right now, I am one of the professional housekeeping in our apartment and my manager always put me in some super busy place to work, because she knows I can use time efficiently. When I finish my duties early, I will always go to each floor to help other colleagues who have lots of room left, just because of that there are two colleagues became my friends. We sit together during the lunchtime even the break time we sit together and enjoy the cigarette.    

Sometimes I finish my work early may be around 2 or 3 p.m. I will stay in the hotel and find a chance talk to the front desk and banquet manager to learn more information about other apartments. Our hotel front desk manager is Chinese, so I talk a lot with her, and she also gives me lots of useful suggestion about study and work. She told me front desk is not an easy job; people who work at the front desk must have strong speaking and listening skills. Because sometimes guests may phone call the front desk ask some questions or request some service, and the front desk must answer at the first time, especially in the summer time there are lots of guests stay in our hotel.     

Unfortunately, I haven’t found a good chance to talk with the banquet manager because he always busier, but I will keep looking for an opportunity to meet him. My focus for next week is keep working hard and be more patient.

Weekly Journal Date: July 4 Week7-8

The communication skills that I used mostly this week were nonverbal communications. Throughout the tourism high season ahead, everyday the city can observe many of travellers from around the world that choose to stay at our hotel. Some guests decide to get up very late in the day, which means that during my workday we try not to speak too loudly. We feel that just in case some guests are still sleeping. I was using body language or the eye contract to communicate with my co-worker and must admit I am getting pretty good at this. Once I am finished cleaning a room I will do the OK gesture to let my partners know that I am done with a room. If I need help I will beck to my colleague then he or she will come to help me. The other communication skills I have used a lot this week was verbally the clarity and concision. I always try to convey my message in as few words as possible. For an example: instead of saying “check out”, I will just say C/O.