Yes, it’s true - you don’t need to spend more money to get more effective cleaning from your hotel housekeeping and maintenance staff.

The first thing is to make sure that your staff have enough cleaning fluids and soap and that their equipment is in good repair and replaced when necessary, instead of waiting for it to fall apart. Okay, this step does cost money. But the alternative is far worse.

And be sure that, if you’re advertising your hotel as green-conscious or eco-friendly, you’re using green cleaning supplies where possible.

That said, there are things that you can work into your housekeeping training that don’t cost you more money but lead to more effective cleaning.

First, teach your staff to clean from the top of the room down. Newer housekeepers, if insufficiently trained, generally start with the dirtiest things in the room and frequently find themselves cleaning the same thing twice because dirt, from a subsequent clean, fell on it.

Train them to start high and work their way downward.

Give them cleaning projects on a regular schedule. Every day have a special cleaning task - one day it could be light bulbs, wiping down all light bulbs in a room. The next day it might be something else. These are things that don’t get cleaned as part of normal daily cleaning but need to be looked at regularly.

Use colour-coded rags for cleaning with different chemicals. As Care.com notes, it’s imperative that your housekeeping staff aren’t mixing chemicals that they shouldn’t be, since “some chemicals can create harmful vapors when mixed, so stick with what the chemical label recommends and let the chemicals do the work."

However, as Care.com recognises, “it's easy to lose track of what products you're using when you're busy cleaning, so one way to avoid this is to use color-coded rags,” as in “different color rags for each cleaning project or chemical.”

This saves time while keeping your staff safe.