A day in the life of The Vic’s Head Housekeeper, Anca
June 27, 2024 | The Victoria | 6 minute read
Providing a high-quality service for our wonderful customers is no easy feat; with so much competition along the coast, and guests having a range of choice on where to spend their time and money – why should they come to us?
Well, if you go by the copious amount of fantastic reviews we receive from guests, as well as the stunning location and amazing food, one of the most regular pieces of positive feedback we get is how brilliant our team are.
So, we thought it would be a great idea for you to have an insight into who keeps The Victoria running. Across a series of journals, these ‘A Day in the Life’ posts will shed some light on those staff members that play such an essential part to providing a high-quality experience, and that make The Vic what it is.
In this post, we will be putting a spotlight on our Housekeeping Team; an extremely hard-working group of people who have an incredible passion for providing immaculate bedrooms – something our guests comment on time and time again in reviews.
This piece will be written by our wonderful Head Housekeeper, Anca. And as our rooms are all different from each other, scroll down to read room recommendations from our housekeeping team!
A day in the life of Anca
A regular day at work for me can vary quite a lot! As Head Housekeeper, I am responsible for researching products to enhance the guest experience and help us meet our sustainability goals, as well as providing hands on support with the team, cleaning the bedrooms and restaurant areas.
My day usually starts with opening the Hotel at 7am and cleaning all of the downstairs areas ready for the guests to come down for breakfast. It is one of the quietest parts of the day and it’s often a nice moment to catch up with the team, as well as the receptionists and waiting staff before things get busy.
Reception will let us know how many rooms we have leaving and arriving, and how many guests we have staying. As people go out to explore the beautiful beach or grounds, or as they check out and head off home, we work our way around the rooms making sure everything is ready for their return or new arrivals.
We have a lot of guests who return year on year, sometimes even every few months, and having been here 10 years now I have come to learn the preferences of many of our regulars; some preferring goats milk to regular milk, some requesting two sheets rather than duvets, and so on.
I believe it’s important to pay attention to these little details as it what makes The Victoria experience special.
Attention to detail is very important in all areas of the Hotel but particularly in Housekeeping. I regularly do room checks to ensure even the smallest of details have been considered – though with such a great team it’s rare that anything is missed!
One of my favourite parts of the job is adding the little extras to the rooms; the dog biscuits, bed and towel for our four-legged friends, birthday cards, and themed towels for anniversaries. Towel art is something I started doing a couple of years ago and now it’s a key part of our offering for guests – my latest idea is to try to create a small dog out of the dog towel but that’s still a work in progress.
Once all of the rooms are finished, we then stock up laundry, refresh the public toilets, and if the restaurant is very busy, jump in there to help clear tables. While the team attend to these things, I will often be working with the maintenance team and AGM to look at areas to improve the guest experience – it’s easy to become so familiar with the rooms that you lose sight of what it’s like from a customer point of view. Little changes like extra shelving or a new wardrobe can make all the difference so it’s important to constantly review what we offer and keep the customer at the front of our minds.
My day usually ends around 4pm. I live very close to the Hotel and get to enjoy a beautiful view of the marshes on my way home. Having arrived at Holkham nearly 10 years ago, with limited experience and English, I have really enjoyed growing and developing my skills, working in the restaurant as well as in Housekeeping, and building my way up to a senior position. Heading into my second year as Head Housekeeper I am excited for the future ahead and for continuing to work on ways to exceed expectations and provide a wonderful customer experience.
Anca when she first started working at The Victoria
Hotel room recommendations from The Victoria’s Housekeeping team:
You can find out more about our hotel rooms and staying at The Vic here.
Anca:
My favourite room is Room 17 as it is very spacious and has a wonderful bathroom with a walk in shower and bath.
Ovi:
I like Room 5 the most. It has the best most beautiful view and you can enjoy it from the comfort of your bed!
Tilda:
Definitely Room 7 is my favourite. It is bright and airy, and very private and quiet. I also like that it looks over at the woods.
