The Grand Hotel

Built in 1897, The Grand Hotel at Lytham St Annes sits overlooking the seafront on the North West coast of England. A traditional Victorian building, it has served as a family run hotel for the past 22 years, concealing 54 stylish and modern rooms behind its characterful exterior. With the hotel also boasting a chic 22-room out-house, as well as a luxurious and popular spa, The Grand turned to Electrolux to provide a complete laundry solution which would allow them to meet the consistently high demand for clean linen.

Despite being over one hundred years old, it wasn’t the building’s Victorian facade that was in need of an overhaul, as the hotel’s old laundry equipment began to show the effects of providing over ten years of high-volume service for its two buildings and busy spa. The hotel looked to switch to electric equipment, which would be more cost effective both in terms of energy efficiency and by allowing laundry processes to be managed by just one operator.

Convinced of the benefits of having an on-premises laundry (OPL) over outsourcing, The Grand concluded that modernising its laundry facilities would offer long term savings and control that the busy hotel requires, and turned to Electrolux Professional to provide a bespoke solution. Electrolux supplied a full OPL, including washing, drying and ironing equipment, within the hotel’s main building, after working with the hotel’s owner and managers to ensure that each piece of state of the art equipment was chosen to match the hotel’s exact needs and occupancy.

To cope with its constant cleaning demands, the hotel opted for opted for two W5240 and two W5105 High Spin washers of 240l and 105l volume to strike a balance between low water and energy consumption, whilst maximizing wash results with shorter processing time.

The Efficient Dosing System (EDS) on the washers has been particularly useful for The Grand. Working in combination with the Automatic Saving System (AS), which determines for the real load inside the drum at the beginning of a cycle and supplies the water accordingly, the EDS adjusts the quantity of detergents to the real load inside the drum, providing best results at minimum cost.

Two T550 tumble dryers were also specified. Complete with Residual Moisture Control™ (RMC) – which measures the actual moisture control of the laundry – the dryers provide providing optimised economy and enable the hotel to complete two full loads per hour. Additionally, one IC44832 cylinder-type ironer was chosen to give items an outstanding finish. Safe and easy-to-use, IC44832 ironers are designed for durability, with nickel-plated cylinders that prevent rust and improve life-time maintenance, and super-efficient patented burners to minimise downtime.

Richard Webb, owner of The Grand, commented: “We’ve got a lovely on premises laundry now. We clean everything, from bedding and bath towels, to tablecloths, napkins and chef’s whites. We even use microfibre to mop our floors, which has been such a success that we’re going to start using these cloths to wipe surfaces.

“By gaining control over our energy usage we’ve seen big savings in our utilities. In cost terms, our energy usage has come down at least 30 per cent now that it’s so much more controllable. “We recommend Electrolux wholeheartedly. It’s been a large investment, but a fantastic investment. The success has been felt all round, not only for the quality result that we can show off on our beds and tables, but for our staff who also enjoy using it. “They particularly love the Efficient Dosing System. Before this equipment was introduced, problems arose regularly as staff found it difficult to judge dosage levels for the amount of laundry in the machine. Now it’s as easy as pushing a button for laundry operators to produce the sought-after standard of cleanliness and finish every time.”

In 2014, Electrolux Professional became the only laundry manufacturer worldwide to receive HACCP International Certification. Developed through analysis of the needs and challenges of laundry operators across the globe, the Electrolux Line 5000 has been honoured under the International Certification and provides reassurance for hotels looking to bring the laundering of linen in-house, and guarantees machine performance and hygiene.