Bissell PowerForce Helix is the defacto vacuum for lodging establishments

[superocd]

Is it Sanitaire? Windsor? Oreck? Nope -- it has to be the Walmart special Bissell PowerForce Helix. I recently stayed in six different mid-range hotels (Days Inn, Quality Inn, AmericInn, etc) while on a trip. Five used the Helix. One used a Shark Navigator.

In fact, at one hotel (AmericInn) I noticed some hair and fine debris and made a bet as to what I'd find on the housekeeping cart the next morning. Surprise, surprise, it was the PowerForce Helix.

Using cheap bargain vacuums seems to be another part of extreme cost-cutting measures franchisors have taken. (Off topic) I get it, times are hard for the hospitality industry due to COVID, but the cheapening of the hotel experience has been a thing way before COVID. I've noticed that a couple have stopped providing the little bars of soap and bottles of shampoo in the rooms -- now, I bring my own, but some people may find that off-putting and it was a shock to me. The computers they offer for use at the "business centers" are old and running Windows 7, what I used in high school. The towels don't seem as clean as they used to be -- heck, my white towels can blind someone and I just have a LG-made Kenmore front loader and use Persil and bleach, you'd think with their commercial equipment and access to heavy duty chemicals the towels wouldn't be off-white -- maybe they're relying on Walmart for their laundry supplies as well and getting the lowest cost detergent they offer (Extra?).

 

[thevacomaticiec]

Why am i not suprise ??? 


 


I use to work in a  hotel   towel  were off white  on wash  one rinse  not  the best soap  and a  henry james numatic vacuum that did not   pull as much as it should  .Most employees  iwork with did not give  a blank about there job  .So im its no suprise to me that the hotel you   stayed in  had off white twoel anda cheap  vacuum to get the job  done  . I get covid put  a dent in the budget  but  there not as much pride in the work as it use to be .

 

[huskyvacs]

The age of the operating system does not apply. A lot of the software/database system for the enterprise is designed specifically for one OS and cannot just be changed/upgraded. Lowes uses Linux for example. I still use Windows 7 myself because every other OS since has been utter crap and makes simple tasks twice as complicated. Just because something is new doesn't mean it works. I've actually never stayed in a hotel, I find small travel motels more welcoming and accommodated, less full of people, and cheaper. Especially when you're only staying a night or two. They get less customers so there is more time for staff to clean the rooms. Pretty much a lot of the prices you're just paying for the location and the brand and that's about it. Motels by any airport are the worst with prices.

 

[human]

I stayed in a couple of off-price hotels (motels actually, since the rooms had their doors to the outside) and they didn't even have carpet. they just had faux hardwood and the housekeeping carts had no vacuums at all, just brooms and dustpans. One of the hotels was in a coastal city and the sand on the floor was miserable. They really needed a damp mop to clean the floors properly. I never want to stay at either of those places again.

 

[thevacuumbarn]

I’ve noticed this trend too. There used to be a time when Sanitaire was the primary brand used at hotels, but now, a lot of hotels I’ve stayed at use Oreck, or yes, some piece of cheap bagless junk like a Shark or Bissell. Doggone, I even saw one hotel using a bottom of the barrel Kenmore bagless machine once. Seems like the places that use real commercial vacuum cleaners anymore are schools, hospitals, colleges/universities, etc. I think the first Sebo/Windsor machine I ever saw was at a hospital, and they were everywhere at Montana State University when I was in college. The schools I went to growing up all used either Advance or Tenant machines. Some churches still use commercial machines too.

 

[amtraksebo1997]

I can attest.

I went to a Holiday Inn on a trip like 2 years ago, and I saw two Bissell Powerforce machines. If you're going to buy a Bissell for commercial use, at least get either the bagged Powerforce or the BigGreen BGU1514T. At a Quality Inn I stayed at during another trip, I saw a handful of dump-out bag Sanitares. Both machines I'd say are not ideal for the hospitality industry in the slightest.

 

[wstonehockertv]

This is a message to all the hotel housekeepers: you may think a bagless machine tends to save you money because you're not buying bags. Actually, bagless machines tend to not really save you money.

Bottom line, bagged machines FTW!

 

[dysonman1]

The hotels get a quantity deal on those Bissell machines. They use them until something happens to them, then they throw them away and get out another one. The hotel itself probably only has about $45 in each machine, their cost. It's much more cost efficient just to use disposable vacuum cleaners, since most hotel maids tend not to stay for very long. Days or weeks.