For most of us, laundry is a weekly chore that takes a few hours — or maybe several — depending on how many people are in the household.
At the 963-room Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront, the washers and dryers run 18 hours a day, seven days a week.
Northeast Florida’s largest hotel maintains a triple inventory of sheets, pillowcases and bath linens to ensure the housekeeping department can get rooms ready for new guests as soon as guests check out of the hotel.
Each bed is made up with three sheets and a comforter, plus as many as five pillowcases.
That’s nearly 10,000 bed sheets and just as many bath towels, hand towels, washcloths and bath mats, said Kenneth McClain, assistant executive housekeeper.
“We like to keep one set in circulation, one being washed and a backup,” he said.
Napkins and tablecloths for the hotel’s catering and room service, restaurant, lounge and sports bar and staff uniforms also are part of the daily job.
Since the Hyatt is pet-friendly, dog beds are washed and dried.
“Everything our guests touch goes through our laundry,” said Krystal Cooper, laundry supervisor.
To keep up with that much washing, drying, folding and pressing, the 20 people who work in the laundry are scheduled in two shifts. The machines are running from about 6 a.m. until about 11:30 p.m. seven days a week.
It’s not uncommon for the laundry to wash linens from about 600 rooms each day. The load increases to 900 or more rooms during events such as Florida-Georgia weekend and TaxSlayer Bowl, when the hotel is virtually sold out, McClain said.
A sheet or towel lasts about two months before it fails to meet Hyatt’s quality standards. When they are worn or stained, linens are dyed pink and used as cleaning rags.
The Hyatt also recycles those little bottles of body wash, lotion, shampoo and conditioner that are partially used and left behind by guests.
The products are collected in the laundry department and then sent to a nonprofit in Orlando, where they are repackaged and donated to homeless shelters.
The only piece of equipment in the laundry department that’s not devoted to washing, drying and folding is a large water cooler in the center of the space.
“We make sure everybody stays hydrated,” said Cooper. “It can get pretty hot in here in the summer.
“But in the winter, it’s nice. It can be one of the warmest rooms in the hotel.”
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