Gul Tackles Housework on a Grand Scale

Making up to 200 beds daily, using specialist products to preserve classic French polished furniture and cleaning intricate corners in very individual rooms is all part of a day’s work for Gul Kapur and her team.

 

When Elite Hotels bought Luton Hoo in 1999 the 18^th century mansion was in a state of considerable disrepair. Following a painstaking £60 million restoration programme, which took nearly two years to complete, it has been given a magnificent new lease of life and Gul Kapur and her team are responsible for the huge daily housekeeping task to keep it looking at its best.

 

Gul, the Executive Head Housekeeper at Luton Hoo, Hotel Golf & Spa, heads the 30 housekeeping staff who work in shifts from 7am to 10pm daily, and they all have an eye for detail when it comes to cleaning.

 

Elite Hotels employed a small army of specialist contractors and conservationists to refurbish the mansion house and they had to deal with the idiosyncrasies of high ceilings, curved walls and original fixtures and fittings protected under Luton Hoo’s status as a Grade 1 listed building.

 

“This makes working at Luton Hoo completely different from working at a modern hotel,” said Gul, who was among the first members of staff to join Luton Hoo last May, months in advance of the opening date.

 

“It is a very interesting building to work in and comes with its own set of challenges, but I very much see it as part of our heritage and that is what makes it so different from most hotels. I have been involved with three hotel openings, setting up the housekeeping and laundry departments from scratch and putting systems and procedures in place, but Luton Hoo is totally unique.”

 

Gul worked for the high profile Taj group in India before moving to the UK where she worked for several top hotels in London, including the Apex City and five-star Grove.

 

“At Luton Hoo the public rooms and guest rooms contain bespoke furniture made especially for the hotel, along with original features that have been retained, such as a cast-iron roll top bath in the Queen’s Suite, marble panelling, taps and fireplaces. We have to preserve all the finishes and be very careful to protect the furniture at the same time. For example, special mats are placed underneath all the flower vases and arrangements to safeguard the polished surfaces.”

 

Moving some of the flower arrangements can also be a job in itself as many of them have been specially designed for Luton Hoo.

 

“The florist creates arrangements in colours that complement the different rooms and has designed very tall arrangements to go in the rooms with high ceilings,” said Gul.

 

Luton Hoo has its own in-house laundry that operates from 7pm to 4.30pm daily, providing Gul and her team with the bed linen, towels and robes required for the 144 guest bedrooms at Luton Hoo.

 

“When I first started work the laundry and many of the other rooms were empty shells,” said Gul. “Restoring Luton Hoo to its original splendour has been a major achievement and I am extremely proud to have been involved with it.”

 

General Manager Richard Baker said: “Luton Hoo was meticulously and lovingly restored over a 22-month period, with the emphasis on retaining the original character of the mansion. It is now our responsibility to preserve the building for future generations and Gul and her team play a very important role in keeping the interior in tip-top condition.”