Templates
Hotel maintenance request form: the Excel template and what every report needs
A fault in a hotel is spotted by housekeeping, the front desk or a guest, and fixed by someone else on another shift. The maintenance request is what connects the two: what is wrong, where, who owns it and when it was fixed. Here is the Excel template to download and, column by column, what each field is for.
The short answer
A hotel maintenance request form is the record of each fault from the moment someone sees it until it is fixed. To be useful it needs at least a number, the date and time reported, the room or area, what is wrong, the urgency, who owns it and the time it was fixed. With that you know what is open, how long things take and what keeps coming back. The template on this page has those columns and a few more (photo, who reported it, room out of order, work done), with an example row and drop-down lists.
The fields, one by one
| Column | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Report no. | Gives each fault a number so it can be referred to without doubt. |
| Date and time reported | When the fault started counting: it is what response time is measured from. |
| Room or area | Where it is, without having to ask again. |
| Fault | What is wrong, in the words of whoever saw it. |
| Photo (link) | So maintenance arrives knowing which tool to bring. |
| Urgency | Orders the work: urgent now, the rest scheduled. |
| Reported by | Who saw it: front desk, housekeeping, F&B or the guest. |
| Room out of order | Whether the room cannot be sold until it is fixed. |
| Assigned to | Who owns it: without a name, it belongs to everyone and no one. |
| Taken (time) | When someone took it: separates «nobody has seen it» from «in progress». |
| Fixed (time) | Closes the report. Without this time, the fault is still open. |
| Work done / parts | What was changed and with what: useful for warranties, suppliers and repeat faults. |
These are the columns of the Excel file, in the same order.
How to use it so no fault stays open
- One row per fault. The report number is sequential and never reused, even if the fault comes back.
- Three times, not one: reported, «taken» (someone owns it) and fixed. The gap between the first two is what a guest feels as «nobody is listening».
- Anything urgent (water, power, safety, a room that has to be sold tonight) is also called in by phone or radio. The spreadsheet records; it does not alert.
- No report is closed without the fixed time and the work done.
- Once a week, filter by room or area and by fault: what keeps coming back needs replacing, not repairing again.
Worth knowing
The problem with a spreadsheet is not the columns, it is the path: a room attendant sees the fault, tells the head of housekeeping, who writes it down when they can, and maintenance checks it at the start of their shift. Every step is a place where the report gets stuck.
Maintenance request, work order and maintenance log
The request is the report: something is wrong and someone says so. The work order is what maintenance does with it: who goes, when, with which parts. In a small hotel they usually share a row, as in this template. Preventive maintenance (scheduled checks of boilers, HVAC, legionella, fire safety) is something else: it does not start from a report, and some of those checks are required by law, with their own log. They are listed in hotel regulations.
Frequently asked questions
What is a maintenance request form?
The record of a fault from the moment someone sees it until it is fixed: what is wrong, where, when it was reported, who owns it and when it was fixed.
Does a hotel have to keep a log of maintenance requests?
In Spain there is no general rule requiring a day-to-day fault log. Some installations do require their own records (legionella, fire safety, lifts, boilers), each under its own regulation; they are listed on the hotel regulations page.
What is the difference between a maintenance request and a work order?
The request is the report that something is wrong; the work order is the task assigned to fix it, with who, when and which parts. In a small hotel they usually share a row.
Excel or an app?
A spreadsheet is enough to record faults and spot what repeats. What it cannot do is alert: someone has to open it. An app, or WhatsApp connected to a system, alerts whoever has to fix it and chases what nobody has taken.
Can guests report faults?
Yes: the guest tells the front desk and the front desk logs it, with «Guest» in the reported-by column. That shows which faults reach you through guests before staff notice them.