Indispensable advice

The washroom is very often taken as an indicator for the hygiene standards of hotels, restaurants and public buildings. Within split-seconds, visitors form a mostly unconscious opinion of the business by the cleanliness and neatness of the restrooms. This is why the washroom is often called the unofficial calling card of a business. Therefore, it should be regarded with corresponding attention, as only a neat and clean washroom makes guests feel comfortable and welcome. 

A washroom with toilet paper, soap, a hand towel and disinfectant dispenser as well as air freshener and touchless fittings offers everything necessary for hygiene. Ideally, the dispensers blend with the room design. Dispensers with different finishes offer great possibilities and can blend with dark or light wall paint, modern or country styles.

Questions you should ask when choosing dispensers, to determine the features and benefits of the dispenser system you will need, are:

•Is this a public washroom?

•Is this washroom used often or little?

•Where is the washroom located (e.g. in a hygienic sensitive area)? 

•Who is the typical user of this washroom?

•What is the service interval of this washroom?

 

Washing & drying hands

The soap should be of high-quality and pleasant to the skin. Also, the dispenser should not drip as this leaves unattractive marks on the sink or floor. Foam soap is preferable to a cream soap, as it creates visually a larger portion and, by that, makes guests use less. There can be a difference of as much as up to three times in consumption, depending on the offered product.

The possibility of drying the hands should be given ideally close to the sink to avoid water on the floor, which is both unattractive as well as a possible safety hazard. Modern hand towel dispensers offer a capacity of up to 1.085 sheets. The sheets are ideally pre-cut by the dispenser, which make the costs per sheet calculable. A delay in between each sheet of paper dispensed ensures that guests won’t use several sheets of paper out of habit rather than need. Intelligent dispensers also allow a mode that offers a maximum of two sheets of paper at a time. This means that, if two sheets of paper are dispensed and not taken, it won’t dispense any more. This ensures scattered paper on the floor is a thing of the past, plus, consumption is reduced and misuse is counteracted.

Another important factor for a perfect washroom is the simple and intuitive use of the dispensers with an easy-to-understand and descriptive print on the dispensers’ front. A touchless model is preferable to a manual one, as it ensures highest hygiene standards. 

 

A question of cost

Washroom dispensers should be easy and quick to service and refills should last until the next service is up. The paper dispensers should feature a 2-roll-system where the second roll is automatically available once the first is used up. The soap dispenser should have a reserve of product so guests always have the chance to properly wash their hands and the service staff don’t need to rush to service only one dispenser. Ideally, the service staff will be able to easily tell whether a dispenser needs refilling, e.g. by a LED or an inspection window. All these factors help to save time and costs. 

An air freshening system is indispensable to create a pleasant atmosphere in any washroom. Modern air fresheners work with perfumes rather than aerosols, are individually adjustable and offer a nice selection of perfumes for the different seasons or tastes. Touchless fittings complete the appearance of a hygienic washroom, with taps offering automatic flush/stop and a flow limitation where up to 75% of water and energy can be saved. 

Whenever a washroom needs furnishing, the question that should always be asked is "how often does it need servicing and how much does the servicing cost?", because, nowadays, the servicing of a washroom is much more expensive than anything else. Choose surfaces that are quick and easy to clean, dispensers that are quick to service and help reduce consumption while, at the same time, offering never-empty concepts, and select modern taps that help to save water. The advantages will come back to you twofold: less costs in servicing AND satisfied guests that will rate your business undeniably higher.