Healthy Hotel Carpets begins with the implementation of properly specified maintenance program immediately after a new installation. Many General Managers or Housekeeping Executives are mislead by carpet sales representatives. Here are some of the things carpet cleaning professionals hear often from facility service asset managers:
- Carpet does not need to be cleaned as often as your old carpet
- Cleaning carpet can shorten your carpet’s use life
- Carpet gets moldy when you clean too often
How far from the truth these all are. The plain fact is that professional maintenance of carpet is very important when it comes down to extending the use life. Your carpet will ugly out sooner if soil builds up in the carpet. Sure, carpet is designed to hold its face weight in soil but if you let this happen your carpet fibers will be prematurely damaged by the sharp microscopic edges of typical soil (sand, oil, dander and food spills).
Carpets in hotel rooms are often maintained using systems that dry fast. Depending on the carpet cleaning system used, unhealthy microbial pollutants can still remain embedded in the carpet fibers. Especially after using interim/appearance cleaning methods such as encapsulation and bonnet cleaning. Biofilm’s, or bacteria incubators, can form and multiply as fast in carpet as on a poorly cleaned bathroom vanity. Odors can quickly make a room uninhabitable to many guests.
So I guess you could say, “What you can’t see won’t hurt you”. That is far from the truth these days. Customers can easily figure out what you are doing by just asking the staff. Many time they can see what is going on as the enter and exit their rooms. So it is important for all hotel employees to know what ,when,where and how hotel carpets are cleaned.
Clean for health and then clean for appearance. It will pay off in the long run!