You are here

OPL 101: Protecting a Hotel’s Luxury-Linen Investment (Part 1)

Poor rinsing, overdrying, roping enemies of fine bedding and napery everywhere

RIPON, Wis. — The hospitality industry continually strives to improve the customer’s sleep experience, because it directly impacts customer satisfaction.

Some hotels have chosen to upgrade to superior mattresses, while others have moved in the direction of expanding their luxury linen collection. Many do both. In fact, the industry is trending toward using bedding packages that contain 30% more linens.

This is due, in part, to hotels adopting triple sheeting, a new way of using multiple sheets to preserve the cleanliness of the comforter by putting a sheet above and below it. In addition to using more linens, the industry increasingly is using sheets with higher thread counts.

In order to properly care for a hotel’s large linen investment, laundry operators must adapt to improve laundry efficiency and eliminate common errors.

PROPER RINSING

When caring for luxury linens, effective rinsing is a must. If chemicals remain on linens during the drying process, the heat will cause them to yellow over time. Additionally, the residue can cause linens to become stiff and rough, which negates the purpose of the original investment.

Laundry managers should evaluate the quality of the equipment they currently use, and consider upgrading to take full advantage of new technologies available that can protect their investment in luxury linens.

One new feature that increases effective rinsing is spray rinse technology, which leaves up to 22% less residual wash chemistry in the load. Unlike bath rinses alone, which only dilute wash chemistry, spray rinse technology pulls chemicals through the load and down the drain.

The benefits of spray rinse technology are best explained by comparing a shower to a bath. A shower effectively rinses dirt off the body and sends it down the drain. Because there is no spray action to remove residue when someone takes a bath, the water will leave some dirt on the body when the individual steps out of the tub. The same holds true for linens that are only given a bath rinse.

Spray rinse technology not only decreases the presence of residual wash chemistry, it also decreases the cycle rinse time by up to 12%, increasing throughput and decreasing water consumption.

After the wash cycle is complete, when linens move to the dryer, the most common and, perhaps, most damaging error occurs: overdrying.

Check back Thursday for the conclusion!

02g66533bed_robe_web.jpg

(Image licensed by Ingram Publishing)

Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].