HEAD HOUSEKEEPER – HANDS-ON LEADERSHIP ROLE

HEAD HOUSEKEEPER – HANDS-ON LEADERSHIP ROLE

Stardust Motel | Wallace, Idaho
42-Room Independent Motel | Full-Time, Year-Round
$17.00–$19.00/hour DOE

We like personality. We also really, really like clean rooms.

Since new ownership in 2022, Stardust Motel has built a reputation for exceptional cleanliness, friendly service, and a guest experience that can hold its own against the big branded hotels.

We are independent, vintage, a little quirky, and definitely not corporate.

But do not confuse non-corporate with no structure.

We have training. We have checklists. We have SOPs, policies, room inspections, productivity expectations, and established systems that our team is expected to follow.

Now we are looking for an experienced Head Housekeeper who is ready for a hands-on leadership role—someone who can lead the department while working right alongside the team.

Someone who notices the hair in the corner, the crooked bed skirt, the linen closet getting low, AND the housekeeper who needs a little coaching.

This position reports directly to the Assistant General Manager (AGM).

What This Role Really Is

The hands-on part matters.

We are a 42-room independent motel, and our Head Housekeeper takes a room board just like the rest of the housekeeping team while also leading the department.

You will clean rooms, inspect rooms, assign boards, coach your team, supervise laundry, monitor productivity, communicate with the AGM and Front Desk, identify maintenance issues, and keep the department organized.

We are a small, hands-on operation. We do not have a Head Housekeeper who only supervises from the sidelines.

Our housekeeping team is expected to complete 10–12 rooms per housekeeper between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. while meeting Stardust cleaning standards and established room-time metrics. The Head Housekeeper is expected to meet those same standards with their assigned board while managing the responsibilities of the department.

There is also an important difference between working alongside your team and doing your team's work for them.

You will absolutely help when something unexpected happens. But the goal is to train, coach, and hold your housekeepers accountable so they can successfully complete their own assigned boards—not create a team that depends on the Head Housekeeper to finish their work.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead daily housekeeping operations while completing your own assigned room board.
• Assign daily room boards based on occupancy, staffing, and operational priorities.
• Lead the daily morning huddle alongside the AGM, bringing together Housekeeping and Front Desk to review occupancy, priorities, special requests, staffing, safety reminders, and daily goals.
• Train, coach, mentor, and motivate housekeeping staff.
• Hold team members accountable to established standards and productivity expectations.
• Conduct room inspections and provide immediate coaching when needed.
• Monitor room quality, productivity, room times, and department performance.
• Participate in interviewing housekeeping applicants and provide hiring recommendations to the AGM.
• Train and develop new housekeeping employees.
• Build a positive, professional, supportive, and accountable team culture.
• Develop housekeepers who can successfully complete their own boards without relying on the Head Housekeeper to do their work.

Housekeeping Operations

• Take and complete an assigned room board as part of your regular daily responsibilities.
• Ensure all policies, SOPs, cleaning checklists, inspection standards, and procedures are consistently followed.
• Ensure rooms are cleaned efficiently without sacrificing quality.
• Monitor progress throughout the day and ensure daily room boards are completed on time.
• Inspect rooms while continuing to manage your own workload.
• Maintain beginning-of-day and end-of-day department readiness.
• Ensure housekeeping carts are clean, organized, and fully stocked.
• Ensure linen closets are clean, organized, and properly stocked.
• Maintain deep-cleaning schedules and special housekeeping projects.
• Identify room, carpet, and maintenance issues early enough to address them before guest arrival.

Laundry, Linen & Supplies

Laundry is part of Housekeeping, and the Head Housekeeper is responsible for supervising it.

• Supervise laundry operations and laundry staff.
• Ensure laundry production keeps pace with occupancy.
• Monitor linen levels and organization.
• Ensure linen closets remain properly stocked.
• Maintain organized laundry and storage areas.
• Monitor housekeeping supplies and inventory.
• Identify supply needs before we run out.
• Submit supply and ordering needs to the AGM.
• Work with the AGM on linen, supply, and inventory systems.

Communication & Maintenance

A Head Housekeeper cannot operate in a housekeeping bubble.

• Maintain consistent communication with the AGM, your direct supervisor.
• Communicate room status and priorities with Front Desk throughout the day.
• Communicate staffing concerns early.
• Identify and report maintenance issues promptly.
• Work closely with Maintenance and the AGM on room repairs and preventative maintenance.
• Communicate solutions, not just problems.
• Provide clear pass-down information when needed.

Front Desk Cross-Training

Yes, you will learn Front Desk too.

The Head Housekeeper will be fully trained to work Front Desk shifts, including providing Front Desk coverage on the AGM's scheduled day off when needed.

You should be comfortable learning our systems, helping guests, understanding arrivals and departures, and seeing the property from both the Housekeeping and Front Desk sides.

During slower months, this position may require multitasking between Front Desk and Housekeeping responsibilities—including taking a housekeeping board while helping support Front Desk operations.

Safety & Guest Awareness

• Understand basic First Aid procedures and appropriate workplace response.
• Understand Human Trafficking Awareness, including warning signs and property reporting procedures.
• Pass that knowledge and awareness on to the housekeeping team through coaching, meetings, and daily conversations.
• Promote a safe environment for employees and guests.
• Ensure safety concerns, suspicious activity, damage, and unusual situations are promptly reported.

When Winter Arrives...

Things change.

During the slower season, we have fewer rooms to turn—but that does not mean we sit around waiting for summer.

This is when we tackle the projects that keep Stardust looking great.

Everyone pitches in.

Depending on property needs and assignments from the GM or AGM, winter work will include:

• Deep cleaning guest rooms
• Carpet cleaning
• Painting
• Organizing and inventory projects
• Preventative maintenance projects
• Property cleaning inside and outside
• Raking leaves
• Shoveling snow
• Preparing the property for the next busy season
• Other property projects as needed

The Head Housekeeper will continue taking a housekeeping board as occupancy requires while overseeing the department and supporting Front Desk operations.

Flexibility is a big deal here.

What Success Looks Like

You are succeeding in this position when:

• You successfully manage the department while completing your own assigned room board.
• Your housekeeping team independently completes 10–12 rooms per housekeeper between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. while meeting quality and room-time standards.
• Rooms consistently meet Stardust inspection standards.
• Daily room boards are completed on time without sacrificing quality.
• Your housekeepers complete their own assigned work rather than depending on you to finish it.
• Housekeeping carts and linen closets are stocked and organized.
• Laundry keeps pace with occupancy.
• Supply needs are communicated to the AGM before shortages occur.
• Maintenance concerns are identified and reported promptly.
• Housekeeping, Front Desk, Maintenance, and the AGM communicate effectively.
• The department is prepared at the beginning and end of every day—boards ready, carts stocked, closets organized, laundry flowing, work areas reset, and the team prepared for the workload.
• Guests continue to recognize the cleanliness and quality of our rooms.
• The housekeeping team operates with professionalism, accountability, teamwork, and pride.

What We Are Looking ForRequired

• Minimum two years of recent Head Housekeeper or comparable housekeeping leadership experience in a recognized hotel brand, resort, or professionally managed independent hotel.
• Experience supervising, training, coaching, and holding housekeeping teams accountable.
• Strong understanding of hotel room inspections and quality control.
• Experience working with room-time and productivity metrics.
• Ability to successfully clean an assigned room board while leading daily housekeeping operations.
• Strong organizational, communication, and leadership skills.
• Ability and willingness to work weekends and holidays.
• Ability to perform the physical duties of housekeeping while leading the department.
• Comfortable learning and working Front Desk operations.
• Flexible attitude and willingness to jump in wherever the property needs you.

Preferred

• Preventative maintenance experience.
• Front Desk or hotel PMS experience.
• Basic computer skills.
• Experience managing linen and housekeeping inventories.

Physical Requirements

This is an active position. You must be able to:

• Stand and walk throughout the shift.
• Bend, kneel, reach, climb stairs, and perform repetitive cleaning tasks.
• Lift and carry up to 50 pounds.
• Safely use housekeeping equipment and cleaning chemicals.
• Perform daily guest-room cleaning duties while leading the department.

Schedule & Compensation

$17.00–$19.00 per hour DOE

This is a full-time, year-round position. Full-time at Stardust is 35 hours per week. Housing available for the right person.

The typical schedule is 8:00 a.m. till 4 or 5pm, with an optional 30-minute unpaid lunch. Weekends and Holidays a MUST.

During our busy season, May through October, the schedule is typically 5–6 days per week, depending on occupancy and staffing.

During the slower season, the schedule is generally 4 to 5 days per week.

Hotels do not always cooperate with perfectly planned schedules. Call-outs happen. A full house happens. Snow happens. Sometimes everyone has to jump in.

There may be times when staffing shortages, unusually high occupancy, or other operational needs require additional hours or days. Flexibility with hours and days is an important part of this leadership position.

Single housing may be available for the right candidate.

Why Stardust?

We take housekeeping seriously because our guests notice the difference.

You will not be walking into a department where you have to invent everything from scratch. We already have systems, training, checklists, policies, cleaning procedures, and standards in place.

What we need is the right person to work them, lead them, and keep raising the bar.

If you are the kind of leader who can make a bed, inspect the next room, answer a team question, notice a maintenance issue, check on laundry, communicate with Front Desk, and somehow still know exactly where your department stands—we should probably talk.

We work hard. We help each other. We have high standards. And we try not to take ourselves too seriously while taking the guest experience very seriously.

If you are a hands-on leader who takes pride in exceptional housekeeping, enjoys developing a strong team, and is not afraid to roll up your sleeves and work right alongside them, we would love to hear from you.

Ready to Apply?

If this sounds like the kind of team you want to lead, apply directly through Indeed with your resume and a brief note telling us about your housekeeping leadership experience.

We are specifically looking for someone with recent hotel housekeeping leadership experience who understands that this is a hands-on position—you will lead the team and take your own room board every day.

Coming from out of the area? Single-unit housing available for the right person.

If that sounds like you, we would love to hear from you.

Stardust Motel | Wallace, Idaho
Work Location: In person

Pay: $17.00 - $19.00 per hour

Expected hours: 35.0 – 45.0 per week

Benefits:

• Employee discount

Work Location: In person

Salary : $17 - $19