Housekeeping Operational Review of the Observatory Port Macquarie

Liz was recently engaged by the owners of The Observatory Port Macquarie to undertake a 2 day Housekeeping operational review. The goal was to take a look at systems, procedures, staffing and indeed all aspects of the operation in order to see where improvements could be made. Liz spent time with the management and housekeeping teams to assess efficiency and effectiveness of everything from cleaning tools and equipment to sequence of service and the team itself.

The Observatory is a strata-titled serviced apartment tourism business located in the NSW mid north coast town of Port Macquarie. The property is managed by Southern Cross Resorts owned by Chris and Trish Denny and operates under the Management Rights model.

The Observatory consists of an eight floor tower building serviced by lifts and a three floor walk-up Terrace building. In total there are: 22 three bedroom dual key ocean view apartments; 12 two bedroom dual key ocean view apartments; 9 one bedroom non ocean view apartments, 2 penthouse apartments; 14 two bedroom terrace apartments.  With the dual key configuration, they effectively offer the following accommodation options:

Penthouse apartments       2

Three bedroom tower ocean view apartments    22

Two bedroom tower (family) ocean view apartments    22

Two bedroom tower (deluxe) ocean view apartments   12

One bedroom tower ocean view apartments      12

One bedroom tower non ocean view apartments          9

Two bedroom garden terrace apartments            14

Hotel Rooms34

 

Housekeeping is one of two major profit centres for Southern Cross Resorts. Apartments are serviced every 3rd day and hotel rooms are serviced daily.

In pursuit of the Vision they undertook to build upon a recognised improvement framework and initially achieved accreditation to the International Management Standard ISO-9001.

They then achieved accreditation to the International Customer Service Standard under the guidance of Australia’s peak service body, the Customer Service Institute of Australia.

In 2010 they commenced their carbon reduction certification program through the Carbon Reduction Institute of Australia and in 2012 they reached a major milestone becoming one of the few hotels in Australia to be formally certified 100% carbon-neutral.

The Observatory has received numerous regional, state, national and international commendations on our journey to achieve ‘world-class guest experience in an environmentally sustainable manner’.  Most recently these include:

2014   Current shortlist for World Boutique Hotel awards in Sustainability

2014   Current shortlist for Australian Business Awards in Service Excellence

2014   Current shortlist for Australian Business Awards in Environmental Sustainability

2013   Silver Australian Tourism Award for Deluxe Accommodation

2012   Gold NSW Tourism Award for Deluxe Accommodation

2012   Gold Qantas NSW Award for Environmental Sustainability

2012   NSW Business Chamber Award for Excellence in Sustainability

They operate with approximately 30 staff in management, finance, housekeeping, reception and maintenance functions.  Housekeeping has 3 team leaders (permanent part time) supervising approximately 15 housekeepers (casual).

Liz spent the 2 days assessing all the systems, procedures and operations in general to give the operation a very specific action plan to further improve and refine their procedures.