The Essentials of Hotel Preventative Maintenance

By Christine Flanagan, Marketing Manager & Facilities Coordinator

When you think about staying at a hotel, general and preventative maintenance is probably not the first thing you think about. But maintenance technicians play a critical role on every hotel team. Associates in full-time or part-time hotel maintenance jobs are often behind the scenes to ensure guests have a safe and enjoyable stay. Hotel preventative maintenance is essential because the focus is on avoiding equipment downtime. When something isn’t working at peak performance it can lead to small or large guest impact issues.

A competent maintenance technician understands and embraces the need for general and preventative maintenance. This requires a keen eye for details. Maintenance technicians must often anticipate and prepare months or years in advance to ensure everything runs smoothly. For example, technicians must track and keep up to date with regularly scheduled maintenance checks on large equipment like hot water heaters. Equally significant is understanding the need to have extra batteries on hand for TV remotes. Two key factors that require a strong general and preventative maintenance program are guest impact and cost savings.

No two guests are exactly alike but maintenance technicians strive to ensure guests receive consistent quality while at our properties.

Routine maintenance will help prolong the life of the equipment and allow the equipment to work at peak performance. Overnight or holiday weekend emergency repairs can be expensive to fix and will negatively impact the guests’ experience. Maintenance Technicians coordinate with the General Manager to create long-term plans and budgets for routine maintenance.

Now we know why general and preventative maintenance is so important. Here are a couple of real-life examples demonstrating the critical nature of hotel maintenance jobs.

A walk-in fridge or freezer requires a regularly scheduled general and preventative maintenance program. This allows the team to know if there is a potential problem before it arises. Allowing the team to budget and plan for repairs.

In the absence of preventative maintenance, equipment can fail unexpectedly. A worst-case scenario is it will break down in July when there is a fridge/freezer full of food for a banquet of 400 people in 24 hours. Equipment repair emergencies are an unplanned expense. These issues include, for example, the time and effort it takes to find a temporary freezer solution and get it set up. In addition, the manpower and time it takes to move food to a temporary freezer, and the possibility of food spoiling and becoming unusable. And that’s just behind-the-scenes back-of-house issues. If this affects the ability of the hotel to provide the contracted food and beverage for the event this will have a huge guest impact.

A maintenance technician’s full-time hotel job could be maintaining guestroom HVAC, especially on a large property. Maintenance technicians focus on cleaning coils and washing the washable filters in the system. The most effective PM schedules include weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly cleaning checklists. If routine maintenance is not performed on the PTACs, they will have an adverse impact on the guest experience, working inefficiently or not at all.

Hotels have a Chief Engineer who is responsible for overseeing the maintenance department including the maintenance technicians. There are full-time and part-time hotel job opportunities within the maintenance department. The maintenance department is a great way to be part of a team but work independently. There are also opportunities at the corporate level to work directly with the Director of Facilities.

At Landmark Hotel Group we have many full-time hotel jobs in the maintenance department. Maintenance Technicians perform plumbing, electrical, and general and preventative maintenance in guestrooms and public areas. Our Full-time hotel jobs include many benefits.

o   $250 Sign-on bonus

o   401(k) with company match

o   Generous Paid Time Off

o   Development opportunities

o   Travel benefits – employee discounts

o   And many more

There are also part-time opportunities in the maintenance department with flexible hours available based on availability. Depending on your requirements, we have flexible hours for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shifts. Some benefits vary depending on whether you work full-time or part-time. Here are a few examples of part-time benefits:

o   $250 Sign-on bonus

o   Flexible schedule

o   Travel Benefits – employee discounts

o   Development opportunities

o   Team member awards

o   And many more

Our GCPM associates are an integral part of the maintenance and housekeeping departments. Not only do they assist with deep cleaning, but also handle room touchups, like paint or small wood repairs. They are the eyes and ears to ensure the room is up to standards. The maintenance team members take pride in their work and the property.

Preventative maintenance is an essential part of keeping a hotel looking its best and offering guests the finest experience. Maintenance technicians play a vital role in the hospitality industry. Apply now to join our elite maintenance team!