As the holiday season draws near, hospitality venues across the UK experience a surge in reservations and party arrangements. It’s a time where people seek out venues to celebrate, with family, friends, and co-workers.
A larger influx of guests, while a boost for business, also means an increased need for cleanliness and maintenance to ensure that the venue remains a welcoming and pristine space for all visitors.
Across the holiday season, hospitality businesses, especially food and drink venues, find themselves operating at maximum capacity. It’s a time when the industry truly comes to life, with each venue striving to offer an unforgettable experience to its guests.
In the United Kingdom, restaurants are gearing up for a prosperous Christmas period, as 2023 is forecasted to witness an impressive 12.9% increase in spending compared to the previous year. This statistic underlines the pressure on hospitality premise during the festive season, with more and more people choosing to celebrate in these environments.
In this article, Vanguard will explore how to prepare for the holiday season effectively to maximise customer experience over Christmas and the New Year. We will explore how professional cleaning can benefit your business during the holidays, as well as the specific services Vanguard can provide to help make your hospitality service exceptional.
Holiday cleaning is particularly important in the hospitality industry because it ensures that guests have a clean, comfortable, and safe environment. This is essential for maintaining the reputation of your venue, as well as for providing guests with a positive experience that they will want to repeat in the future. Cleaning is a key aspect of the hospitality industry that helps to ensure guest satisfaction and safety.
Hospitality venues, especially restaurants, require frequent sanitation to protect guests’ health and safety. The holidays are a special time of year, so its crucial to meet high expectations and standards for guests. With the surge in bookings, comes an increased responsibility for health and safety for everyone in your premises.
In addition to this increased responsibility, more guests bring an increased risk of damage, dirt, and viruses. A survey conducted last year revealed that two million people in the UK planned to eat out on Christmas Day, highlighting the surge in guests seeking to visit hospitality venues during the festive period. To keep up with the heightened demand, choosing professional cleaning services for the holiday season is an effective way to achieve a safe and successful Christmas and New Year in the hospitality industry.
Below, we have outlined 5 key reasons why professional cleaning services are beneficial to hospitality businesses over the holiday season, and how this can help optimise the success of your venue.
We explored in a previous article the impact of the flu season on schools, but the impact of the virus is not limited to educational environments. The flu and virus season coincides with the busy holiday season, where many people flock to hospitality venues for Christmas parties and celebrations. Data reveals that that the odds of indoor transmission for COVID-19 is nearly 19x higher than outdoor transmission, highlighting the risk of virus transmission in indoor hospitality venues such as restaurants, bars, and hotels. This makes hospitality venues a prime spot for virus transmission, resulting in widespread infection if preventative steps are not taken.
To prevent staff and guests from sickness, regular sanitation is paramount for virus prevention. Research indicates that cleaning alone can remove 90% of bacteria, proving highly effective for preventing sickness spreading in your venue. With regular cleaning, even if an infected person enters your venue, you can stop transmission in your premises.
High-touch surfaces such as door handles and handrails may come into contact with hundreds of fingerprints a day, making them a high-risk area for bacteria to be picked up and spread to other people and surfaces in your premises. Professional cleaners are trained to identify and sanitise such areas using industry leading products, so you can rest assured the risk of viruses in your venue is minimalised.
Choosing a professional cleaning company like Vanguard Cleaning is an effective way to help stop the spread of flu and other viruses this hospitality season. Our cleaners are trained rigorously with our procedures, which are overseen by senior management and endorsed by the prestigious British Institute Of Cleaning Science (BICSc), noting our integrity. With Vanguard, you can rest assured that high touch areas are always sanitised as part of our virus prevention cleaning, whether that’s part of a daily cleaning service or a more enhanced cleaning solution.
Virus prevention is crucial also to maximise your staff potential over the bustling holiday period. Unclean premises can harbour a build up of bacteria and viruses that can harm the health of your staff and result in absences. This is the last thing your business needs as your hospitality venue reaches the busiest time of year!
Unfortunately, coughs and colds are ripe over the Christmas season, and as we have explored, can easily spread inside of indoor venues. However, some viruses can have severe health impacts, sometimes requiring hospital attention. Last year, the weekly hospital admission rate for flu cases increased to a rate of 8.27 per 100,000 in the week beginning 12 December, right before the Christmas rush. To protect your staff, it is crucial to have effective cleaning to ensure that your staff are less likely to pick up viruses from the workplace.
With a regular cleaning service from Vanguard, you’ll be reducing the risk of staff absences by safeguarding the health of your employees. With our industry-leading products and techniques, our staff are well-equipped to provide a comprehensive cleaning service that leaves your venue as pristine as it looks.
Our services for hospitality includes cleaning for:
With Vanguard’s professional cleaning services, you’ll not only receive an all-encompassing service, but a higher-quality clean designed to protect your employees, so they can stay happy and healthy over the festive period.
The winter holiday season in the UK is often subject to unpredictable weather conditions, whether it be snow, ice, or heavy showers and storms. These harsh weather conditions can be dangerous not only outside and on the roads, but add to the risk of accidents within your hospitality venue also.
The wet weather conditions can be brought inside your premises by foot, creating a slippery floor surface and dirtying your carpets. This creates a significant hazard for falls if left unattended, making it dangerous for both guests and staff.
A professional cleaning service like Vanguard can help reduce the risk of trips and slips with our regular facilities maintenance solutions. As all of our cleaning schedules are custom-made, we can clean your premises as frequently as you may require. So, if your floors need extra mopping to keep them safe and dry this holiday season, Vanguard has you covered!
Plus, Vanguard Cleaning offers professional floor cleaning services, to keep your floors looking polished and perfect for your guests this holiday season. This includes cleaning for laminate and tiled floors, plus cleaning for your carpets.
Enlisting the services of a professional cleaning company guarantees that your floors remain free from bacteria, reducing slipping risks for anyone in your premises. Importantly, trusted cleaning providers like Vanguard make significant investments in cutting-edge equipment to ensure that the cleaning process never harms your flooring. Vanguard’s caring solutions can help extend the lifespan of your flooring so that they’ll be fit for future holidays.
Christmas and New Year is a special time for many, meeting up with family and friends they may not have seen for a long time. A special time of year deserves a special service to make guests feel welcome and to help the holiday spirit. Hospitality venues are forecast to see a £12bn boost over the festive season, so there’s a lot at stake and a high expectation from guests who choose to spend at your venue.
In addition to exceptional customer service, the way your venue is presented is part of the exceptional service your venue provides. A clean and sparkling venue is much more inviting for your guests, helping to elevate the impression of your venue.
A deeper cleaning service can help to elevate the cleanliness and overall appearance of your hospitality business, helping to make your service that extra bit more special. Studies suggest that individuals form opinions about your business in as little as 7 seconds, underscoring the importance of maintaining a clean hospitality venue for a positive first impression. No guest wants to dine in an unsanitary environment, which is why we offer and kitchen and food prep cleans to keep maintain your stellar-standards, ensuring you always meet the vital safety criteria set out by local authorities and the Food Standards Agency.
Maintaining quality throughout your venue is another compelling reason to make holiday cleaning a priority for your hospitality business. With the rush of customers and guests over the busy season, it becomes harder for staff to allocate time for robust cleaning duties. Hiring a professional cleaning company allows your staff to place their focus on customer experience and ensures your cleaning duties are always carried out to an exceptionally high standard of cleanliness.
As we have explored, a clean venue is crucial for numerous health and safety reasons which protects your staff and customers. It also maintains the quality of your venue, protecting it from damage. For instance, flooring and counter surfaces can be harmed over time if they do not receive regular cleaning. Keeping your venue in prime condition, plus having an overall cleanly and sanitary business, is crucial for maintaining a positive reputation.
Vanguard offers a comprehensive range of services, ensuring that your workplace not only appears pristine but also undergoes a thorough cleaning regimen to enhance the safety of your business. Our cleaners can work day or night, any day of the week. With Vanguard, you don’t need to worry about finding time for the all-important holiday cleaning, as our flexible cleaning schedules ensure that your hospitality will receive a high-quality cleaning service, however frequently you require.
Vanguard’s extensive 22-year history means that we are equipped to provide your hospitality business with a thorough and comprehensive clean, using top-tier cleaning products and industry-leading materials.
Our rigorous training protocols, endorsed by The British Institute Of Cleaning Science (BICSc), ensures consistent high standards of cleaning are provides for your hospitality venue, regardless of size of location. As highlighted in this article, having an outstanding cleaning service during peak periods, particularly Christmas and New Year, is paramount for protecting the health and safety of all your guests and staff. Additionally, it significantly enhances your business’s overall appeal and has the potential to boost profits by creating a more inviting and hygienic venue for customers.
At Vanguard, our People First virtue fuels everything that we do. That’s we work to always consider and provide solutions that are best for your specific business needs, including looking at your business size, cleaning requirements, and your budget. Unlike other cleaning companies, Vanguard provides completely tailormade contracts, as well as customised cleaning schedules. This way, your hospitality venue gets all the bespoke cleaning services it needs, whenever is best for you.
To discuss what cleaning package we can provide your hospitality business this holiday season, and to receive a free, no-obligation quote, contact our team at Vanguard today.
