We know you keep your furniture clean. But how often do you polish it?

We’re not just talking the heirloom grandfather clock in the lobby or other showpiece antiques you have. How often do you put a brilliant shine on all the natural wood and painted surfaces, furniture, pianos, mirrors, glass, chrome, fridges and other room appliances in your property?

Polishing doesn’t just make things look good. It also is a good way to get rid of dust, dirt, stains and grease and it helps conceal scratches and cracks that normal cleaning doesn’t do anything for.

How often should you polish? Good question. Not every day, of course, unless you run some of the most luxurious hotels on the planet. How often you should polish depends on how frequently the item gets used. Is it used daily? It should be polished more often. As with cleaning, have your housekeeping staff follow a schedule to ensure it gets done as often as needed.

Generally you can tell simply by looking at something if a polish would do it good. If after a cleaning it doesn’t look shiny, that means the polish has worn off and needs to be reapplied.

Using polishing oil as opposed to wax is a good way to give things a quicker shine. The lustrous sheen you get from oil doesn’t last as long as a wax polish, true, but if you have your housekeepers on a schedule that won’t be a big concern. Oil is cheaper than wax, takes less time to apply and is more economical than wax.