We all know those hotels – the ones with the leaking faucet, the groaning A/C that never quite cools the room, or the scary ceiling mold. We’ve either been unfortunate enough to wind up in one, or we’ve read a bad review and stayed far away. No building engineer wants to put this kind of face forward, but it can be tough to stay consistently on top of preventive maintenance. New problems seem to hit you almost every day, and budgets are never unlimited.

If you’re tired of holding things together with glue, duct tape, and hope, it’s time to start thinking about a better way to handle preventive maintenance. By following these 5 tips, you’ll be well on your way to generating more Trip Advisor bubbles, upping your RevPAR, and looking like a management superstar to your facility’s owners.

It goes by many names: Facilities Manager, Real Estate Strategic Manager, Facilities System Specialist, Properties Coordinator, Director of Construction. I could go on. Despite the different titles, the essence of the job is the same—to oversee and maintain existing assets, assuring the hotel building(s) and its systems work together perfectly for both guests and employees. It’s a huge job whose complexities could have anyone reaching for the Excedrin. 

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 50 million Americans have disabilities, many of whom need special accommodations when shopping and lodging. The federal government isn’t leaving it to retailers, hotels, and shopping centers to decide what to do. There’s some pretty extensive and complex legislation to ensure the special needs of disabled citizens are met, and lately the Department of Justice and opportunistic third parties are keeping very close eyes on which companies and brands are complying. Want to retain your stellar public image? Keen to minimize or avoid costly lawsuits?  Committed to corporate compliance? These are all great questions, and if you answered “yes” to one or more of them, keep reading! 

Ah, summertime.  The sun radiating off the pavement, the burgers sizzling on the grill, and the neighborhood pool beckoning to both kids and adults alike.

But if you happen to own or operate that public swimming pool, beware.  There is danger lurking in the depths.  Namely, the threat of pool entrapment.  Pool entrapment occurs when a person’s limb, hair, or body becomes caught in the strong suction in and around swimming pools or spa drains.  And the statistics are alarming.  According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, there were 28 reports of injuries between 2009 and 2013. Most of the victims were children under 15 years old, and most of the entrapments occurred in public settings.  

Silent, stealthy, and potentially deadly.  Like a ninja creeping through the night, the victims of carbon monoxide do not hear it, smell it, or even taste it coming.   I read an article recently in Lodging Magazine about this “silent killer”.  The article told the tragic story of three people who died from carbon monoxide poisoning after staying in the same hotel room a number of weeks apart.