Transforming a hotel bedroom into a laundry

When the Macdonald Cardrona Hotel Golf and Country Club was built in 2003, the decision was made to outsource all of the laundry. However, it was soon noticed that the laundry costs were considerably higher than some of the group’s other hotels.

Although it hadn’t been designed with a laundry in mind the hotel’s Executive Housekeeper realized bringing part of the laundry in-house would help save significant amount of money.

Nestled within the tranquil hills of the Scottish Borders, yet only 20 miles from historic Edinburgh, Cardrona Hotel’s guests can make the most of the range of leisure features on site including an 18-metre pool, gym, and the championship golf course on the hotel grounds which was designed by former Ryder Cup player Dave Thomas.

Having worked with Electrolux many times, Morag Stark, now Deputy General Manager but at the time Executive Housekeeper, turned to Electrolux Laundry Systems for help and advice on bringing her idea to reality.

Transforming a bedroom into a laundry
After speaking to Stark, Jim Barrie, Area Sales Manager for Electrolux Laundry Systems, put together plans demonstrating how a bedroom could be converted into a commercial laundry without too much upheaval or investment.

“Converting a bedroom is an excellent way for hotels to create an in-house laundry,” says Barrie. “There are huge savings to be made, as with all hotels very rarely do they have 100% occupancy so the loss of any revenue from the use of this room is insignificant.”

No problem managing laundry
In September 2007 the new laundry was completed and now handles all the hotel’s leisure towels, robes and face cloths – all without taking on any additional staff.

Stark explains that in the time it takes the leisure staff to fold, bag and tag the laundry to send out they can wheel it to the laundry and put on a load. The leisure department is always fully staffed so managing the laundry has been no problem for them. In between loads the housekeeping staff also manages to launder the robes.

Stark is also very happy with the figures. “Year on year, our P and L is showing significant savings,” she says.

For more information please contact the Electrolux Media Hotline at +46 8 657 7507 or press@electrolux.com