Hospitality Facilities Management, Engineering and Technology Consulting Services

7 Tips for Maintenance Contracts and Service Agreements

One of the most important and high-impact responsibilities of a hotel’s engineering team is the administration of maintenance contracts and service agreements. Successful management of this critical function can streamline engineering operations, reduce operating expenses, and minimize downtime. 

Below are seven tips to help ensure that the property’s contract maintenance experience is an effective one.

Avoid, or at least seriously scrutinize vendor-supplied contract documents

Service agreements written and provided by contractors are often extremely vendor-centric, and tend to include provisions that put an inordinate amount of responsibility or risk on the customer.

Consider agreements for the long term

Contract terms vary greatly, from months to several years, and there are many good reasons for this variance. Longer-term agreements can generate financial security for both parties, in the form of predictable expenses for the customer and predictable revenue streams for the contractor.

Beware of automatic renewal, and “boilerplate” renewal terms

Avoid automatic renewal clauses that keep parties bound to an agreement simply by doing nothing, or agreements that are designed to automatically renew unless prior notification to cancel is provided many months before a contract expires.

Don’t forget the “meat and potatoes”

Legalese and elaborate clauses aside, the purpose of a service agreement is to bind a vendor to provide specific, timely, and appropriate maintenance services. Yet oftentimes even contracts that have undergone diligent legal review falter when it comes to their non-legal content. Such contracts typically include Scopes of Work that poorly define the contractor’s responsibilities.

Train hotel staff for basic maintenance

Include contract provisions that require contractors to provide training to in-house personnel, training that not only makes the service provider’s visits more efficient and effective but also provides an invaluable investment in the development of the hotel staff.

Make it easy to do business with a maintenance contractor

Create an environment conducive to strong relationships with outside contractors, upon whom you regularly rely, and make it easy for them to service the hotel account. The creation of such a good rapport will pay back many times.

Certification and competence

In some instances, hotels believe that the contract terms are so technical or complex that they are not qualified to objectively judge the performance of the service provider or the quality of their services. Beyond a simple reference check, hoteliers are often limited to the use of third-party consultants to inspect performance and ensure their compliance with contract specifications or industry standards. However, such consultants can be costly, and only provide a snapshot in time relative to a contractor’s performance over the life of an agreement. Moreover, such an inspection would be inappropriate when trying to gauge a contractor’s service quality during a bid review. Thus, hoteliers should consider utilizing the benefits of third-party certification entities, which specialize in maintaining quality standards within a given industry. 

Examples of such entities include the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) for fire and life safety standards, the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) for mechanical standards and the National Swimming Pool Foundation (NSPF) for pool operating standards.

Diligent contract administration makes for positive outcomes. So while the meticulous review and execution of service agreements may not be as alluring as a full house or as marketable as the chef’s winning gumbo recipe, engineering managers who implement these tried and true methods can expect as much financial benefit and job satisfaction as their more visible counterparts — and in the process of doing so, they will play an invaluable role in helping their hotels to flourish.