Behind the Scenes at Spa Utopia #1: Our Linens Department is a busy place!

Spa Utopia linen delivery vans are kept busy


With close to 10,000 spa guests a month, in addition to guests of our two Utopia Academy locations, Spa Utopia requires a lot of freshly laundered linens. Our Linens Department is therefore a very busy place! Laundering an average 195,000 pounds of towels, robes, wraps and other linens from three spa locations and two Utopia Academy campuses every month means the staff of 12—including Linens Manager Anne—are kept busy sorting, laundering and folding all the linens that help keep our spa guests warm, dry and comfortable.


Linens Manager Anne with Spa Utopia Body Wraps

The day begins at 7 a.m., when four staff members are met with close to 165 bags of used linens from all five locations. Then begins the busy task of sorting the linens for one location at a time, using colour coding to ensure that the linens are not mixed up. (This is important because spa robes often contain personal items that a guest has inadvertently left in a pocket and we want to make sure we return these safely to the correct location.) The laundry is in full operation seven days a week.


Five washers have a combined capacity of 375 pounds

Next, the linens are pre-treated with special solutions that remove all the soil gathered in the course of a spa day, such as essential oils, mud, seaweed, tea or coffee stains, and shea butter. After this, they're placed in one of five industrial washers with capacities as great as 100 pounds. The detergents and bleach/other treatments are dispensed via tubing, and customized to each load. (We wouldn't want the luxurious black towels used by our Utopia hair salons to be bleached like our face cloths!) After washing and drying, the linens are inspected, folded and counted before being sealed in bio-degradable plastic bags and placed in bins for their return journey. Washing so much linen requires a lot of cleaning solutions/detergents—approximately 480 litres a month. The daily lint accumulation from so much laundry is enough to stuff several cushions.

Folding and bagging clean linens

And just what are those objects spa guests most commonly leave in the pockets of their microfleece robes?  Linens Manager Anne has a smile when she answers. Lacy underthings are common, as are cellphones and Blackberries, jewellery (including engagement rings and diamond necklaces), hair elastics, tea bags and a variety of nuts and dried fruits. "We have to make sure that every pocket of every robe is turned inside out and carefully inspected," she explains. "Not only do we find items that could stain linens in the wash, but also tiny stud earrings and other jewellery pieces that can easily get caught in seams. We can't be too careful."
 

Clean and cozy, Spa Utopia robes are ready for their homeward journey


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