Another fabulous edition of Housekeeping Palooza, the only regional event dedicated to housekeepers, is behind us. Capturing all the fun and educational moments that made October 27 so special is almost impossible, but we promise to do our best. Let’s relive this exciting day together!
The first-ever Housekeeping Olympics
Housekeepers are rarely praised despite their hard work and dedication to excellence which can make or break a hotel's reputation. Housekeeping Palooza 2022 set out to change that by turning the spotlight onto true stars of hospitality and celebrating them as Olympic heroes.
And so, the first-ever Housekeeping Olympics were born! Just like the real athletes, attendees had the chance to show off their skills and compete for worthy prizes in three exciting disciplines: the trolley challenge, the towel challenge, and the sheet challenge. Our judges had to work hard to choose the winners since every one of the contestants showed a medal-worthy performance.
The message was clear: YOU are all heroes and stars of the hotel business, and it is your brilliance that makes our Olympic sky shine so bright!
Education and knowledge as the key to better hotel services
The main goal of Housekeeping Palooza is to exchange ideas, knowledge, and skills to create a better working environment for all of us. This year’s educational program reached to fulfill that goal with engaging workshops, hot industry topics, and VIP guests such as Diana Lukić Grandov and Barbara Polak Tomšič.
From staffing trends such as outsourcing and high turnovers to a housekeeping budgeting guide, our panels sparked debates full of valuable insights. Each offered specific advice on improving the work conditions and showing employees they are genuinely valued. One of the essential takeaways came from the audience: “Housekeepers want to be treated with respect - bad management can be far more demotivating than a low salary.”
While panels addressed all the attendees, our workshops ran as highly interactive platforms between smaller groups, a sort of a hospitality vox populi where everyone could openly and honestly voice their opinions and share experiences. What are the pros and cons of room cleaning in teams? What works best when it comes to employee rewards? What are the challenges in leading housekeeping operations in camps? Those are the topics we tackled throughout the day as over 130 housekeepers from Croatia and Slovenia shared their expertise, discussed industry trends, and learned new things about different aspects of housekeeping.
We also addressed the elephant in the room - the fact that hotel managers are often not familiar with the reality of housekeepers’ work. Instead of just telling housekeeping managers to stand up for their staff, we invited business coach Branko Žunec to share practical tips for becoming a better leader and communicator. His five principles on leading multicultural and multigenerational teams were a big hit among attendees, as were the ten tips for energizing yourself when feeling exhausted.
After all, raising the service level in hotels is a marathon, and you can’t run a race on an empty tank.
Judging by the vast amounts of positive energy and laughter that marked the whole day, Housekeeping Palooza facilitated cooperation and friendship among hotel industry professionals. We can’t wait to see the positive change the attendees will bring to their hotels, empowered by new knowledge and skills. On behalf of the entire Flexkeeping team, we thank you for being part of the Housekeeping Palooza 2022 and making it a truly unmissable event on every housekeeper’s calendar.
See you next time!
