Preparing Your Hotel & Restaurant For Christmas | Stalbridge

Christmas is a busy time of year in the hotel and restaurant industries, with the increased travel as people travel across the country to see family and friends, businesses and corporations hosting large events or parties for the festive celebrations, and the high numbers of short-term visitors taking city breaks for both Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations. With the high demand, your hotel and restaurant needs to be more prepared than ever. 

In this guide, Stalbridge Linen Services highlights essential ways to prepare your hotel for the holiday season, such as utilising linen and laundry services.

Plan Ahead

The first crucial step in making preparations for the Christmas period is to plan well in advance. With the increased demand and visitors during the holiday season, you must carry out a thorough inventory, to ensure you have the appropriate amount of produce for the increased numbers of guests and demand. 

Before you even begin to consider your budget, decorations or menu, a clear indication of what’s required moving forward is a must-have to guarantee your resources are never depleted.

Understanding the demand likely to be placed on your hotel and restaurant services is an important place to start, so analysis of trends, patterns and output from previous year's data is essential, as are factors such as the occupancy rate at any given time, the time of delivery for products, supply issues and storage facilities. 

Understanding customer demand across the holiday period will help you plan what to buy and what to expect, for instance, it’s typically best to overestimate alcohol and food consumption during Christmas, and this is always preferable to the grievance faced when demand is high but resources are limited.

Nothing screams festive than to offer special menus and linen during this special period. This could include stocking up on mulled wine, serving dishes, or opting for Christmas decorations and themed linen in bedrooms.

This will help keep Christmas spirits high among guests throughout the month of December, and for those staying over Christmas itself, preparing the ultimate Christmas dinner menu is an absolute priority. 

Adjust Your Staffing

Organising your staffing needs early doors will ensure you avoid the chaos of being short-staffed over the festive period. It’s important to work out schedules well in advance, as holidays and absences are common over Christmas as many people travel to visit loved ones across the country. 

Organising your workforce, their schedules and holidays will prevent your staffing from becoming stretched, resulting in a drop in service quality and both employee and customer dissatisfaction. 

To help maintain your customer service and smooth operation over the holiday season without taking on a high number of permanent employees, many businesses and hotels utilise temporary Christmas staffing to cover for the increased workload and this is something worth considering.

Many staff might not want to work Christmas, so try to include incentives to improve morale around the Christmas period. This could include higher pay for Christmas day, or a range of benefits during shifts to help keep morale boosted.

Note Your Inventory & Equipment

As suggested, it’s important to overcompensate when considering demand over the Christmas period. When planning ahead, you will need to take an inventory of all the products you have, and how much you will need moving forward to satisfy the high demand of the festive season. 

Ensure you check that all of your equipment is fully functional so that nothing will need repairing or replacing in the middle of the festive period. Analyse data from previous years, note your inventory and order the food, drink and linen required to easily cover your anticipated demand.

Hotel & Restaurant Linen Hire From Stalbridge Linen Services

At Stalbridge Linen Services, we’re proud to supply hospitality businesses across the UK with the finest linens, with a range of premium table linens perfect for a Christmas dinner or party setting! We are also reliable hotel bedding suppliers, providing sheets, towels and robes to your customers this festive season.

Get in touch with our team today if you need assistance with your linen and laundry services.