A hotel can save about 30 to 40 percent in laundry costs by bringing laundry in-house, according to Matt Fogarty, National Sales Manager at Speed Queen. “We can prove it” he confidently asserts. “But the biggest barrier to bringing laundry back in-house is a paradox – it is true but doesn’t have to be.” When laundries get old and the dust has settled, operational efficiency can sometimes decrease.
“But that is so easily managed that the benefits of in-house laundry exceed out-sourcing by a mile,” said Fogarty, pointing out that doing laundry in-house also provides much greater quality control and faster turnaround of linen.
Fogarty went on to say that older laundries lose efficiencies for several different reasons. Is the equipment still operating correctly? Are new machines needed or can throughput be improved by making operational changes?
“Every hotel operator should ask themselves ‘is my laundry or service delivering what it was intended to do?’” said Fogarty.
In one particular instance, Speed Queen was asked to assess a hotel’s dated laundry system. Instead of recommending buying an entirely new range of equipment, the team instead suggested that the hotel make some operational changes that would improve their efficiency and bring the running costs down dramatically. The hotel was pleasantly surprised at the advice which ultimately reduced its running costs and minimalised its capital expenditure.
“A big part of what we do is provide a free audit service,” said Fogarty.
This audit includes things like assessing equipment, the volume of linens going through, and the amount of staff involved. If any of these factors are out of line, the laundry will not be operating at full efficiency.
