When hotel director Tone Enerstvedt Hansen set out to choose a new cleaning partner, she asked for her two hotels in Trondheim to be the pilot. The choice fell on Ability. The pilot went well enough that Ability today delivers to Radisson across Norway.
Two hotels, two different concepts
Tone is responsible for Radisson Blu Royal Garden Hotel in central Trondheim and Radisson Blu Hotel, Trondheim Airport at Værnes. Royal Garden has 298 rooms and 16 meeting rooms, with a great deal of course and conference activity. The airport hotel has 180 rooms and an entirely different concept.
«Both hotels work very well, even though they are different.» – Tone Enerstvedt Hansen, hotel director at Radisson Blu.
Ability is responsible for cleaning the rooms and common areas and for houseman duties, in addition to back of house.
Why outsource the cleaning?
For Tone Hansen it comes down to the division of responsibility and to flexibility. The hotel is relieved of the staffing responsibility for cleaning, and swings in occupancy are handled by Ability.
«The management team can spend its time on our core business and our strategy.» – Tone Enerstvedt Hansen.
The requirements are clear all the same. The hotel expects the quality to hold the Radisson standard, that staffing is sufficient, that feedback is followed up and that the invoices are correct.
«If a guest complains about the cleaning, it is the hotel that stands behind it. That is why it matters that feedback is followed up straight away.» – Tone Enerstvedt Hansen.
Close dialogue every day
The partnership is built on fixed points of contact. Ability takes part in the morning meeting every day, and the executive housekeeper sits in on the hotel's management meetings. Every week the hotel director and Ability walk quality rounds together.
Guest satisfaction is measured through the hotel's own guest review system, and Ability works to the same targets. If a complaint comes in, the hotel's housekeeping manager takes it up directly with Ability.
«They make a real effort to understand the Radisson standard.» – Tone Enerstvedt Hansen.
A partner, not a supplier
At Ability the relationship with Radisson is described as a partnership with plenty of room for frank conversation.
«We see each other's challenges, and both parties are flexible.» – Mehrdad Mansoori, Operations Director Hospitality at Ability.
Hotel operations with large seasonal swings, demanding guests and a high tempo place heavy demands on the people who work there. Many of Ability's employees have been at the hotels a long time, and that knowledge is an important part of the delivery.
«We are included in the Radisson way of running a hotel, and we are heard. We are solution-oriented and flexible. We always arrive at a solution, and we deliver as we should.» – Mehrdad Mansoori.
For Tone Hansen it also matters that Ability's employees are part of the community at the hotel.
The recommendation
What would Tone Hansen say to another hotel director considering Ability?
«A high standard among the staff, a focus on quality and good cooperation.» – Tone Enerstvedt Hansen.
Interested?
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