Calculation of Linen requirements

[3rd/4th Semester Accommodation Operations | UNIT 1.5 BHM204]

The housekeeping department of a hotel goes through hundreds of sheets per day. To have enough linen, housekeeping managers maintain par levels of inventory to meet the needs of the hotel.

What Are Par Levels?

Maria, the housekeeping manager at the Coral Beach Hotel, was always running out of linen. At first, she had concerns that the guests were stealing the sheets. But as it turned out, Maria simply did not have enough sheets to make every bed in her 100-room hotel. Searching for help, Maria turned to her general manager for answers. The problem was relatively easy to find. Maria did not maintain a par level for her linen inventory. A par level is a set number of inventory items that a hotel should have on hand at any given time.

How to Calculate Linen Par Levels

When Maria and her general manager sat down to figure out what is needed to make every bed in the hotel, they came to the following conclusions:

• The hotel has 100 rooms

• Each bed has three sheets, including 1 bottom sheet and 2 top sheets

Here is the calculation:

• 100 beds * 3 sheets per bed = 300 sheets per par number

Now, 300 sheets will be enough to make the beds, but Maria knows she will also need additional sheets on hand. Here is how the par is calculated for the spare sheets:

• One par of linen on the beds is 1 * 300 = 300 sheets

• One par of linen in linen storage area is 1 * 300 = 300 sheets

• One par of dirty in laundry room is 1 * 300 = 300 sheets

• One par of linen for replacement of damaged or stolen items is 1 * 300 = 300 sheets

• One par for emergency situations is 1 * 300 = 300 sheets

• Total number of linen needed is 1,500 sheets

• So the calculation is: 1,500 sheets / 300 sheets/par = 5 par of linen

Importance of maintaining Par stock

• To make efficient use of capital

• To prevent over-stocking

• To make optimum use of space

• To ensure proper supply at all times

• To help in effective budgeting

• To simplify inventory taking

• To bring about control

• To identify the purchase quantities