¶ … Outsourcing' -- What is it? 'Outsourcing' in a hospitality context means hiring outside contractors to do the work ordinarily done by departments in your own hotel. According to Vitasek, 'Early outsourcing helped companies realize balance sheet improvements, access lower-cost labor and often improve productivity'. Because of these advantages, outsourcing continues to be practiced in hotels today, and newer and better models for outsourcing have been introduced as well. Clearly, outsourcing is here to stay: the practice has been steadily increasing in the industry every year (Yetzer 2010).

Impact of Outsourcing within Hotels

Outsourcing is an issue of great debate in the hotel industry. Some hotel employees feel a sense of loyalty to their hotel and may see outsourcing as a sort of intrusion on their turf for the benefit of saving money. This can lower morale in the workplace. Others can understand the value of outsourcing and accept it as the wave of the future. According to the Hotel Management Network, the most important issue is the ultimate goal, which is the best possible state of the rooms offered to guests: 'Ask any executive housekeeper and they will say that standards of cleanliness in the guestrooms is top of their list of priorities'.

Departments Commonly Outsourced by Hotels

Laundry and housekeeping departments seem to be the most frequently outsourced departments in hotels. Often, hotels will use a combination of methods. One example of this is Audleys Wood Hotel, Hampshire, where deputy general manager Matthew Drinkwater manages his laundry department this way (Jenkins 2012). Another example is laundry manager Rebecca Still of London Hilton, who believes that "combining outsourcing and on-site laundry processes offers the best of both worlds (Jenkins 2012).

Why Hotels Outsource their Housekeeping Department: Advantages and Disadvantages

One reason hotels outsource their Housekeeping department is to ensure consistency. Also, knowing exactly what the fixed cost will...

In fact, a major advantage of outsourcing the Housekeeping department is related to the budget. According to one service provider of outsourcing, 'Knowing the exact fixed cost to service or clean a room is highly advantageous when setting budgets compared to the variable cost of paying staff an hourly rate. The time in-house staff take to clean a room wildly differs as the day progresses and the staff tire' (Christian 2012).
Another advantage is, again, cost-related. This has to do with the advanced technology that is now used in laundry processing; staying up-to-date with technology can be cost-prohibitive and time-consuming for hotels, and outsourcing can be advantageous here. According to Rebecca Still, manager of London Hilton on Park Lane, 'There is so much technology involved in laundry processing that it would be very difficult and expensive to keep up with these, and the maintenance of such equipment can be a financial drain,' (Jenkins). It is difficult for individual hotels to continually update their facilities with new, state-of-the-art equipment; not only is the equipment costly, the time and effort of the transition is an issue, and the training of staff members to use the new equipment will also take time and money. In this light, it makes sense to take advantage of the modern facilities that are provided by outsourcing at least part of the Housekeeping department.

As stated above, cost again enters the picture when considering how much time and money it costs to train staff to use laundry equipment. With new technology, time must be taken to train staff members. In addition, there are many language barriers to be overcome in the training process. These obstacles may seem overwhelming. Finally, the space that is used for on-site laundry could be put to better use. In the Jenkins article, Chris Hancock, a manager at Sunlight, is quoted as saying that 'The space an on-site laundry takes up could be better used as a selling area for increased profits'. This is a very strong selling point on the…