Hotel Housekeeping Room Checklist Template

What the Hotel Housekeeping Room Checklist Covers

1. 1
   Phase 1

   Phase 1: Room Status & Assignment

   4 tasks

   Start one checklist per room. The service type and the rules question here decide which tasks and notes this room shows, and every due date counts back from the time the room must be ready.

   • Record the room, the service type, the ready-by time and who cleans and inspects it — the room number, a departure clean or a stayover service, the time the room must be ready, the room attendant and the supervisor who inspects and releases it
   • Check the room status in the property management system — vacant dirty after a check-out, occupied for a stayover, or due out and not yet checked out, so nobody walks in on a guest
   • Read the notes for this room and the next arrival — a cot or extra bed, an accessible room set-up, an allergy request, an early arrival, a known maintenance issue or a guest who reported feeling unwell
   • Check the trolley, the chemicals and the protective equipment — every product in its original or a labelled container, the safety data sheets where staff know to find them, gloves without holes, eye protection for splash risks and a wet floor sign
2. 2
   Phase 2

   Phase 2: Entry & Safety

   4 tasks

   Room attendants often work alone. Enter the way the hotel’s procedure says, look before touching anything, and decide here whether the room needs more than a standard clean.

   • Knock, announce housekeeping and wait before entering — as the hotel’s procedure says, and never enter a room showing do not disturb; follow the hotel’s policy for when to check on a guest who has not been seen
   • Set the door as the hotel’s policy says — a service sign on the handle, the trolley across the doorway, or the door closed and latched; a self-closing fire door is not wedged open unless the fire risk assessment allows it
   • Turn on the lights and look for hazards before touching anything — needles or other sharps, broken glass, body fluids, damaged electrics, aerosols or heaps of paper near heat, or anything that makes the room unsafe; stop and call the supervisor
   • Decide whether the room needs a deep or infection-control clean — a deep clean when the room is on the deep-clean schedule or the supervisor asks for one, and an infection-control clean after a guest was ill or where there is vomit, diarrhoea or blood; the answer decides whether Phase 4 appears
3. 3
   Phase 3

   Phase 3: Strip & Air

   6 tasks

   The bed strip is a departure task. On a stayover, linen and towels are changed as the guest and the linen policy ask, and the guest’s belongings stay where they are.

   • Open the windows or switch on the ventilation — HSE’s guidance for hospitality says to use cleaning substances only in well-ventilated areas; an open window is sometimes enough
   • Empty the bins and remove the rubbish — look before reaching in and never press rubbish down by hand; sharps go to the sharps procedure and recycling is kept apart
   • Clear used trays, glasses, cups and crockery — to the service point the hotel uses, with any broken glass wrapped before it goes in the bin
   • Strip every bed and remove all used linen and towels — a departure task: every bed that was used or looks slept in, with mattress protectors and pillows checked for stains
   • Change linen and towels as the guest and the linen policy ask — a stayover task: towels left on the floor or in the bath are changed, a reuse card is respected, and the guest’s clothes, papers and valuables stay where they are
   • Check the mattress seams, headboard and bed frame for bed bugs — spots of blood or small brown spots on bedding, the mattress or furniture; if you find signs, stop, keep the linen in the room and call the supervisor
4. 4
   Phase 4 — If flagged

   Phase 4: Deep or Infection-Control Clean

   6 tasks

   Applies only when Phase 2 flags a deep clean or an infection-control clean. Follow the hotel’s own procedure for each; these tasks make sure it was followed and recorded.

   • Put on the protective equipment the infection-control procedure sets — for example disposable gloves and an apron, and eye protection where splashes are possible, put on before entering the bathroom or touching soiled linen
   • Deal with any spill of body fluids first, using the spill kit — contain and remove it as the procedure says before the rest of the room is cleaned, and bag the waste the way the procedure sets
   • Bag linen, towels and soft items as the procedure says for contaminated laundry — kept apart from the rest of the laundry and labelled, so the laundry handles it the way the procedure sets
   • Clean, then disinfect every surface and high-touch point — with the product the procedure names, at the dilution and contact time on its label, including handles, switches, remote controls, phone, taps and the toilet flush
   • Complete the deep-clean items listed for this room — the items on the hotel’s deep-clean schedule, such as behind and under furniture, curtains, vents, mattress rotation and descaling the showerhead
   • Record the infection-control clean — the date, who cleaned, the products used and anything that was thrown away, in the hotel’s infection-control log
5. 5
   Phase 5

   Phase 5: Bathroom Clean

   7 tasks

   Work from clean to dirty and from top to bottom, and finish at the door so you never walk back over a wet floor.

   • Apply cleaner to the toilet, bath, shower and basin so it has time to work — at the dilution on the label, and never mix products: HSE warns that bleach mixed with acidic toilet cleaners or ammonia gives off harmful gases
   • Clean the shower, bath, screen, tiles and grout — hair out of every plughole, limescale off the screen and taps, and any mould or failed sealant noted as a defect for Phase 7
   • Clean the basin, taps, mirror and vanity unit — polished dry, with any dripping tap or slow drain noted as a defect
   • Clean the toilet inside and out with its own cloth — bowl, rim, seat, hinges, flush handle, base and the floor behind it, with the cloth the hotel’s colour code keeps for toilets only
   • Flush the taps and shower if the room has stood empty — as the hotel’s legionella risk assessment says for outlets that are used infrequently, run through to drain without spraying
   • Put out clean towels, the bath mat and the bathroom amenities — folded and placed to the hotel’s standard, with soap, toiletries and toilet roll to the room’s par level
   • Mop the bathroom floor last, working back to the door — HSE notes that even a well-wrung mop leaves a film of water that can make a smooth floor slippery, so keep the wet floor sign out until it is dry
6. 6
   Phase 6

   Phase 6: Bedroom Clean & Bed Make

   7 tasks

   The search for property left behind is a departure task. Faults found here are recorded with photos in Phase 7.

   • Make the beds with fresh linen to the hotel’s standard — the same pillows, fold and throw every time, using the bed-making method and any lifting aids the hotel’s manual handling assessment sets
   • Dust from high to low — headboard, picture frames, lamps, shelves, wardrobe, television, windowsills and skirting, ending at floor level
   • Wipe and disinfect the high-touch points — door handles, light switches, remote controls, phone, safe keypad, kettle handle, hairdryer and hangers
   • Replace cups and glasses with clean ones and clean the kettle — clean cups and glasses from the back-of-house supply, never washed in the bathroom basin, and the kettle emptied and wiped
   • Search the room for property left behind — a departure task: the wardrobe, drawers, safe, bathroom, under the bed and behind the curtains; the answer decides whether the lost property tasks in Phase 7 appear
   • Check the lights, television, heating or air conditioning, phone, curtains and safe work — switched on and tried, not just looked at; faults go into the defects table in Phase 7
   • Vacuum the carpet or mop the floor, working back to the door — under the bed and furniture edges and into the corners, finishing at the entrance
7. 7
   Phase 7

   Phase 7: Restock, Defects & Lost Property

   8 tasks

   Every defect is recorded, even one you fixed. The answer to “Can the room be sold?” decides whether the maintenance and out-of-order tasks appear, and lost property tasks appear only when something was found.

   • Restock the room’s amenities to its par list — tea, coffee, milk, water, toiletries, tissues, stationery and the laundry bag, with anything the store room is short of noted
   • Check the minibar and record what was taken — item by item, restocked and with the dates checked, and passed to the front desk straight away on a departure so it can be charged before the guest leaves
   • Set the room for arrival — curtains, lights, temperature, the fire action notice and guest information in place, and the requests from Phase 1 such as a cot or extra bed
   • Record every maintenance defect with a photo — where it is, what is wrong and whether it was fixed on the spot; the answer to “Can the room be sold?” decides what follows
   • Raise each defect with maintenance — in the maintenance system or log, with the photos, the room number and how urgent it is
   • Set the room out of order and tell the front desk — in the property management system, with the reason and the date it is expected back, so the next arrival is moved to another room
   • Bag and label each item of lost property — with the room number, date, time, where it was found and who found it; cash, cards, passports and jewellery go to the duty manager or security straight away
   • Log the items in the lost property register and hand them in — as the hotel’s lost property policy says, so the item can be matched when the guest calls
8. 8
   Phase 8

   Phase 8: Supervisor Inspection & Release

   5 tasks

   No room goes back on sale until the supervisor has inspected it. Nothing after the supervisor’s decision can be completed until it is recorded.

   • Tell the supervisor the room is ready for inspection — and update the room to vacant clean, or occupied and serviced, so the supervisor can see it is waiting
   • Supervisor inspects the room against the hotel’s standard — each area checked in person, including the bathroom, the beds, the floors and the minibar, with every failed item recorded for a re-clean
   • Re-clean anything that failed and show the supervisor — the room attendant puts each failed item right and the supervisor checks it again before deciding
   • Supervisor decides whether the room can be released — approved only when every area passes and any defect has been raised; required before the room status is changed
   • Update the room status and tell the front desk — vacant and inspected after a departure clean, occupied and serviced after a stayover, or left out of order with the reason, at the time it was released