In a trend that’s affecting hotel and care home owners across the Republic of Ireland, linen providers are increasingly serving notice on their contracts.
These companies are either searching for bigger businesses to deal with, or companies in big cities, aka closer to their own premises. This means dealing with larger quantities of linen servicing in one go, meaning multiple orders aren’t causing complications in logistics, and shorter journeys for the laundered linen. It’s an issue that’s leaving many smaller hotels and care homes high and dry, sometimes with no clean linen at all.
In this expert Q&A, Amanda Cooke, sales and marketing consultant at JLA, explains why bringing laundry back in-house could be the solution.
Amanda, what’s been going on?
Ultimately, these companies are struggling to make deliveries and are now, understandably consolidating their contracts to protect themselves. The knock-on effects for hotels and care homes means some locations are being left without essential laundry support, or fresh linen. We’ve even read about staff having to take laundry home to process, which obviously isn’t compliant or sustainable!
What’s the solution for small-to-medium hotels and care homes?
Probably the single most effective and simple way to combat this challenge is to bring laundry back on site and take charge again. With your own on site laundry system you’re able to take back control – including the quality of your wash. You are likely to lose a bit of space but the benefits can be powerful – including big savings on energy when you use the most up-to-date equipment. Another bonus is that staff aren’t having to stand about counting stock when it comes back from the external laundry provider. Time is saved in terms of waiting for deliveries and staff allocating stock to various linen rooms too.
What solutions does JLA offer?
Many hotels and care homes already trust our cost-saving, energy-efficient laundry systems. One of the biggest benefits is that we offer flexibility with a range of configurations, which take up much less space than you might image.
Overall, clients in these venues are now enjoying lovely fresh linen and towels, which are also lasting longer because of the revolutionary way JLA’s OTEX system cleans them and also manages infection control. OTEX can be added as an optional extra, which increases infection control capabilities and reduces energy consumption.
Could you explain what OTEX is?
JLA’s OTEX system uses a natural disinfection process that kills 99.999% of moulds, yeasts, viruses and bacteria – including coronavirus – at low temperatures. That means you can reduce water, electricity, gas and detergent use, ultimately saving you money on all three while increasing the lifespan of your linen. A win-win all round.
In fact, JLA testing has shown that OTEX cuts hot water use by up to 80%, electricity by up to 60%, and gas by up to 35%, with total water usage down by up to 45%*. With utility bills increasing as they are that’s a potentially huge saving on every wash cycle and a reduction in your carbon footprint.
Doesn’t buying new equipment require huge capital outlay?
Usually bringing your laundry in house can be an expensive investment, even if it will eventually pay for itself. Equally this doesn’t have to mean a large capital outlay.
Total care, JLA’s fully all-inclusive managed service package, is designed around every client’s needs. For a simple monthly fee, you enjoy new laundry room equipment with no upfront costs, free installation and 24/7 support – including servicing, spare parts and repairs. In other words, you get all the benefits of advanced laundry equipment, with world-class maintenance and same-day breakdown support, for one monthly payment.
What else should I bear in mind when I want to bring my laundry back in house?
It’s worth considering the extra labour requirement that will be needed to process the laundry on site. You will find the jobs such as checking the laundry in and out are no longer required mitigating the extra staffing required in the laundry.
I’ve already mentioned space – but thinking about the right configuration for your laundry room will be essential, maximising the right solution in the space you have available.
To learn more about bringing your laundry back in house, get in touch to arrange a free consultation
*Efficiency savings above for guidance only. Usage will be site and application dependent – please ask for an illustration for your organisation.
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