Safety measures in Housekeeping Department
Procedure when a guest’s door is found open.
You are walking down the corridor and notice that the door to a room is open. What do you do?
“Ehh.. I’ll close it, of course, don’t leave it open…” Of course, there are many people who say, “I’ll just go on without doing anything…”. But the door that remains open has a story. And some of them are not pleasant. I would like to say that employees should be more sensitive to open doors. Because there may have been a theft or a health problem in the room. The guest thought the door was closed, but it was not, the guest’s belongings could be stolen. In the worst case scenario, which we face as hoteliers, a murder may have been committed.
The open guest room door should definitely not be “closed” without following certain procedures, most importantly, the room should not be entered.
What to do when the guest room is found open?
In cases where the room door is open and there are no guests inside, there are certain precautions that must be taken to protect the hotel’s interests by preventing unforeseen situations from occurring.
The responsibility for handling such important matters is delegated not only to the Executive Housekeeper, but also to the Head of Security and other responsible managers in accordance with management policy.
Standard procedures to be followed when an occupied guest room is found open:
Housekeeping staff should immediately notify the Housekeeping Manager or Manager on Duty (MOD) if they find the door to a guest room open when no one is inside.
The room should be isolated and no one should enter the room or touch any items inside.
The Housekeeper, Duty Manager, Security Supervisor and Floor Supervisor should go to the scene and inspect the room together, then take the lock/key card log/incident record and look for anything unusual.
After the room check, the door should be locked both mechanically and electronically and the Front Desk and Room Attendants are asked to inform the Manager on Duty (MOD) when the guest returns.
Arrangements should be made for the Duty Security Supervisor to meet and explain the matter when the guest returns.
“Your room door was left open while you were out, we locked it for you immediately after we realized. Please check and let us know if everything is okay inside.” A sign should be stuck on the door. If the room cannot be locked mechanically, a “Your Door Found Open” card should be placed in the guest’s room to report the situation.
When an important incident is encountered in the guest’s room, the police should be notified.
If it is not a matter to be reported to the police department but is still important, the guest should be contacted via the phone number on the form filled in at the entrance of the hotel.
If the guest says that his/her belongings are missing, the “Lost and Found” form is filled out. Since the guest’s room is a private place and it is his/her responsibility to leave the door open (unless the door is broken…)
Camera recordings should be displayed
Door entrances and exits of the guest should be checked.
If the door is defective, it is repaired. If it will take a long time, a different room should be given.
If there is no abnormal situation, there is no problem, the door should be closed.
If the room with an open door has not been cleaned, a room attendant should be arranged to clean the room if accepted by the guest.
Any loss claim made by the guest must be handled according to the hotel’s SOP.
Such an incident must be recorded in the ‘Incident Report’.
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