Preventative maintenance is one of those things that, while important, often gets ignored or de-prioritized for other stuff - until it’s too late. Now that the hospitality industry has bounced back, brands are requiring more properties to stay current with their preventative maintenance, getting properties back up to where they should be. So how can properties maintain brand standards while also mitigating large expenses and repairs?

Know your brand’s PM requirements and build out your plan

Creating your own preventive maintenance plan is laying down the foundation that will set your team up for success. It gives your employees clear expectations and documentation for them to follow. Whether you use existing templates and checklists, or you build your own custom plan, make sure that your preventative maintenance plan is consistent with your brand standards first. Once you know you are meeting brand standards, you can adjust your plan accordingly that best fits your personal property. Some preventative maintenance software comes with pre-loaded PM checklists based on major hotel brands, saving you even more time and effort on the front-end.

Implement the checklists across the team

Checklists are the easiest way to ensure all of your preventative maintenance tasks are being completed. A simple, organized list makes it easy for hotel staff to keep track of what they have and haven’t done. Make sure your checklists have clear communication and are user-friendly. One way you can make your checklists accessible is creating them in multiple languages that meet the needs of your staff. Software like Lodgistics can do the work for you and translate the checklists to the other languages you need!

Maintain visibility across the PM schedule

Transparent communication is key to staying on top of your preventative maintenance schedule. With your plan and checklist that you’ve created, you are off to a great start. Use those tools to help you keep documentation of your plan. That way, you are able to see who is on track and who’s not. You should also keep track of your purchase orders in relation to your preventative maintenance so you can see how much you have spent and stick to your budget. Maintaining visibility into your preventative maintenance purchase orders will also help you recognize repair trends and make more financially-sound decisions when it comes to keeping up with repairs. 

Keep guests in the loop

When you need to complete some preventative maintenance in a room, be sure the room is marked as unavailable in your PMS and reservation systems. You can also alert any guests who may be staying in nearby rooms that there will be maintenance happening - sending them a text will go a long way to ensure guests stay satisfied throughout any repairs at your hotel.

Upload your completed plan to the brand

Yay! You have successfully finished your preventative maintenance plan! The last step is very important - upload your completed plan to the brand. All of the documentation that you have filed, checklists, notes, purchase orders, should now be uploaded to the brand so they can see your success. When you use tools like Lodgistics, you are able to keep all of this documentation in one place AND upload your files to your brand. Simply take your compiled documents and send them to your higher ups!

Preventative maintenance is designed to save you time and money by preventing costly repairs, and is critical for maintaining brand standards - and maintaining guest satisfaction. Keeping better track of it through a single system is the best way to save time, money, and headaches, and keep it the priority it needs to be. 

Interested in kickstarting your preventative maintenance plan? Learn more about how Lodgistics helps your hotel with preventative maintenance, or schedule a conversation with us today!