OPL laundry for hotels

Why run OPL in hospitality

Washing in-house (OPL) rather than outsourcing gives you full control over quality, traceability, timing and cost. It does, though, require the right equipment and professional chemistry to guarantee hotel-grade whites and hygienic linen.

Specific needs of the sector

Recommended hospitality pack

The laundry flow in a hotel laundry

1. 1

   Sort

   Bed linen, towels, restaurant table linen and uniforms, in separate loads. Each group has a different kind of soiling and does not need the same programme.

2. 2

   Treat the stains

   Q3 removes protein, sugar or fat-based stains, such as blood, egg, sauces or grease. It is applied neat, left to act for around 5 minutes and then washed, without exceeding 15 minutes of contact. It is not used on wool or leather.

3. 3

   Wash

   Power Gold is a high-performance enzymatic detergent that removes organic residues and degreases without damaging fabrics. Dose of 5–10 g per kg of dry laundry, at around 40 ºC.

4. 4

   Bleach and sanitise

   Oximatic + on white loads, at 2–6 g/kg with a peristaltic dispenser. Sanitex in the penultimate rinse, at 4 g/kg with a minimum of 5 minutes.

5. 5

   Soften and fragrance

   In the final rinse, with the softener that defines the hotel's fragrance.

Table linen and kitchen uniforms

These are the hardest loads: grease, sauces and food residues. It is best to wash them separately from the room linen, treat the stains with Q3 beforehand, and not dry or iron them until you have checked the stain has gone, because heat sets it. If the laundry also serves the restaurant, include it in the cleaning documentation of the hotel's HACCP plan.

Documentation and staff training

• ✓Safety data sheets for each product, accessible in the laundry itself.
• ✓A calibration record for each pump and a log of the cycles run with Sanitex.
• ✓Protective equipment to hand: the labels of several products say to wear gloves, protective clothing and eye protection.
• ✓Training whenever new staff join, including in high season.

Frequently asked questions from hotels

Can I use the same detergent for everything?

Yes, a high-performance enzymatic detergent works as the base for every load. What changes with each group of laundry is the pre-treatment, the bleach and the hygiene additive.

What maintenance do the hotel's washers need?

A regular empty wash with Machine Clean, which removes scale and the sources of bad smells, plus a check of the dosing pumps.

Can the hotel have its own fragrance?

Yes. You can choose a detergent and softener pairing and keep it for all your linen, or ask for a private-label product or a custom formulation, which Instaquim develops in its own laboratory.