Cleaning – Hotel Style

Most of the dirt and dust in our homes comes off of shoes as we walk in from outside. Obviously, dust can come through an open window and we make our homes dirty if we have a basement workshop and messes in the kitchen can be a contributor as well. Let’s stop and think about how they clean hotels and see if we can learn how to keep our homes cleaner without adding extra cleaning time to our busy schedule.

Hotels and most commercial businesses have an aggressive track off mats just inside the door. These mats are meant to “scrub” off and capture the dirt and dust from peoples shoes as they come in. Most of this dirt is removed within 150’ of entry. By walking that distance, the shoe is mostly clean. This is why the hotel will clean the lobby and check-in desk areas multiple times a day. They also clean the lobby carpet and elevators frequently as well. By doing so, they are able to get control of the dirt quickly and prevent a great deal of cleaning time on the second-floor carpets. A good hotel might only vacuum the carpet on the 7th floor once per week or even once a month.

Keeping these track off mats clean is the key. If a track off the mat is saturated with dirt and can’t take any more off of someone’s shoes, they will track it through the entire hotel.

Some people take their shoes off right inside the door. If you are not going to do so, a small area rug just inside each door is a great way to limit how far the dirt can travel into your home. The winning trick is to make sure to clean the “track off” mat frequently to be sure it doesn’t become ineffective by being saturated with dirt. Clean your entrance areas frequently and over time you will find your home becoming cleaner and easier to clean.