A two day visit from Prochem’s training team is helping ensure luxury West End hotels offer the premium experience guests expect.

High-quality wool carpets need regular attention and care if they are to be kept in the best condition.

The fibre can be degraded and aged if badly cleaned or even have their warranties invalidated, if they are not looked after properly.

But a well-kept, woven, wool carpet could be expected to perform well and last up to 30 years.

That’s exactly what was expected by iconic hotels such as Claridge’s and The Berkeley, too!

Corridor carpeting at Claridge’s – just beautiful

After sending one of its senior housekeeping staff on a Prochem carpet cleaning course, the leading chemical manufacturer and training institution were called upon to help them maintain their carpets.

Having contacted Prochem’s Sales & Training Manager, Phil Jones arranged a site visit and meeting after which he wrote a bespoke course based on the hotel’s requirements.

A two-day course was agreed with the first day explaining the basics of how carpets benefit from regular maintenance taking in low moisture cleaning methods; wool fibre and carpet construction; and the need for WoolSafe approved products to be used on such prestigious carpets.

Phil took a range of machines and WoolSafe approved products into the hotels to demonstrate how their luxurious carpets should be maintained.

During the interactive first day, the staff learnt how to identify fibres; test the pH of the carpet (so as to keep the carpet fibres in the best condition); and how to clean them without causing any damage.

That evening, some light-hearted homework tasked the housekeeping staff with discovering what their own carpets were made of through the simple ‘burn test’ they had just learnt and to report back in the morning.

Claridge’s housekeeping staff get to grips with stains

The following day was a specialised stain removal course.

Hotels across the world suffer from a wide range of stains on their carpets from red wine and coffee, to make-up, ink and sometimes, blood.

Phil had brought in various types of pre-stained carpets and then the team members took their time to learn how to identify and remove different stains, test the pH residue and establish which of the vast number of Prochem products were best suited for each stain and fibre type.

They discovered that, as long as the wool was in a good condition, they could get many of the stains out with a WoolSafe approved product, such as B122 Neutral Pro-Spotter or E343 Natural Carpet Spotter.

If the stain didn’t come out easily, they learnt how to use more specialised Prochem products, such as E400 Red RX, to help remove the red colouring from a red wine spill out of the carpet, with the aid of a warm iron or how to remove tannin stains, caused by coffee & tea, using B195 Coffee Stain Remover.