Vacation Rental Cleaning: The guests are back but where are the cleaners?
It’s a double-edge sword for the hospitality sector as vacation rental companies welcome record-breaking occupancy levels with tourists staying close to home, taking road trips and filling up vacation villas, homes and condos at an unprecedented rates. The travel forecasts look set to remain the same for the foreseeable future and travel will continue to rebound as borders open.
This has increased the demand for short-term rental staff but things are looking a little different for hotels, holiday letting and vacation rental managers as calls for housekeeping staff are left unanswered.
The employee turnover rate in the hospitality industry has always been higher than average. In March 2020, as the world went into lockdown, restaurants, bars, hotels and vacation rentals were forced to close down and hospitality works were sent home with no assurance of what tomorrow brings. This has materially affected vacation rental cleaning recruitment.
A recent survey found that one third of hospitality workers will not be returning to the industry, creating a major labor crisis at a time when businesses are trying to recover and rebuild. This is a world-wide problem affecting the hospitality industry across the globe.
The future of Brexit Britain has seen an exodus of foreign workers from the UK and the new points-based immigration system will have a significant impact on the future of cleaning staff presenting many challenges for the UK hospitality industry. Other contributing factors are notably low wages and less than favorable working conditions for cleaning staff, furloughed staff finding new positions, homeschooling and lack of childcare, higher and extended unemployment benefits and health concerns due to Covid.
The Impact on the Hospitality Industry
Housekeeping is the backbone of the hospitality industry and one of the most important aspects of your business. Property managers are taking a more professional approach to cleaning with many outsourcing to professional cleaning companies to adhere to enhanced Covid-19 cleaning protocols. Together with the shortage of cleaners, this has resulted in a significant increase in cleaning costs across the hospitality industry with cleaning costs increasing by more than 33% since the onset of the pandemic. The average clean in 2019 was $75 rising to $100 in 2021.
There’s been a strong focus on changing and updating our business models to adjust to the new landscape of tourism and hospitality and the one area we cannot drop the ball is cleanliness, sanitization and property care. Guest expectations are higher than the industry has ever seen and failing to maintain high standards will damage the guest experience, resulting in bad reviews, a dent in your brand reputation and loss of income.
The Solution to Labor Shortages in Hospitality
Staffing shortages can pose a great threat to the growth and recovery of your business and industry experts predict these shortages could last up to two years. The increased focus on a contactless stay combined with the shortage of hospitality cleaners has seen a new trend in hotels no longer offering a daily housekeeping service, with only one intense clean and sanitization prior to guest check-in.
While this reduces the pressure on a housekeeping team streamlining, optimizing and automating your property care processes is the best solution to addressing the labor shortages and overcoming the challenges and increasing costs of property care and operations in the hospitality industry.
Implementing enhanced cleaning protocols requires a lot of additional resources. PropertyCare.com automates your property care processes and optimizes your resources taking the hassle out of housekeeping tasks. Our award-winning high-tech property care and task management platform offers an efficient solution that enhances productivity for the whole team.
Book a demo today to learn how PropertyCare.com can power your property operations and guest management.
