5 Guest Laundry Repairs Hotel Owners & Managers Should be Able to Fix

5 Guest Laundry Repairs Hotel Owners & Managers Should be Able to Fix:

Owning and managing hotels can be a constant juggling act of dealing with needs of guests and staff, while staying in budget for all expenses.

Sometimes time is stretch thin that as manager and owner you don't have time to fix laundry equipment. So you call a technician and usually these days have to wait for them to show up a few days later and then need to wait a few more days for the parts to come in, and then a few days for the tech to return. So your laundry equipment might be down for several days to a couple of weeks. While the guest laundry may or may not be a big money maker for your hotel, the invoices for the repairs are a definite drain on hotel cash flow. By fixing a few simple things yourself you can save the money on repair techs and get machines back up and running to make the hotel money and keep guests happy.

Within the first couple years a manager or an owner will probably run into most of these things. This list isn't all inclusive. We could probably expand the list to 100 things an owner needs to know how to repair. This list only applies to guest laundry. I'll deal with staff laundry equipment in a different article.

Here are five quick fixes you or your staff should be able to do:

1. Clearing coin jams
At some point early on in your tenure someone will put a bent quarter in your machine, use a foreign coin, put nickels dimes and pennies into the coin slot, or feed the quarters too fast and not wait for the coins to drop into the coin box. Maybe the coin slides will just be dirty. Whatever the reason is you will have a machine that won’t start because customers can’t put quarters into it. Learn the quick ways to dislodge these stuck coins and the proper way to clear the jam

2. Clean out the drain pump Small chassis washers will often get socks, coins, hair clips, and other junk that goes down the hose from the tub to the pump. Learn how to clear this debris otherwise your washers won’t drain and will leave the clothes soaking wet.



3. Change broken selection buttons
Customers can’t select a cycle or press the “start” button they can’t wash their clothes and you can’t make money



4. Replace a door hinge
Door hinges on small chassis washers are easy to fix. Take the old one off and put the new one on. 5-10 minute repair keeps the washer running and making money. Repairing a hinge on a large chassis washer doesn’t have to be done very often so you will be forgiven if that takes you longer to change one the first time



5. Replace a User Interface (UI) board
Most UI boards are modular units and can be swapped out easily after you get though the usual myriad of screws to get to them. A little tricky because you want to remember to turn the power off first. I know most people don’t turn the power off to the machine completely, however I’ve inadvertently shorted a board because I didn’t turn off the power. I’ll admit I don’t always turn the power off on a small chassis, however on a large chassis I always turn it off.

As I said there are lots more simple fixes that can be done.

These are the basic items that if you can fix, it will save you a lot of money on service calls and lost revenue due to machines being down for a few days. I didn’t tell you the diagnostic symptoms or how to fix these things. They are all things you can reason out or watch online videos about. To fix a lot of the problems above you can take a look at my blog to find how to do these. You can also search your favorite online video channel or the manufacturer website as they often have videos on how to do these repairs. Check your manual for troubleshooting and repair tips too.

For more tips:
5-more-guest-laundry-repairs-hotel.html

Until next time...it all comes out in the Washtub!
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy