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Back at the Point in Brisbane

Executive Housekeeper Jenny Howarth

Liz conducted a 3rd one-day operational review at the Point in Brisbane in mid-October this year with new Executive Housekeeper Jenny Howarth and the team. Jenny joined the hotel 26th April from Sofitel Brisbane and has been working hard to continually improve the Housekeeping standards at the hotel.

Several new systems have been implemented including the use of microfibre at the Hotel.

Along with a new General Manager and Engineer the hotel is receiving a lot of positive feedback from guests and consistently does well on all fronts.

 

BP receives Olympic assistance from Liz

Liz has been working in London since June on a huge project for the London 2012 Olympics. She was contracted to Iluka and worked under the banner of BP up until mid-August. Liz worked with the Hospitality team and was the Team and Ops Manager for the One Day Programme based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Liz is pictured with Team BP and Jessica Ennis who won gold for team GB in the Women’s heptathlon. Jessica is proudly showing off her gold medal in the photo and Liz is just popping out to her left!

The Paralympics are next, Liz will again be working with Iluka and BP managing the One Day Programme from the St Martins Lane Hotel in central London. The Paralympics will go through to mid-September when Liz will return to Australia.

Ariane Lellmann graduates with MBA

L&A is delighted to announce Ms Ariane Lellmann, our Senior L&A Consultant has just graduated from the University of Technology Sydney with a degree – Master of Business in Management (MBus). Ariane toiled over 3 years, mostly evening classes and working weekends to complete her degree with majors subjects in organisational psychology and leadership.

Ariane loved the experience, finding she learnt so much and she mentioned the topics were super interesting. The challenge was managing her time and maintaining self-discipline to reach her goal. Ariane has taken on a full time roll as Campus Manager of the Blue Mountains Hotel School Sydney campus. Well done Ariane!

 

A new project for Angela – Rice Miller Penang

On a recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, Liz Lycette met up with Associate Angela Goh and took the opportunity to fly up to Penang  to visit Angela’s current project; the Rice Miller Development. While in Penang, Liz and Angela met with Dr. Noraini Abdullah, the Managing Director and developer of the multi-million dollar project which is well underway.

The history behind the development is fascinating. The story of the Rice Miller is that of Lim Choo Guan. Born in China in 1844, he was forced to seek a better future and came to Penang in 1860. Having made money ferrying passengers, in the late 1880s he acquired enough capital to establish a partnership that built the island’s first rice mill. He eventually amassed a large fortune and acquired a great deal of property in George Town where he built his house, Mill View, across the road from his mill.  In 1900, he established the modern Khie Heng Bee Mills on the banks of the Penang River. Covering an area of three acres, the combined rice and oil mill was one of the largest industrial concerns in Penang. This is today’s site for the Rice Miller Project, the development which is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is located in the heart of George Town’s core heritage zone.

The project consists of The 99 Rice Miller City Residences, the boutique Rice Miller Hotel and also a private club, gym, spa, event centre, health clinic, restaurants and cafés, an urban grocer/ deli and boutique retail.

Dr. Noraini also owns and operates Georgetown College, Centre for Tourism and Hospitality studies, the first of its kind in the region offering study and vocational training in tourism and hospitality.  The aim of the college is to realise the potential role of tourism in the region and to promote a knowledge-based platform in development plans for tourism and visitor management programmes.  The overall objective is to raise the quality of people, goods and services in the tourism industries. Programmes are designed to provide knowledge, skills and attitudes that will optimise the students’ employment opportunities in tourism, hospitality and leisure industries.

Attention to detail is critical

The Do Not Disturb sign says it all!

Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa contracted Lycette & Associates (L&A) to conduct an Operational Review of the Housekeeping Department to make sure that the standard of excellence can be reached and maintained at all times. This lovely 40-villa property in nestled in the spectacular Wolgan Valley, deep in the Blue Mountains and 35 kilometres from the nearest town of Lithgow. The 5 star resort is owned by Emirates Airlines and has the many challenges for Housekeeping which come with the remoteness and being a very spread out property.

The Executive Housekeeper, Brenda Olson and her team of Housekeepers use a fleet of buggies to clean the beautiful stand-alone villas. Constructed from wood and stone materials and designed in Federation-style, each has its own pool, kept warm in winter and opened up to the great outdoors in summer. Some of the Housekeeping current challenges include the cleaning of pool glass windows and a plague of spiders due to the constant heavy rain.

Guests have high expectations with an average room rate of Aus$2000 per night; the pressure is on housekeeping to deliver way beyond every guest’s expectations. The guest feedback is great, the team is cheerful and work hard to exceed every wish.

In 2012, the Resort was the Grand Award winner in Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report. This follows on from many awards received in 2011 including Condé Nast Traveller World Savers Award – Winner, Wildlife Category.

Attention to detail is critical and this the Resort does well. The clever beautifully carved wooden wombat draws guests’ attention to leaving him on the bed to allow Housekeeping not to change the sheets daily

 

Housekeeping Operational Reviews for 2 hotels in Hefei, China

Whilst in China for the Shanghai Housekeepers workshop, Liz Lycette undertook 2 operational reviews at the 2 Swiss Belhotel International properties in Hefei. The 190 room Swiss Belhotel Hefei is just over a year old and has the typical housekeeping challenges of being short staffed. While at the Hotel, Liz helped to set up and organise an “Open Day” for interested candidates to check out the Hotel and the Housekeeping Department. The Saturday afternoon event was really well attended with Housekeeping getting 11 tentative staff and 6 definite employees signed up.

Swiss Belhotel’s Sister property in Hefei, the 160 bedroom Swiss Belhotel Hualun on the other side of town is also experiencing manpower issues.

In a city of over 4.7 million, it is amazing that both hotels are experiencing such shortages. Hotels are competing with factories and other industries and struggle to offer competitive salaries to attract Room Attendants and PA staff.

Of great benefit to both Executive Housekeepers was the 3 day workshop in Shanghai they attended with an additional 3 full days of review with Liz to assist with improvements in their operations.

L&A is planning another similar 3 day workshop in Shanghai and Beijing towards the end of 2012.

For more information about the upcoming courses contact Josephine (Josephine@lycetteandassociates.com)

Liz with Executive Housekeeper Jane and translator (GM Secretary) Cherry in front of the Hotel

 

Operational review for The Point Brisbane

Early November  Lycette & Associates was in Brisbane to conduct a 3 day operational review for the 201 bedroom Hotel; The Point Brisbane. The Hotel is close to the Brisbane business centre with easy access to the CBD and within easy reach of Brisbane Airport.

The Point has recently doubled its room inventory and required some assistance in reviewing the Housekeeping operations in conjunction with the new rooms. An operational review will assist the Housekeeping team develop solutions, gain further insights into the operation and find ways to support the Housekeeping team to achieve tangible goals.

The Housekeeping team is working hard to maintain the highest standards and to ensure best customer care at all times.

L&A will return to The Point for a follow up visit. A follow up visit is strongly recommended to ensure the action plan is on track, to help fine tune the operations and offer ongoing support and guidance to the Housekeeping team.

For more information on the housekeeping operational reviews contact: Josephine van Damme

 

Morning stretches in the car park

Free Housekeeping Health Check

Lycette & Associates have added a new feature to their website just recently. We are inviting you to complete the free housekeeping health check form. This new function will give you an overall idea how your housekeeping department is running. Your answers are recorded and emailed back to you with a total score of your  housekeeping operations. Click here to complete the Form: Housekeeping Health Check

 

This is a Free Housekeeping Department Health Check for your hotel to find out where your hotel stands in a quick moving world. We will give our recommendation and answer your questions in a return email.

 

 

 

 

 

Cleaning and Care manual for Main Beach Tower Apartments, Gold Coast, Australia

Max Dickens and Jenny Howarth

Lycette & Associates is very proud to have undertaken a new project on the Gold Coast Australia with the development of a cleaning and care manual for the Main Beach Tower, Main Beach, Gold Coast. The Main Beach Tower is a 28 floor prestigious apartment black in the heart of the Gold Coast with pool, gym and outdoor areas.

The 33 page manual developed includes a caretaker’s job description, cleaning and maintenance tasks for daily, weekly, monthly and annual operations. There are also sections on standard operating procedures, cleaning chemicals and best practice for alternative cleaning during drought conditions including the use of microfibre cleaning technology.

Jenny Howarth assisted L&A in developing the manual and proudly presents it to Max Dickens from the Body Corporate Committee of the Main Beach Tower, Main Beach, Gold Coast

 

Main Beach Tower, Gold Coast, Australia

Ongoing Housekeeping Assignment at Langham Hong Kong – September 2011

As one of our longest standing clients, Lycette & Associates have been supporting Langham Hong Kong since 2005 with annual Housekeeping operational reviews.

Management at the Hotel are keen to continually assess all parts of the Housekeeping operation ensuring efficiencies are reviewed and tweaked. Quality is paramount and striving to constantly improve quality and performance in Housekeeping is the key.

L&A is able to keep the Langham Hong Kong up to date with the latest trends and technologies and cast a keen eye over the whole operation suggesting improvements to benefit and enhance the guest experience at the Hotel.