A hotel’s laundry operations are important – they keep guests comfortable, ensure housekeeping staff can deliver fresh towels to rooms and help hotels cultivate customer loyalty. Hoteliers need to have the right equipment and procedures in place to streamline laundry production.
Florida-based SmartLinen provides hoteliers with linens with embedded, washable technology that eliminates the need for hotel employees to manually count inventory. These products have high-quality construction without compromising on comfort or durability.
High-Quality Cotton
A quality cotton towel is soft and absorbent. It can withstand repeated washes without losing its texture and color. It is also resistant to shrinkage, wrinkles and pilling.
Our cotton towels are made from long-staple fibers like Egyptian, Pima and Turkish. These longer fibers create a more premium-weight fabric that is fluffier and lighter than short-staple cotton.
Look for a high GSM. This is a measure of weight per square meter and indicates the quality of the towel. A high GSM means the towel is thick and of superior quality. A low GSM, on the other hand, means a thinner towel of lower quality.
Weaving
Hospitality service professionals know that the quality of their towels is a crucial element in meeting and exceeding guest expectations. The right towel provides a great first impression and contributes to a positive experience and customer loyalty.
Cotton is the primary raw material for towels. It is spun at the factory or purchased in huge 500 lb (227 kg) bales of high or middling-grade cotton, which is mixed with synthetics to create the yarn needed for the towels. The yarn is then spooled into 7.5 lb (3.4 kg) spools and ready to be warped on a weaving machine for the production of the terry cloth.
Depending on the design of the towels, different weft threads are used. A higher twist number in the weft thread makes for better fabric structure, a more luxurious touch and increased water absorbency.
Bleaching
In business, there is a delicate balance that needs to be struck between efficiency and quality. The need for companies to maximize surplus value is of course one of the main reasons that they exist, but in doing so, the quality of products and services must not be compromised in any way.
Many people wonder how hotels are able to keep their linens so white, and the answer is bleach. Not just regular bleach, but powerful commercial cleaners that help to keep the towels clean and bright.
We also use ozone bleaching rather than traditional chemicals, which reduces energy consumption and water waste by up to 15 percent. The result is a crisp, vividly white finish that hotel guests love. It’s a great way to keep the linen looking its best, but without using any toxic substances.
Cutting
If you see that your hotel towels look a little bit worn this summer, it’s probably because the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted wholesale towel and bulk hospitality supplies production and shipping. Normally, the pipeline for these products extends six months out into the future.
Once the terry fabric is woven it goes through the desizing process. This removes size from the fabric so it will bleach well, dye easily, and have a soft handle.
While other materials like modal, bamboo, and microfiber have grown in popularity, cotton is still the preferred towel material for hotels. This is because cotton is absorbent, durable, and soft. Once the towels have been inspected for quality, they are poly-packed and put into cartoons. This is where the linens are stored until they’re ready to ship.
Sewing
In the final step of towel manufacturing, a rolled fabric is cut with a grid template and then sewn together to produce a finished hotel towel. This is a labor-intensive process that requires skilled and experienced employees.
Towels must have several characteristics, including high hydrophilicity, soft hand feel, good color fastness and absorbency. Cotton is the preferred fiber in terry fabrics, although other fibers such as bamboo, modal and lyocell can be used.
The towels are poly bagged and then shipped to hotels or other customers. In the past, the towel rolls were transported hundreds of kilometers to their destinations, but now we are able to bring this service close to our customers in Eastern Finland, which saves money and reduces our environmental footprint.
