Housekeeping

Are you smart? Intelligent? Don't mind hard work? Interested in looking after guests and helping to make their stay enjoyable? You could be just who we're looking for, to join our hotel housekeeping staff.

As a member of the Housekeeping team, you may be given responsibility for one of the bedroom areas. After the guests have checked out, you will then change beds, towels, etc. and generally ensure that everything is clean and tidy.

Housekeeping, however, is not just about cleaning, bedrooms but also keeping every public area pleasant, clean and tidy for other to relax and work in. You may find you have to arrange flowers, displays of materials, publications, and be responsible for ensuring stocks are up-to-date whether in a linen room or a mini-bar.

Other duties you may be involved in could be vacuuming, polishing and tidying other areas in the building. You will certainly need to spend time checking everything is in place.

Whether you work at a hotel, motel, bed and breakfast, conference or holiday centre, or a tourist attraction, your guests will judge their accommodation by its appearance. Clean rooms and good service enhance any accommodati­on and make your guests return.

No previous experience is required and most of your training will be in the job, with extra in-house training given by the company's training personnel.

Maintenance

Just think how many things need doing around the house. Now imagine how many more there are in a large hotel — or a leisure theme park! Lighting, heating, plumbing, carpentry, even gardening needs taking care of.

Courtesy cars and staff buses need driving and many large hotels need grounds staff to look after their golf-courses and keep them in tip-top condition.

Whilst some smaller hotels use outside contractors, most larger hotels, motorway sites and leisure parks employ their own specialized support staff. Because guests and visitors expect everything to work perfectly, maintenance and support staff must be available 24 hours a day. This means you will probably have to work shifts and some weekends.

Many people start in these jobs by applying direct. To get a job as a plumber, carpenter or electrician you can start as an apprentice, no experience is needed, and you will be trained on the job.

If your interest is in gardening or green-keeping, again no experience is necessary to start, but you will need to have a real love of horticulture, and enjoy working out of doors.

Whenever people travel on long journeys they need to stop for a break. At the sites where they stop, more specialist support staff are needed to look after them — car and coach parks need to be controlled, cloakrooms supervised, and all amenities kept clean and tidy. Obviously, every one of these jobs is different, but they all have one thing in common — looking after the customer!