Articles
The skinny on sheets
11/28/2000
Bed linens, once an afterthought, are taking on new status in hotels. Here are some tips on selecting and caring for this essential amenity.
By Judy Colbert
Sheets and pillowcases, one of the most important factors in guest satisfaction, can consume as much as 10% of a hotel’s budget. Dick Hawkins, director of laundry and transportation for Manhattan East Suite Hotels, which operates 10 all-suite properties in New York City, estimates linen purchases and services can be the third most expensive cost factor in operating a hotel, just after labor.
Linen selection involves numerous decisions, including the type of fabric, the number of sets of linens per bed, color, ease of care, durability, whether you to buy or lease, how often and how much to buy and whether to launder it in house or send it to a commercial laundry.
Today, thread count rules
Linens are rated by content and thread count, or the number of threads in the warp and fill (length and width) that are in one square inch of fabric. "Most commercial and institutional percale sheets are 180 (or T-180) thread count," Hawkins says. As the thread count climbs, reaching as much as T-700, the sheets become softer, last longer and cost more. Cotton is softer and breathes better than a cotton-polyester blend, but it wears out sooner. A blend wrinkles less, but people like the feel of cotton. Blends up to 74/26 (cotton/poly) or a T-200 or higher in 100% cotton are geared for a higher-end market or a concierge-level room. When you're aiming to please the very best, you can pick up a set of Italian or French linens at a retail price of more than $3,000 a set.
While linen catalogs offer sheets in a sea of colors, John Kennedy, regional sales manager for Kahn and Company, says white and beige (or bone) are the stock industry colors.
Most hotels keep three sets (or par three) of linens per bed: one on the bed, one in the laundry and one in the supply closet. Upscale properties like New York's Benjamin Hotel (one of the Manhattan East properties) keep seven sets on hand for their 209 rooms, eliminating glitches involving emergency changings, delayed delivery or laundry equipment breakdown, says John Moser, general manager.
The Arizona Biltmore carries a four par supply and triple sheets beds. Edgar Aldana, the laundry manager, says the resort has an on-premises laundry for better inventory control. That way, if the housekeeping department suddenly needs 50 sheets, it doesn’t need to rely on a laundry company to deliver them.
Maria Castillo, director of housekeeping for the Hyatt Regency D/FW airport hotel, aims for a four par for the hotel’s 1,367 rooms (2,047 beds). This allows each set to rest a little between uses and laundering. In 2000, for the first time, the Hyatt ordered half of its anticipated need in January. In the past, the hotel has done inventory about every two months and ordered what it needed then. The larger quantity purchase saved almost 20% of its allotted bedroom linen budget and eliminated the need to wait for its arrival.
Buying versus leasing, laundering issues
Deciding whether to purchase or lease is a major decision, says Tom Hall, sales manager for Hilden America of South Boston, VA. "Hotels make a couple of major mistakes when ordering. The first is ordering the wrong size--not whether it's king, queen, or twin, but allowing for the thicker pillow-top mattresses that require larger sheets. The second is not purchasing enough sheets to service the beds the way they should, and after the initial purchase they need to reorder right away.”
Hall says hotel operators need to allow enough lead time when ordering. For some premium high-demand sheets, delivery might take 8-12 weeks to deliver, while the more common sheeting can arrive in 1-2 weeks.
Storage space can be a determining factor in deciding whether to purchase or lease linens. Often that space can be put to other, more profitable uses. Another reason to lease, according to the Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) is avoiding the capital investment involved in such a purchase, since the linen supply company makes the initial investment. Knowing how much the rental service will charge allows you to budget a fixed amount rather than dealing with a fluctuating market.
Hotels also need to weigh the pros and cons of on-premises laundry versus outsourcing linen laundering. Angela Gustafson, marketing manager for National Linen Service of Atlanta, says hotels don't always consider all the costs involved with an on-site laundry, including equipment purchases and maintenance, employees (salaries, fringe benefits, taxes, workers comp) and utility bills.
"There are hotels that purchase their own linens, but send them to us for laundry. Sending your own linens out can cost a little more because we recommend seven pars, even with five-day-a-week delivery. Also, the laundry has to batch wash one hotel's linens separately." Gustafson says hotels that try to exist on two or even three pars and an OPL can be penny wise and pound foolish because "they're always putting out fires when the equipment breaks down or an employee doesn't show up.
"If you don't have enough inventory," she says, "you can't make up the room and you can't sell it."
Dennis Rudd, director of the hospitality and tourism program for Robert Morris College in Moon Township, PA, says there is another advantage to a commercial laundry, depending on the labor market and the cost of operation. "In a union operation, labor costs might be expensive," he says. The cost of a commercial laundry may be offset by the cost saving for not needing as many employees.
Laundry tips:
Use an oxygenated (peroxide) bleach rather than a chlorinated bleach except for difficult stains.
Wash at 60 degrees Celsius or 140 degrees Fahrenheit.