Whether traveling for business or pleasure, every guest wants their hotel to be a comforting home-away-from-home. One way to provide a welcoming stay for guests is by supplying high-quality linen such as bath towels and bed sheets. It’s important for hotels to set up an effective linen purchase and maintenance program in order to ensure guests enjoy their stay, and want to rebook in the future.
The Impact of Poor Quality Linen
Hotel linen can have a big impact on brand image, the bottom line and sustainability.
- Brand image. Hotel guests should not be greeted with worn out, torn towels in the bathroom or imperfect bed linen, no matter the price they paid for the room. Poor quality linen can be more uncomfortable and stain, shrink or tear more easily after fewer washes, giving guests a bad image of your brand.
- The bottom line. According to the Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA), linen replacement can carry a cost of up to 25 percent when looking at the overall cost of any laundry.[1] Poor quality linen has a shorter lifespan, resulting in higher replacement costs. Although a hotel may not want to spend a higher price for linen, it provides savings in the long run. For a 400-room hotel, a professional linen management and care system can result in a savings of $14,000 – $22,000 annually.
- Sustainability. Although 95 percent of textiles are recyclable, only about 15 percent are currently being recycled in the U.S.[2]When hotels do not invest in lasting linen, these textiles are thrown away more often. Additionally, growing cotton is not the most environmentally friendly process since large quantities of water, pesticides and herbicides are used to achieve high yields. Higher quality linen can help reduce the need for continuous replacement.
Selecting and Caring for Linen
A linen purchase and maintenance program is the key to providing guests with linen they’ll love and linen that will last. Consider the following best practices when purchasing and caring for linen:
- Review the initial tensile strength of the fabric. Carefully consider the strength of linen in both the warp and weft direction so that it doesn’t tear easily during high speed washes or unloading.
- Note whether the linen is a blend of different fabrics. Bed linen made from 100 percent cotton is more comfortable compared to polyester/cotton blends. Although polyester/cotton bed linen has a slightly longer lifespan, guest satisfaction and comfort is key. Polyester can also make fatty and oily stain removal more difficult.
- Keep linen from coming into contact with objects that can cause damage. Tearing can result when linen comes into contact with sharp objects such as bends in the metal plates of a laundry chute, damaged transport trolleys or sharp objects left inside the linen when starting the wash.
- Install a wash process that doesn’t cause damage. Implementing the proper products and procedures will reduce the opportunity for damage during the wash process, which in turn extends the lifespan of linen. For instance, lower wash temperatures results in less damage.
Dreaming of Better Linen
Whether operating an expensive or budget property, or something in between, it’s important to give guests quality sheets and towels. Developing and following a well-thought-out linen purchase and maintenance program will help prevent common linen complaints, leaving guests happy and open to rebooking in the future.
To learn more about Diversey’s laundry solutions or linen purchase consultancy service, visit https://www.diversey.com/solution-finder/laundry-solutions and https://www.diversey.com/diversey-care/linen-purchase-consultancy.
[1]http://www.trsa.org/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/linen_loss_trsa_paper.pdf
[2]http://www.ahla.com/Green.aspx?id=36228