Three cheers for fabulous housekeepers!

While many of our hotels have been busy hosting awards ceremonies for businesses and organisations – in some cases for the first time in two years – let’s not forget the accolades deservedly going to our fantastic housekeepers and their teams.

We also have big news for readers – the return of the fabulous Triple H Awards (Hotel Housekeeping Honours) for the hotel/ housekeeping sector. You’ll find all the details on Page 7 of this issue. Don’t miss out!

Meanwhile our first congratulations go to Lisa Williams, executive housekeeper at the five-star The Grand hotel in York, who was announced as Housekeeper of the Year at The Cateys awards sponsored by P&G Professional. The judges chose Williams from many very high-quality entries, noting her passion for employee development and initiatives such as ‘housekeeping appreciation weeks’. TripAdvisor reviews also reflected how much guests appreciated the housekeeping team’s efforts and no doubt contributed to The Grand winning the Hotel of the Year – Group award in July last year. At Housekeeping Today we know Williams as a champion of the UK Housekeepers Association (UKHA), and she hosted the first UKHA post-Covid meeting at the Grand.

The winner was chosen from a shortlist including Nicoleta Loredana, Royal National hotel; Adriana Milea, the Ritz London; Gosia Oszkiel, the Grand Brighton; and Diane Payne of Rockliffe Hall. At Rockliffe Hall there were more celebrations as the hotel announced its own Rock Star Awards, with the housekeeping team crowned 2022 Department of the Year. Colleagues across all aspects of the hotel could nominate and among the comments was: “They have gone above and beyond all year – with exceptional cleanliness which is shown by the guest feedback and comments.”

Another said: “The housekeeping team gleam in their wonderful new uniforms, they certainly look the part, but they also achieve high scores for cleanliness in guest feedback, award nominations and more. They are a shining example of a well-run and well managed department.”

We wish we could feature all the housekeeping teams winning praise from fellow staff in our hotels but representing you all with have to be the smiling faces of the staff at Rocco Forte’s Brown’s Hotel, where executive housekeeper Oleg Sim leads the team. Their superb work definitely deserved a few moments of celebration and some raised glasses at the busiest time of year. May this year be one full of smiles, happy guests and plenty of those moments when housekeepers say: “Now this is why I love my job!”