Franklin, Tenn. – It’s summer, and with the heat comes vacationers looking for hotels with swimming pools. This seasonal amenity is a big revenue generator for operators, but it can also be a liability if the pool is not properly maintained. Quore, a hotel workforce communications platform used by more than 3,900 hotels (including 560 management companies and 80 hotel brands in 29 countries) is helping operators ensure that their pools, hot tubs and spas meet water safety standards by automating the water-testing process within its Pool Readings module.
Quore’s Recurring app enables hotel engineers to test a pool’s chlorine, pH, alkalinity and calcium levels at least twice daily, as well as water temperature and GPM (gallons per minute) and PSI (pound-force per square inch) flow rates. The data is then entered into the app which automatically calculates the water’s langelier saturation index (LSI). These readings identify if the pool water is safe for guests’ use and they determine if water is generally corrosive or prone to rust formation that could reduce pool life.
The Courtyard by Marriott Sedona in Arizona has been a Quore user since 2017. Chief engineer Joe Barron calls the Pool Readings module a “game changer.”
“Before Quore, we would record pool readings on paper attached to a clipboard and then we would insert the paper into a binder,” Barron said. “This was an inefficient way to maintain the pool because there was no accountability. Anyone could jot down numbers at any time; during my career I’ve seen staff complete a backlog of chemical reports hours before the county health inspector showed up. This is no way to protect a property from incidents or prevent guests from getting sick.”
“The Quore Pool Readings module enables anyone in the company with access to Quore – from the owner to the area director – to see our daily pool chemistry,” he said. “Management can make sure that the engineering department is doing its part in taking care of the facility and guests. It helps me to be a better supervisor and stay on top of tasks assigned to my team. Even when I’m off duty, I can log into Quore and make sure that someone tested the water areas and recorded the readings. With county health inspectors showing up unannounced six times a year, it’s critical that our records are time stamped and accurate – Quore doesn’t allow someone to back date reports. The Quore Pool Readings module also helps with staff training and provides my team with a good education on pool chemistry. If the data recorded by one engineer in the morning is drastically different five hours later when taken by another engineer, it tells me that someone is taking readings incorrectly and more training is needed.”
Why is it so important to test water daily? According to a survey commissioned by the Water Quality & Health Council, one in five American adults admits to relieving themselves in the pool. Researchers at the University of Alberta determined that the average swimming pool has nearly 8 gallons of human waste, and larger pools most likely contain 20 gallons. Other contaminants can cause hotel guests to get sick as well, such as swimming when ill, swimming with a rash or cut, wearing an unwashed bathing suit, or failing to realize or report that an infant or toddler has been swimming in a dirty diaper. Adding high doses of chlorine to water is not the answer, as a family found out last month when visiting a hotel in Nashville. News Channel 5 Nashville reported that the family’s vacation ended at the hospital after their children became sick from suspected chlorine poisoning.
Better Preventive Maintenance
The Quore Pool Readings module is a standard feature within the Quore platform, and the Recurring app that houses it is also being used by hotels to record boiler, water meter and electric meter readings, making the app an invaluable preventive maintenance tool property wide. Via desktop, management can use the app to:
• Flag tasks to be performed and send reminder prompts
• View the chemical state of water areas and compare it to days, weeks, months, years prior
• Measure the turnover rate of water to see how quickly it is circulating
• Compare data from multiple bodies of water simultaneously
“When it comes to hotel engineering, time management is critical,” said Richard Bradbury, Quore VP of strategy and alliances. “Having digital data on file at all times is key to helping engineers manage tasks efficiently; just when a worker thinks all tasks are complete, a new one pops into queue. It would be understandable for a worker dealing with multiple plumbing issues to forget to run outside and check the pool water.”
“No one has ever come to us looking specifically for a way to automate their pool reading process, but when they learn about this module, their eyes light up,” Bradbury said. “The Courtyard by Marriott Sedona has passed 100 percent of its pool inspections since they started using Pool Readings, and the same is true for our other customers. The Recurring app appears to be the missing link in the preventive maintenance chain, and it is making a huge difference in keeping pools chemically safe and guests happily enjoying the experience.”
