The Professional Housekeepers Association NSW (PHAN) held an ‘Olympic-themed’ function at Sofitel Wentworth, Sydney on 10 August in a celebration for all of the housekeeping fraternity. Each year PHAN has a major event and this year it tapped the Olympic Games’ excitement, with the ballroom appropriately decorated in national flags and bronze, silver and gold balloons.
“It is a great opportunity for the executive housekeeping fraternity to get together and celebrate the important role our housekeeping teams play in the successful operation of major hotels and hospitality sites,” states PHAN president Maureen Jolowicz, Radisson Blu Hotel Sydney’s executive housekeeper. “This event can only be held with the great support we receive from our sponsors,” she adds.
“This is an event to thank the line staff, the housekeeping fraternity, and people at the coalface, from the room attendants and the house persons to coordinators, housekeepers and maintenance staff; it’s a celebration where we can involve everyone,” Jolowicz commented, “and we especially want to thank our sponsors for the generosity and support in making this event possible.”
The dinner was sponsored by 22 companies that allowed for a modest ticket charge at $30 per person, making it affordable for everyone to attend. Sponsors of the dinner included A L Hayles, Accommodation Linen, Dallen Uniforms, Empire, Frenkel Textiles, Lawrence Dry Cleaners, P&R Consultants, Q Flow International, Sealey, Spotless/Ensign, Valitel, Ralph St Laundry, Total Workwear, Cannon Hygiene, HRC Group, New Century, Challenger Cleaning, Diversey, Nanospace and Scuttle Services.
PHAN, which has some 40 individual senior executive housekeeper and industry training executives, was host to 225 people, who arrived in various metallic dressage and sporting paraphernalia inline with the ‘best dressed bronze, silver, gold Olympic theme’ and were privy to photos holding an Olympic torch recycled from the Sydney 2000 games, complete with a red cellophane flame.
“The dinner coincided with the Olympics so it was a fitting theme, as last year we had a Christmas in July theme and wanted something different. There is also a lot of different nationalities represented in housekeeping and we wanted to celebrate that by bringing them altogether for a night, which is why we thought the flag decorations on each table was a nice touch,” shared PHAN member Helen Hofman of St Mary’s Cathedral.
The Olympic game consisted of a battle of the toilet rolls with teams of three from each hotel throwing them into a toilet seat bowl. The team with the most rolls in the bowl would move onto the final round for a ‘roll throw-off’, which saw the crowd erupt in excited screams. The winning teams were awarded gold, silver and bronze medals followed by the drawing of the lucky door prizes and then dancing to finish off the night.
“We’ve had a great turnout and it’s great to see everyone having such a good time, because that was what this evening was all about – a celebration,” said PHAN’s public officer Mavis Hedrik.