Udens Duyn
Cleaning with a sense of hospitality
Hotel Udens Duyn is a hotel and care hotel in one. This makes higher demands on the cleaning. The cleaners must also be strong in hospitality. Exactly why Udens Duyn cooperates with EW Facility Services.
We are a hotel with the focus on people with a care requirement,’ explains Marco Brisko, general manager Hotel Udens Duyn. A large part of our hotel is aimed at people who recover and rehabilitate here. For example, because they have had knee, hip or heart surgery, a stroke or CVA and are staying with us for a short or longer period to recuperate and rehabilitate. For this purpose, we have all facilities and care professionals such as a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist and dietician. In fact, we are a recovery hotel, or an extension of the hospital and the intermediate step towards home. We also have rooms for business guests and tourists.
Requires extra qualities
Apart from the care aspect, the length of stay of the guests and the atmosphere are important differences compared to a regular hotel. Our care guests stay longer and spend most of the time in their rooms. We also want our care hotel to have the atmosphere of a hotel. Our guests should have a pleasant and comfortable time with us that contributes to a speedy recovery. This important distinction demands extra qualities from a cleaning partner like EW Facility Services than just good cleaning. We certainly make more and higher demands. Cleaners are visible to us because our guests spend a lot of time in their rooms. There is much more contact with each other. It is important to us that the cleaners are hospitable, communicative and friendly. That's why we chose to work with EW Facility Services in 2013. They have a lot of experience with hospitality and think along with us.
Central role for Housekeeper
The Housekeeper, also known as the foreman or hostess, plays a central role in the day-to-day work. She is 'the leader' of the cleaning team, the spider in the web and has contacts with the care workers, reception and Marco. The leader of the EW team is very important to us. She feels like one of our people and knows her way around our organisation well. With the reception desk she coordinates, among other things, the particulars of guests and the daily room occupancy. She consults with the care workers, for example, about bed changes. The EW cleaning team takes care of the regular bed changes. However, if a care guest is in bed, no bed change is possible. The leader communicates this to the care workers so that they can take care of it later on. She keeps me informed about current affairs on the work floor as well as the state of repair of the rooms and public areas of our hotel. If, for example, there are marks or scratches on the walls or if they see damage to the furniture, they inform me.
Corona requires flexibility
Because of its experience with care, Udens Duyn functioned as a corona hotel in the beginning of the corona crisis in 2020. Not only did this require extra effort from its own employees, the working conditions were also more difficult for the employees of EW Facility Services. We supported two regional hospitals of Brabant Zorg in the care of corona patients. Applications for this came from all over the country. The situation naturally required more hygiene and disinfection measures. Together with EW, we immediately drew up new guidelines, incorporating Brabant Zorg's protocol. Hats off to the cleaning team. They had to do extra cleaning, in special protective clothing with the fear of becoming infected with corona. Everyone handled it very well.
Smooth communication
Marco finds the cooperation with EW Facility Services very pleasant. The communication is smooth and fast. They anticipate any additional wishes and requirements well and are solution-oriented. They also think along with us. Of the latter, Marco gives the example of the change of laundry. We had to change the laundry. Quite an operation for a hotel like ours. It is therefore extremely important that this changeover goes smoothly without the guests noticing a thing. The forewoman is responsible for the planning and management. She and her team were very helpful and ensured that everything went smoothly. A nice compliment came from the new laundry itself; they had never before experienced such a smooth and efficient operation.
High appreciation
The high quality of the cleaning and the hospitality does not escape business guests. On booking.com the hygiene of Hotel Udens Duyn is rated with a 9.2, the staff with a 9.0. "This indicates that 'ordinary' guests also notice the hygiene with an eye for hospitality. EW takes care of us. We can also choose to employ cleaners ourselves. But the flexible deployment of employees and the experience in hospitality are the two main reasons why we still work with an external partner like EW."