Never did Lagazo think he would be the Executive Housekeeper in arguably what are some of the finest hotels and resorts not only in the United States, but even the world. Over the years he has had trainees or 1st time Assistant Managers that would say that Housekeeping was never their primary choice, but by the time they were done, they had a different appreciation for the Department. | On Being an Executive Housekeeper John Lagazo Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Never did Lagazo think he would be the Executive Housekeeper in arguably what are some of the finest hotels and resorts not only in the United States, but even the world. Over the years he has had trainees or 1st time Assistant Managers that would say that Housekeeping was never their primary choice, but by the time they were done, they had a different appreciation for the Department. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Cont. So what is Housekeeping? It is managing what usually is the greatest number of regular staff and the dollar amount to pay them. It is managing supplies—whatever is in the room for the guests to use, also what is used to clean anything and everything in the hotel. It is managing teamwork and the coordination between and among all other departments in the hotel. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Cont. For the hotels that have a full service Laundry, it is managing that too. It means you have to be very detail oriented and organized. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Cont. Getting away from the technical side of things, being an Executive Housekeeper taught Lagazo a lot about managing people. The staff is usually the most ethnically diverse, with an accompanying challenge being the level of English competency and overall education. Contrary to popular belief, this staff should also have high guest contact skills. In many of the hotels, the challenge was to pull the different ethnic groups together to work as a team. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Cont. Lagazo has learned: About “management styles” and “group dynamics”. About identifying the “informal leaders” of groups and how to influence them. About individual personality styles and how to manage and gel | On Being an Executive Housekeeper John Lagazo Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Never did Lagazo think he would be the Executive Housekeeper in arguably what are some of the finest hotels and resorts not only in the United States, but even the world. Over the years he has had trainees or 1st time Assistant Managers that would say that Housekeeping was never their primary choice, but by the time they were done, they had a different appreciation for the Department. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Cont. So what is Housekeeping? It is managing what usually is the greatest number of regular staff and the dollar amount to pay them. It is managing supplies—whatever is in the room for the guests to use, also what is used to clean anything and everything in the hotel. It is managing teamwork and the coordination between and among all other departments in the hotel. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, .
