MAXIMO!WELCOME
KEEPING IT RUNNING LIKE CLOCKWORK
A
t the heart of a company such as Nordica Rentals is the cleaning and maintenance service managed by Adelaida Jiménez Melud – allowing for an efficient turnover of properties every day of the year.
“The only way to achieve this is to work to a system. I know exactly how long each kind of property should take to clean and prepare, and it is with this in mind that we train our people to follow a systematic way of working that is both quick and thorough.”
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NORDICARENTALS
Nordica Rentals have almost 500 short term and well over 100 long term rental properties on their books, which represents quite a responsibility in terms of keeping them all sparkling clean, in full working order and ready to receive occupants. The department run by Adelaida is therefore a vital cog in the machinery that ensures a smooth and efficient operation from the moment of taking a property on, through preparing it for visitors right up to cleaning between departures and arrivals. The fact that Adelaida has a background in the hospitality trade comes in very handy, for the turnover between visiting parties very closely resembles that in hotel rooms. “Except, we’re dealing with anything from an apartment to a sprawling villa, not just a hotel room or suite,” says Adelaida. She admits that while most of the work is focused on holiday lets, both short and long-term properties need maintenance. “Some of the larger properties have their own cleaning and maintenance staff, yet especially in summer the coming and going of occupants can cause some pretty feverish activity, with up to 15 or more cleans a day.” Coordinating such numbers in an efficient manner means working to well-organised schedules based on the movements of the occupants. “We need things to be done thoroughly, but when you have one group of people leaving a property at say 11am and you need to have everything ready for another
group arriving at 2pm it also has to be done swiftly.” Considering the fact that they will be cleaning everything, including floors, windows, bathrooms, kitchens and terraces, as well as making the beds and collecting the used sheets and towels for the laundry, this is not a lot of time, especially when you’re talking about a large six-bedroom, six-bathroom villa. “The only way to achieve this is to work to a system. I know exactly how long each kind of property should take to clean and prepare, and it is with this in mind that we train our people to follow a systematic way of working that is both quick and thorough.” This includes adding nice little touches, such as folding the bed sheets, the bathroom towels and the toilet rolls as you would fine them in a luxury hotel. Working with teams that swell up to six or more fulltime cleaning ladies in summer, Adelaida still tries to personally check every single property after it has been cleaned. “Even after this, someone from Nordica will usually accompany the visitors to the property and show them how everything works,” says Adelaida “so between us we ensure everything is as it should be.” The result is a department that has so far been complaint-free. “What we do get is occasional requests for extra services that we provide, such as extra beds, mid-week or daily cleans, baby sitters, catering, waiters or chefs, to name a few. We also provide a welcoming bottle of wine, along with a note from the person who cleaned the property, but we can also leave complete welcome packs on request.” Maintenance Maintenance work is ad hoc by nature, but where most companies farm it out to third parties Nordica has its own