Cyprus Hilton Park wins housekeeping award

More than 70 housekeepers from Hilton hotels across Europe and Africa, including two from Hilton Cyprus and Hilton Park Nicosia, met last month at the Hilton Düsseldorf for a two-day Housekeeping Conference to celebrate efforts and exchange best work practices.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, President for Hilton Europe and Africa, Wolfgang M. Neumann said housekeeping is a fundamental driver for the hotel business and has an impact on repeat visitation. The department is also a prime contributor to better environmental practices through Hilton’s ‘we care’ program.

“Every single night, around half a million travellers sleep in a Hilton hotel somewhere in Europe, making the “town” of Hilton about the same size as Hanover in Germany or Nicosia,” he said.

“Whether our guests are business travellers or leisure travellers, their main objective is to get a good night’s sleep. And that rests on cleanliness and comfort of the room,” he said.

Neumann cited a 2006 Hilton guest survey of 32,000 travellers across Europe and Africa, which found that 91% of guests completely satisfied with the cleanliness of the room will return, while only 22% will revisit a Hilton if they are very dissatisfied with the tidiness of the room. 

“More than 29,000 guests have told us they will come back if the room is spotless. Our housekeeping teams are the drivers of business and our unsung heroes. We want to recognize their efforts and their contribution to the company,” Neumann said.

Ellada Savvidou, Executive Housekeeper of Hilton Cyprus, said, “Some of our guests spend long periods away from their families and we are often the first person to greet them in the morning and the last person to wish them goodnight. We can really make a difference to their stay.”

“I was thrilled to be part of Hilton’s very first Housekeeping conference. It was recognition of our work and a great opportunity to share ideas face-to-face with my international colleagues”, said Roxanne Mavrantonis, Executive Housekeeper of Hilton Park Nicosia, who was awarded with the “Profit Award” 2006.

Neumann added that the two-day conference also provided a platform for team members to exchange environmental best practices.

“Hilton in Europe and Africa launched a ‘we care’ program in March this year in which every single hotel employee is responsible for finding measures to save non-renewable resources while contributing to hotel profit,” he said

“Our housekeeping green teams have been vital champions of ‘we care’ and have implemented wonderful initiatives from strict garbage separation to simple practices like reducing unnecessary toilet flushing during the room cleaning process to save the earth’s precious resources.

“During the conference, we shared ideas for region-wide implementation,” he said.