Anyone in the hospitality business will tell you that running a bar, restaurant or café is not easy. Customers demand nothing but perfection in their food and drinks, service quality and cleanliness. But there’s one area in hospitality establishments that often gets overlooked — the bathroom. And it’s the same case in schools, shopping malls, service stations, office blocks, public venues and other businesses with shared or public restrooms.
The Importance of Maintaining Public Restrooms
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of going into a dirty, smelly, unkempt public restroom and vowed never to return to that particular bathroom, you probably understand the importance of keeping a public toilet clean. Unlike your bathroom at home, a public restroom can serve dozens to hundreds of people on any given day. So, everything from the floors and mirrors to the bogs and sinks can get nasty fast. For this reason, a public restroom must be cleaned and restocked multiple times throughout the day. But why should you be so keen on cleaning the bathroom anyway?
Curb the Spread of Germs and Diseases
A dirty bathroom creates an ideal breeding ground for disease-causing pathogens such as staphylococcus, streptococcus, E. coli and many others. If these harmful microbes grow to sufficiently large numbers, they can quickly spread among bathroom users. A recent study found that even so much as flushing a disease-ridden toilet can promote viral transmissions.
Protect Your Business Reputation
Nothing says your business cares about hygiene like a spotless customer bathroom. A smelly neglected bathroom can repulse customers, not just from the toilet itself but the establishment altogether. This is especially true in eateries. Imagine enjoying a delicious meal only to lose your appetite after a quick unpleasant visit to the restroom.
Keep the Public Toilet Smelling and Looking Fresh
A regular and thorough cleaning schedule removes unsavoury bathroom odours and preserves the bathroom's appeal. Keeping everything as clean as possible makes the restroom a nice place to be, and it also encourages visitors to use the shared amenities responsibly.
How to Maintain Your Public Restrooms
A sparkling public bathroom calls for extra cleaning care, effort and attention. Here are a few useful tips for ensuring your public restroom maintains a tidy and appealing status:
1. Stick to a Regular Cleaning Schedule
First things first, create a solid work plan for cleaning and maintaining the bathroom. Ideally, start with a thorough cleaning at the beginning of every workday and do some light touch-ups (wipe downs and mops) throughout the day. Come up with a schedule that best suits your business and bathroom traffic.
2. Stock Up with Cleaning Supplies
You’ll obviously need an assortment of cleaning tools and products to get the job done. Check out our vast selection of janitorial equipment and accessories and essential cleaning chemicals ranging from cleaning trolleys and heavy-duty brushes to cleaner sprays. We also have cleaning gear such as disposable gloves to protect janitors as they work in the bathroom.
3. Disinfect High-Touch Areas
As you scrub the floors, bowls and urinals, don't forget to disinfect the smaller fixtures such as faucets, doorknobs and soap dispensers. These may not be as dirty, but they're touched so frequently that they may harbour dangerous infectious germs.
4. Control the Odour
Cleaning alone may not completely get rid of notorious bathroom odours. The foul smell may temporarily go away after cleaning, but it inevitably returns with continued bathroom use. What you need is a more practical essential odour control solution. Luckily, we have just the products, including all-purpose neutralisers, toilet bowl deodorisers and scented urinal mats, to keep your bathroom smelling fresh no matter how frequently it is used.
Reward Hospitality has you covered when it comes to maintaining public bathrooms
The shared customer bathroom is a sensitive area that can easily tarnish your business's image, encourage the spread of diseases and repel customers from your establishment if denied the care it needs.
Make cleaning, stocking and organising your bathroom a daily priority. Assign clear roles to your cleaning crew on keeping the restroom spotless as you raise the bar for bathroom hygiene.
Reward Hospitality has a complete range of Hygiene & Washroom products as well as Janitorial Equipment and Cleaning Products available to help ensure your customers. We have an expert team of Cleaning Chemical Equipment Advisors on hand to help you negotiate the challenges of ensuring your bathroom facilities exceed your customers' expectations.
Do yourself, your staff, and your customers a favour today by contacting Reward Hospitality for an all-encompassing analysis with advice about how you can ensure a clean and optimal experience beyond the expectations of your public bathroom facilities.