Hotel Maintenance Checklist for the Holidays: 7 Jobs to Finish First
Hotel maintenance teams should finish their holiday prep three to four weeks before travel picks up, starting with out-of-order rooms and guest-room heat. When every room is sold, there’s no spare room to move a guest into and no quiet day to catch up. A heater that quits on a full night turns into a comp, a bad review and an emergency call. This guide covers the seven jobs to finish first, a week-by-week prep timeline, and the spare parts to stock before every room is full.
Quick Answer: Holiday Prep Timeline
| When | What to finish |
|---|---|
| 3–4 weeks out | Out-of-order rooms fixed; PTAC and fan-coil service started; parts ordered |
| 2 weeks out | Hot water checked; public areas walked; snow and ice supplies stocked |
| 1 week out | Last PTACs serviced; spare parts on the shelf; reporting process reviewed with front desk and housekeeping |
| During the holidays | Quick daily walk of public areas; fast response to guest-room calls; log every fix |
Why Do the Weeks Before the Holidays Matter So Much?
When every room is booked, there’s no spare room to move a guest into and no quiet day to catch up. A heater that quits on a full night turns into a comp, a bad review and an emergency call.
The work below is easier now, while occupancy is lower and rooms can come out of service for an hour.
1. How do you get out-of-order rooms back in service before the holidays?
Pull the out-of-order list and fix whatever is keeping each room off the market, starting with the rooms that have been down the longest.
Pull the out-of-order list and fix what’s keeping each room off the market: a leaking toilet, a broken PTAC, a damaged door lock, a stained ceiling tile. During the holidays every room is revenue, so start with the rooms that have been down the longest.
2. How do you get hotel PTAC units ready for winter?
Clean or replace filters, clean coils, clear the condensate drain and run every unit in heat mode before the first cold night.
Clean or change PTAC and fan-coil filters, clean coils, clear the condensate drain and run each unit in heat mode. A unit that blows cold air on the first cold night is the most common complaint you can prevent. Our commercial HVAC checklist covers the details.
3. How do you make sure hotel hot water keeps up at full occupancy?
Check that water heaters, boilers, mixing valves and recirculation pumps are working right before the busy mornings arrive.
Morning showers on a sold-out night are the real test. Check that water heaters and boilers are running right, mixing valves work and recirculation pumps run, following the manufacturer and your local codes. Fix slow recovery now, not after the first guest calls the front desk.
4. What do guests notice first in a hotel’s public areas?
Guests notice entrance doors, lighting, restrooms, ice and vending machines, and anything that squeaks, sticks or flickers.
Start at the entrance and walk to a guest room. Check automatic doors, lobby and corridor lighting, restrooms, ice and vending machines, and anything that squeaks, sticks or flickers. These are the first things holiday travelers notice.
5. How should hotels prepare entrances and parking for snow and ice?
Stock ice melt and shovels, put down entrance mats, check exterior lights and confirm the snow removal plan before the first storm.
Stock ice melt and shovels, put down entrance mats, check exterior lighting, and confirm your snow removal plan or contractor before the first storm. See our winterizing tips for the rest of the building.
6. What spare parts should a hotel stock for the holidays?
Stock the parts that fail at full occupancy: PTAC filters and common PTAC parts, light bulbs, toilet parts, shower cartridges, lock batteries and TV remotes.
Full occupancy wears out the small things fast. Keep extra PTAC filters and common PTAC parts, light bulbs, toilet flappers and fill valves, shower cartridges, door lock batteries and TV remotes on hand, so a five-minute fix doesn’t wait on a supplier closed for the holiday.
7. How can front desk and housekeeping report maintenance problems faster?
Give them a simple way to send a service request that maintenance can track to done, instead of a phone call that gets lost.
Front desk and housekeeping see problems first. Give them a quick way to report an issue and see when it’s fixed, instead of a phone call that gets lost. eWorkOrders service requests send the report straight to maintenance as a request that can be tracked to done.
How Does a CMMS Help Hotel Maintenance During the Holidays?
A CMMS gives the front desk, housekeeping and maintenance one place to report, assign and close out room problems, so nothing gets lost in a phone call. During the holidays that means rooms get back on the market faster.
- Service requests: front desk and housekeeping report a problem in seconds, and maintenance sees it right away (how service requests work).
- Out-of-order rooms on one list: every open room issue is a work order you can sort and track until it’s fixed.
- PTAC PMs: filter changes and coil cleaning run as recurring work orders, room by room.
- Parts on hand: track the PTAC parts, bulbs and toilet parts you stock so you know when to reorder.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should hotels start holiday maintenance prep?
Three to four weeks before the busy period. That leaves time to take rooms out of service for repairs and to order parts before suppliers slow down for the holidays.
What do hotel guests complain about most in winter?
Rooms that don’t heat well, slow hot water in the morning, and broken items in the room. Servicing heating units and checking hot water before the rush prevents most of these.
Which spare parts should a hotel keep on hand for the holidays?
Keep the parts that fail most at full occupancy: PTAC filters and common PTAC parts, light bulbs, toilet flappers and fill valves, shower cartridges, door lock batteries and TV remotes.
How can a CMMS help hotel maintenance during busy season?
A CMMS lets front desk and housekeeping report problems as service requests, puts every repair on a work order, and tracks out-of-order rooms until they’re fixed. That keeps rooms sellable and nothing gets lost in a phone call.
Final Thoughts
The holidays reward the hotels that did their maintenance in November. Fix the out-of-order rooms, service the heat, stock the parts and make reporting easy, and your team spends the busy weeks keeping up instead of catching up.
Keep Every Job on Schedule and On Record
Use our hotel maintenance checklists to plan the work, and keep every room ready with eWorkOrders. eWorkOrders has supported maintenance operations for over 30 years, serving teams at Honda and King River Packaging, rated 4.9 on Capterra and G2.
About the author: Janet Jaquis is Marketing Director at eWorkOrders, where she writes about maintenance strategy, asset reliability, and CMMS software for maintenance and facility teams.
