Press Release

Responding flexibly to requirements

“Each day is full of surprises“, said Ragna Werler, authorised signatory for Fliegel GmbH und Co. KG Textilservice, speaking at a panel discussion entitled ’New demands in housekeeping – trends and possible approaches’. It was “a huge challenge“ not to know until the last minute whether there was sufficient laundry on any given day. Since 1992 the Berlin-based company Fliegel has been operating a laundry service for hotels with a 24-hour turnaround, including pick-up, return and a laundry rental system. Every day around 900 employees process around 120 tonnes of laundry for hotels.

The last four years had been a rollercoaster, said Werler. After 2019, a boom year, business came to a standstill due to the pandemic. In 2021 it went from “nought to 150“, and since 2023 “we are noticing many having to deal with the cost situation, but increasingly a focus on sustainability again.“

Employees want to be trusted and have good working conditions

The other two panellists – Carsten Rudolph, hotel manager of the Park Plaza, and Marius Gross, managing director of the Lieblang group of service providers, which includes hotel services – echoed that view. The period of a guest’s stay, when they decide whether they want room service or a change of towels, above all makes organising housekeeping difficult. Added to that are a huge labour shortage, the language barrier in the case of foreign workers, a lack of available services in rural areas and the structural limitations of many existing hotels. “In the case of smaller guesthouses in rural areas, many of them are currently fighting for survival“, Rudolph warned. “We need these small hotels and this diversity in the hotel industry.”

In order to survive what was needed in the industry was considerable flexibility, automated systems, the will to cooperate among business partners and in particular with employees, Gross emphasised: “We are dealing with people we will be needing in future more than ever before“, he said. That was why companies had to place “trust and confidence“ in employees, invest in them, train them and give them an ergonomically acceptable workplace.

Reducing the workload with robots

One of the main ways to achieve this is robots, which are being increasingly used for cleaning and services, thus relieving cleaning staff of the strenuous job of vacuum cleaning for example. “When I just think of how often employees have to unplug devices, that is where we can make things easier“, said Gross. That was one reason why installing sensors was now part of planning a hotel, said Rudolph. Fliegel’s textile service is also fitting RFID tags to new laundry items, because sooner or later robots will carry out the task of sorting. Hotel manager Rudolph also imagined drones picking up and returning laundry from individual rooms – something Marius Gross found was not that far-fetched.

Quite often, organisation and planning could improve things massively, the three experts said. Overlapping shifts, finding out customers’ needs early, and timely digital communication of workload information to service providers were just a few points in that context. That way, sustainability and economic efficiency could be easily combined. “Ever since the crisis we have all been in a re-orientation process“, said Werler, and Rudolph added “sustainability is essential to making progress. We need to have this vision – with better technology and cooperation, only then can we improve the experience for our guests.“

Sustainable cleaning solutions for the hotel industry at CMS Berlin 2023

At CMS Berlin 2023 exhibitors displayed a wide range of sustainable cleaning products for the hotel industry. Below are a few examples:

Cleaning agents: Tana-Chemie exhibited SANET extreme, which is based on a new formula containing methane sulphonic and lactic acid. This sanitary cleaning agent is suitable for chrome fittings, ceramic tiles and porcelain objects, among other items.

Dr. Schnell exhibited its Ecolution Floor PODs which are packaged in a space-saving bag. The ultra-concentrated contents of the pod, which dissolves in water, are sufficient for eight to ten litres of water. The pod dissolves within 45 seconds, producing a highly efficient cleaning solution. The new product prevents overdosing, and compared with bottles uses 90 per cent less packaging.

The Luxembourg-based Probiotic Group has also developed its Provilan cleaning product series with a view to supplying hotels. The formulas containing microorganisms and biotensides for cleaning hotel room, sanitary, spa area and kitchen surfaces have a long-term effect of up to 72 hours. They also remove odours and are biodegradable. One of the best-known users of the product is the Ritz hotel in Paris.

An ergonomic workplace: lightweight, manoeuvrable machines make cleaning tight spaces in hotel rooms easy. Kärcher’s and Makita’s backpack vacuum cleaners are examples of cordless cleaning appliances, weighing 3.5 kilos on their own and 4.5 with a battery. This has been made possible by using new lightweight and robust foamed plastic. Other practical devices include battery-operated mops which, using two microfibre rollers, require only small amounts of water to barely moisten the floor. It also makes them ideal for sensitive surfaces. Among the hotel industry’s favourites are battery-operated electric brooms with a brush for easy removal of dirt spots.

Special scrubber-driers also exist for cleaning narrow spaces and under cabinets. This year’s Purus Innovation Award in the Small Machines category was won by the Scrubmaster B5 ORB 430 from Hako GmbH. The walk-behind scrubber drier features an ultra-flat, triangular cleaning head capable of cleaning narrow spaces or areas up to 120 mm high under cabinets. The jury praised “the machine’s light handling and excellent ergonomics which make it easy to manoeuvre.“

Avoiding waste: Why must bin liners be made of plastic? Harmsen Trading GmbH and the Arcora Group for example are marketing washable bin liners for dry and wet waste or transporting cleaning rags and laundry. The bin liners can carry heavy loads, be washed around 300 times – and compared with disposable plastic liners reduce CO2 emissions by around 250 kilos per liner.

Materials: Vileda exhibited its all-new biodegradable duster made of bamboo that requires no water or chemicals for cleaning. The manufacturing process is eco-friendly, as bamboo is a fast-growing plant, requires no artificial irrigation and absorbs large quantities of CO2. Many mops are now 100 per cent recyclable and to a large degree are also manufactured from recycled materials.

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About CMS Berlin

As the leading trade fair for cleaning and hygiene, CMS Berlin will be hosting the industry live in Berlin again from 23 to 26 September 2025. In 2023 at the 11th edition of CMS Berlin, occupying an area of more than 31,000 square metres in the halls and on the outdoor display area, over 420 exhibitors from 25 countries provided a comprehensive overview of products and services from every branch of the commercial cleaning industry. Some 21,000 visitors came to find out more at the four-day event. As a result, CMS Berlin attracted record trade visitor attendance.

CMS Berlin is organised by Messe Berlin GmbH and takes place every two years. The following professional organisations are sponsors of the event: the Federal Guild Association of the Building Cleaning Trade (BIV), Bonn, the Cleaning Systems Trade Association in the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA), Frankfurt/Main, and the Hygiene Industry Association (IHO), Frankfurt/Main.

About Messe Berlin

Berlin has been a trade fair destination for 200 years, and has been one of the most important such hubs for many decades. Messe Berlin – the state’s own trade fair company – conceives, markets and organises hundreds of live events every year. It strives to be an outstanding host for visitors at all events, generate optimal business stimuli, and provide fair conditions for everyone. This concept is reflected in the company slogan: Messe Berlin – Hosting the World.