Running the centre
Room cleaning
Room cleaning is the service in which residence staff clean each room at a set frequency, from daily to weekly depending on the residence. It covers the bathroom, floors and bins and sometimes changing the bed linen, and it is organised by floor and by shift.
Also known ashousekeeping · cleaning service · room attendants · cleaning
How it is organised
In many colegios mayores (Spanish halls of residence with a formative programme) with full board, room cleaning is included; in PBSA and coliving it varies more, with some places cleaning rooms every week and others only the common areas. Where there is a service, it is split by floor: each room attendant has their rooms and their order, and whatever falls outside that order is what causes trouble. Bed linen and laundry usually sit in the same department.
Day to day is full of small exceptions: the resident sleeping late who asks them not to come in, the one with an exam who wants them to come later, the one who has spilt something and needs them now. Each comes in a different way (a note on the door, a message to reception, a word in the corridor), and the room attendant finds out, or not, on reaching the door.
Worth knowing
What people take for granted: that changing a request is as easy as making it. If someone asks not to have their room cleaned and then says yes, but later, the room attendant can end up with two opposite instructions for the same door. A correction has to say that it is a correction.
Sources
Related terms
- LaundryA residence laundry is the room with washing machines and dryers that residents use, self-service or staffed, or the service that washes the building's bed linen and towels. It is one of the common areas with the most friction, because there are few machines for many people at the same times.
- Bed linenBed linen is everything that goes on the mattress: sheets, pillowcases, duvet cover or bedspread, blankets and mattress protector. A residence has to decide whether it provides it or the resident does, how often it is changed and who washes it, and it is one of the first questions from anyone about to move in.