The 28-Minute Turn: Optimizing Housekeeping Metrics

Minutes Per Room (MPR) is the industry standard for measuring housekeeping efficiency, but it is fundamentally flawed when used in isolation. By strictly tracking the time spent inside the physical room, operators ignore the massive inefficiencies happening in the corridors, linen closets, and service elevators.

The Transit Penalty

A housekeeper might achieve a 28-minute MPR for a checkout, but if they spend 5 minutes per room walking to a poorly stocked linen closet, waiting for a service elevator, or backtracking for supplies, the effective time is 33 minutes. Across a 15-room board, that transit penalty equates to 75 minutes of lost productivity per shift—nearly equivalent to cleaning three additional rooms.

Rethinking the Board

Modern operators are shifting from strict section-based boarding to dynamic proximity routing. By utilizing a cloud-based PMS or housekeeping optimization software (like Alice or Optii), room assignments can be batched by physical proximity and real-time checkout status, dramatically reducing transit time.

Calculating Required FTEs

Use the Turn Time Estimator to calculate your exact Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) requirements based on true occupancy and total cycle time (cleaning + transit). Accurate modeling prevents the chronic understaffing that leads to overtime dependencies and high turnover.