[Richard Cole]

I have recently landed a job cleaning the carpets at a very up market hotel, mainly spotting but also cleaning corridors and rugs and stairs.  All the carpets are good quality wool, that i have seen so far.  The trouble is access, they don't want me using the main entrance and i have to go through the staff entrance at the back which entails a steep flight of stairs, its an old building and no lifts either. My main machine is the Airflex Storm but i've not been able to use it yet due to access problems.  So far i have got away with using my spotter machine, Sabrina 5000 as the jobs have all been small, so far.

The other problem i have is that guests and staff are everywhere and keep getting in my way , hotel will not / can not close any public areas if i'm working there.

Based on the first month and assuming they will keep on using me it should be worth an extra £6K a year for me, so i'm thinking of getting a smaller machine suitable for this particular job but also double up as a back up machine.  It needs to be light, small with psi of min of 130 but preferably 250psi and twin vac, do not really need heat as long as i can use Magma heater that i already have and existing wand and hoses, any suggestions?

[Robin Ray]

Airflex mini, Altec Express

[Richard Cole]

Great minds think a like Robin, i've just been reading up about both of those machines .

[simonmnickson]

Use your 17 inch Rotary and Encap it.

[Richard Cole]

That is another option Simon, although i sold my rotary getting a new one next month for doing hard floors mainly and going for the Rocky from Kev Martin.

So Airflex Mini or Alltec Express - basically same machine
or Jaguar Cub - has higher adjustable psi of 300

or keep my spotter and use rotary and as Simon suggested encap it?

[john martin]

probably the machines mentioned for agility  . Preferably with the inbuilt inline heater to save you carrying and setting up the magma .  One downside might be capacity as in you may have more trips to a hotel kitchen or wherever , might not be near ... and waste water trips , i dont think an exposed dirty bucket looks good in a hotel .I always fill the machine and then wheel it out side to empty , you might not have that option though .  Also a silencer would be good around guests .
I use the enforcer in hotels without issue , could u not get help up the stairs or just haul it ?      

[Richard Cole]

John, the stairs i need to use are quite steep and there is a sharp turn half way up, so taking an Enforcer or my Storm up is not really an issue, but once in the hotel there are stairs everywhere so don't want to be calling for help lifting it every 5 minutes. Here what your saying about the built in heater though, just a bit of a pain to fork out extra when i already have an inline heater.

[john martin]

John, the stairs i need to use are quite steep and there is a sharp turn half way up, so taking an Enforcer or my Storm up is not really an issue, but once in the hotel there are stairs everywhere so don't want to be calling for help lifting it every 5 minutes. Here what your saying about the built in heater though, just a bit of a pain to fork out extra when i already have an inline heater.

looking at the  current prices heat only seems to add 200 to both , pretty good value considering the cost of an external .

[Jamie Pearson]

Use your 17 inch Rotary and Encap it.

This and spotter machine may be enough.

[adrian marsh]

Richard. Noise can be a serious issue in these places. If the area's you mention are cleaned on a regular basis then encaping is by far your best option. Dare I suggest even Solutions FC will do the job
Why on earth did you sell your rotary? Can't understand that one, but I'm sure you've probably regretted it ever since.

[Richard Cole]

Yes regretting not having a rotary Adrian but its only been a couple of months and i'm getting a new one soon.  I had Victor Sprite 15" standard speed but found it a bit too fast for hard floor and until recently did not get many commercial jobs.  Yes have Fusion Clean and used it on a couple of small commercial jobs recently using my Floormac, but rotary would be better.

Encaping may be an option, i'm still getting to know the hotel and what it is that they need doing.  I'm trying to get them to commit to having rooms completely HWE at least every 12 months on a rota basis, they have around 50 rooms but some are suites with comprising of up to 3 rooms.  Mostly it is just spotting at the moment although i did a long hallway yesterday which i cleaned by encaping, and this morning two large rugs and a fitted carpet in a tiled hall.  So as you can see it is quite varied and no one method will suit.  The trouble is that access is a nightmare, thought i found the answer this morning whilst working in the Spa and could see the car park just outside, unfortunately when i checked there was a submerged area with outdoor plunge pool and a spiral staircase which would rule out both rotary and a medium to large machine, so my only access to main hotel is via staff entrance which is narrow staircase.

[Steve Chapman]

The sabrina maxi would be great for this, have been using one for years for these sort of jobs, saves killing yourself lugging heavy machines up steep steps etc


Steve

[Richard Cole]

I have the Sabrina mini 5000 Steve that i use for spotting and agree the maxi might make a good machine for this job but i suspect it might be bigger than the Express or Airflex mini and i already have a Airflex Storm on van so size is also a consideration and having built in heat would be a nice bonus too.

[B Bailey]

I have used my rocky on some carpets,and it does a great job. but if you have got steep stairs it may be too heavy, I now use my old texatherm rotary just for carpets and my rocky just for hard floors.

[Richard Cole]

Bill, Steve Allan told me much the same about the Rocky, so might get a separate rotary for commercial.

[Adrian Walton]

Pay attention to people walking about when cleaning carpets in hotel public areas especially if they have marble floors as well because no matter how well you cone it off or put wet floor signs out people will still walk across it and slip they always do in paces like that.

[Richard Cole]

Thankfully no marble floors but yes lots of people walking around. I did a corridor yesterday afternoon, 118 ft x 3 ft which i encapped after a good vac and the amount of guests and chambermaids who interrupted me was frustrating to say the least.

[Richard Cole]

Is the Alltec Express or Airflex Mini small enough to use as a spotting machine?  As if i did get one i don't want to have my Storm, Express or Mini and a Sabrina 5000 on my van, i'm short of space already so if it was suitable for doing spotting and upholstery and back up i might as well sell the Sabrina.

[Radek Jablonski]

No, it is too big to use as a spotting machine.