Christeyns cleans up at Adare Manor

13 February 2019


Adare Manor, located on the banks of the River Maigue in County Limerick, Ireland, is, set on 840 acres and incorporating a championship golf course and the only La Mer Spa in the British Isles, was awarded ‘Hotel of the Year 2018’ at the Virtuoso Best of the Best Awards. 

In summer 2017 the venue underwent extensive refurbishment and now hosts 104 bedrooms, a ballroom that can accommodate up to 350 guests, a year-round wedding business, plus its dining facilities, spa and golf clubhouse.

The hotel laundry, which comes under the jurisdiction of Director of Housekeeping Kate Feighery, runs both a drycleaning and a wetcleaning system.  Along with the day to day laundry of sheets, towels and catering linens, there are 515 staff uniforms to process and guest laundry requirements which can be anything from socks to wedding gowns. 

In May 2018, the hotel decided to re-evaluate the laundry programmes and products and look into improved ways of working that could add value to its services. Christeyns, which already provided the drycleaning chemicals, was invited to carry out a full assessment of the facility in order to offer guidance on the most effective solution to meet its growing requirements.

Due to the broad range of textiles, Christeyns recommended the use of both wet and dry laundry methods in addition to the regular wash cycles.  Machines were pre-programmed to cope with the demands and variants of the daily wash regime.  For drycleaning, the machines were set up with the Sultra range of detergents that include a cleaning enhancer, finisher and deodorising agent, all gentle on fabrics, leaving items easy to finish and with a pleasant aroma.

Christeyns’ Pro-Fit products were introduced for wet cleaning.  Pro-Fit detergent can be used at low temperatures and in all types of water hard or soft.  The range is gentle on fabric and fibres, being exclusively developed for wet cleaning delicate textiles.

A Flux auto-dosing system, installed in a unit outside the laundry to maximise on space, accurately matches detergent to wash load and continuously checks and correct dosages. The system allows the laundry team to monitor all aspects of the wash and has built in alarms to indicate when chemicals need replacing.

All the table linens at Adare Manor are specially designed and hand-made in Italy by Beltrami Linen, from 100% cotton and inclide colourd items as well as white. The laundry team take time to separate all the linens so as to give each piece the correct type of wash and to produce the best result.

As the hotel has a no starch policy– they don’t use folds or creases and all table linens are hand set and hand hung – it is doubly important that the wash programme produces items that are easy to handle.

Christeyns operations director Dave Aveyard has been working with the hotel, and explained: “Adare Manor is one of the few hotels in Ireland that has the capability of handling all its laundry requirements in-house.  Linens are a key element of the hospitality and service offering at the hotel and as such are of the upmost importance.”

 “Laundry, and the linens themselves, is a considerable outlay for any operation, but especially for a five-star hotel. Adare Manor understands the value of high quality textiles in terms of providing guests with an exceptional hotel experience and that in order to facilitate this, laundering standards must be second to none.”

Christeyns provided training for the laundry staff to ensure they were familiar with the latest techniques, covering all aspects of both dry- and wetcleaning, fibre identification, classification of garments, stain removal, finishing and specialist, delicate garment treatment as well as chemical safety.

“The new systems have made life much easier for my staff and our linen reject rate is now much reduced at under 8%.  Re-wash is even lower at only 2%, said Kate Feighery.  “This not only makes us more productive but also saves on detergent, water and energy usage. There are instances when time is of the essence, such as a stain on a wedding dress that needed removing ready for the big event.  As we can now handle such tasks professionally in-house, this was accomplished and the garment returned in an hour and half by our head of dry cleaning. “

For Christeyns, being awarded the laundry detergent business for such a highly prestigious hotel was a proud moment. “We couldn’t be happier to be working with Adare Manor, “ commented Aveyard,  “and we are delighted to help support them with our range of services and expertise. The work carried out at Adare Manor is part of an on-going strategy as we look to further develop this market sector of luxury hotels in the UK and Ireland.”

The hotel laundry, which employs 14 trained staff,  is open seven days a week for at least 12 hours a day and processes on average 41,100 kilos of laundry a month. This will increase in the summer months. Its deluxe rooms feature king sized beds with luxurious 300 thread count, 100% cotton bed linen, goose down pillows and duvets, plus 650g cotton towels and monogrammed bathrobes and duvet covers. 

“The laundry facility has gone from strength to strength since the new system has been in operation, making a huge difference to both the quality of output and the day to day work experience for our laundry staff,” said Feighery.  “One of the first things you notice is the lovely smell when you take the laundry out of the washer.  And it’s not just our staff that have noticed.  Guests have asked me where they can buy the fabric softener we use.”

 



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