Housekeeping playbook

This playbook guides housekeeping and front desk through a full STRYK workday: preparation, the occupancy-based plan, assignments, priorities, status updates, exceptions and daily approval. Hotel Nordlicht provides the example.

7 min read1,420 wordsFor housekeeping leads, front desk and operations managers

What you will be able to do

Build the daily plan from actual occupancy rather than a side list.
Distinguish departure, stayover service, ready rooms and true room blocks.
Define a handover front desk can rely on.

What you need before starting

Current rooms, categories and occupancy in the STRYK calendar
Active housekeeping staff under Settings → Housekeeping
Agreed meanings for ready, stayover service and additional states

Clean up room state before building the daily plan

Housekeeping planning is only as reliable as the calendar, rooms and blocks behind it.

Before morning assignment, review departures, stayovers, arrivals, empty rooms and active blocks. An extension or last-minute room move changes cleaning work. STRYK builds the daily plan from booking and room state, so those sources must be correct first.

Separate cleaning state from availability. A dirty departure room can return to sale after cleaning; an out-of-order or renovation block affects sellable capacity and belongs in room controls, not a housekeeping shortcut.

Define team, states and checklists centrally

Manage housekeeping staff centrally under Settings → Housekeeping. Activate only people who should receive assignments, use personal access and deactivate leavers without losing historical assignment context.

Define what each state means and which tasks belong to it. Departure cleaning and stayover service need different checklists. Optional states such as supervisor approved or do not disturb can help, but they replace neither cleaning nor a true room block.

State logic shared by front desk and housekeeping

State	Meaning	Valid next step
Departure, cleaning open	Guest departed; room is not released.	Assign and start cleaning
In progress	An assigned person is working on the room.	Complete tasks and mark done
Done, review open	Cleaning is reported; agreed review may follow.	Review or release directly
Ready	Empty, cleaned and released for the next arrival.	Front desk can assign safely
Stayover service complete	Occupied room received the agreed daily service.	Room remains occupied
Do not disturb	Guest prevented planned access; work is not complete.	Recheck later and inform front desk

Open, prioritise and distribute the daily plan

Set priorities before assigning rooms. Otherwise the plan may be balanced but operationally wrong.

Open Rooms → Housekeeping plan and select the work date. Review departures, stayovers, ready rooms, open work and exceptions. Hotel Nordlicht prioritises three early-arrival rooms before balancing the remaining work.

Assign only active staff and consider location, workload, breaks and review duties. Equal room counts can still mean unequal work. Have each person read back their assignments before starting.

Morning assignment step by step

01
Check date and occupancyRooms → Housekeeping plan
Compare departures, stayovers, arrivals and blocks with the calendar.
The open-room count is plausible.
02
Mark arrival priorities
Prioritise early arrivals and operationally important target rooms.
Front desk and housekeeping name the same priorities.
03
Assign work
Select active staff and balance workload, not only room count.
Every open room has one clear owner.
04
Release the plan
Discuss exceptions and confirm the shared start.
Nobody works from an older paper copy.

Use Start, Done and Release for an unambiguous workflow

Use Start when work begins, Done after all required tasks and Release only after the room is approved for the next arrival. If supervisor review is required, Done does not yet mean ready.

Stayover service has its own completion state because the room remains occupied. Do not mark do-not-disturb rooms as complete; agree on a second attempt and when front desk should contact the guest.

Check before release

All state-specific tasks are complete.
Technical defects are visibly reported.
The room is empty and intended for the next arrival.
Agreed supervisor review is complete.

Handle changes, do-not-disturb and defects without losing information

The daily plan changes with late departures, extensions, room moves and shifted arrivals. Recheck affected tasks, update assignment and priority together, and do not silently move started work to another person.

Describe defects precisely. Management decides whether repair can happen before arrival or the room needs a real block in room controls. Keep discovery, availability decision and later release traceable.

Exceptions during the housekeeping day

Situation	Act now	Then verify
Late departure	Pause or reprioritise and coordinate with front desk.	New arrival time and room alternative
Guest extends	Update booking first; do not continue departure cleaning.	Stayover task and new departure
Do not disturb	Set state and agree on a second attempt.	Contact rule and open service
Technical defect	Report precisely; do not release independently.	Repair or room block
Room move	Recheck booking and both room tasks.	Old room, new room and key

Hand room readiness cleanly to front desk

Front desk and housekeeping do not need two completion lists. Front desk relies on Ready, not “probably done.” A quick call may help for urgent arrivals, but the correct state remains the binding handover.

If paper is operationally necessary, preview, download and print should use the same housekeeping PDF. Select date and language, verify hotel, rooms, states, assignments and tasks, and treat the printout as a snapshot. Later changes remain digital.

Final review before the first arrival

01
Filter priority rooms
Check every early arrival against current room state.
02
Name open exceptions
Keep do-not-disturb, defects, late departure and pending review visible.
03
Confirm ready rooms
Use only verified empty rooms for arrivals.
04
Schedule the next review
Give every open priority an owner and review time.

Close the day and improve the next morning

At the end of core hours, review open rooms, do-not-disturb cases, defects and unreleased work. Every open item needs completion, late-shift handover or a documented follow-up time.

Use a five-minute review to choose one recurring issue, its cause, owner and a small change. After one week, check whether questions, late releases or duplicate work actually declined.

Seven questions for daily approval

Did all early-arrival rooms become verifiably ready?
Does every open task have an owner and time?
Are do-not-disturb cases coordinated with front desk?
Are defects described precisely and routed correctly?
Was no real room block hidden in housekeeping state?
Were paper copies treated as snapshots?
Was exactly one improvement agreed for tomorrow?

Approve the housekeeping day

A good housekeeping day ends with a room state housekeeping, front desk and management understand equally-and the next guest can rely on.

01Daily plan and calendar show the same occupancy.
02Every task has one active owner.
03Early arrivals are prioritised and confirmed with front desk.
04Ready and stayover service are used distinctly.
05Defects and true room blocks follow the correct workflow.
06Open exceptions have an owner, time and next outcome.
07Front desk works from the verified digital room state.