MANGUPURA, balitourismnow.com—Housekeeping is indeed in the back area, but they are the ones determining the experience felt by tourists when arriving at hotel. They are the ones who determine whether tourists will rebook the hotel.
“It’s not just about maintaining cleanliness. These housekeepers maintain the entire ecosystem in the hotel. That’s what I see,” said Deputy Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia, Ni Luh Puspa, at the International Housekeeper Conference & Exhibition (IHCE) held by the Indonesian Housekeepers Association (IHKA) of Bali Chapter at Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel, Friday (Jun 27).
Deputy Minister Ni Luh Puspa admitted to have had worked in a hotel in the housekeeping department after graduating from high school. “It indeed did not last long, but I realized how important my position was to maintain the comfort of tourists while staying at hotel,” she admitted innocently.
Further, she appreciated the conference event raising the theme “Reducing Waste, Stress, The Power of Emotional Intelligence.”
“This theme is very interesting, and it is rare for us to sit together to talk about this Emotional Intelligence (EI). I really like today’s theme,” she said.
According to her, the theme is in line with the program of the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia. “The Minister of Tourism sends her greetings to all of you. She is very concerned with hospitality related to the tourist experience as well as about cleanliness,” she added.
Previously, during the Covid-19 period, Minister Sandiaga Uno together with Deputy Minister Angela Tanoesoedibjo created the CHSE standard consisting of Cleanliness, Health, Safety, and Environmental Sustainability.
Through this guideline, it is hoped that hotel industry players including housekeepers can be encouraged to apply the 3R principle, namely Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
“Similarly, I appreciate the Bali Government which is extremely concerned about the waste problem. The Governor of Bali has reiterated to mention the waste problem many times, and this is indeed a serious matter at this time. So, we do hope that everyone has the same concept,” she said.
“In addition to the 3Rs, of course, there is also efficiency in the use of water, electricity and cleaning chemicals. The Ministry of Tourism is developing training that does not only focuse on technical matters, but also on strengthening soft skills, including emotional intelligence in accordance with the theme of this activity,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Chairperson of IHKA of Bali Chapter, I Gede Cahyadi Putra, stated that his party was pessimistic about holding the conference and exhibition because tourism was not good at the beginning of 2025. After being supported by his colleagues, he was finally able to organize the event smoothly.
“We saw that hotel workers at the beginning of 2025 had a mental burden that went up and down. That’s because they are faced with an extraordinary tourism challenge situation,” he stated the man familiarly addressed as Cadi.
He admitted the theme was initially “The International Intelligent,” but after there was a circular from the Bali Government regarding the use of plastic bottle waste, the members then proposed to hold a forum on waste sorting in hotels.
Interestingly, an experienced hypnotherapy doctor was presented at the end of the conference to relieve the mental burden of participants, so they could be fresh again, and ready to face the challenges.
“Honestly, Bali is currently not in fine condition because the waste has not been managed properly, traffic jams are getting worse, and recently there have been increasing cases of crime. There should have been a solution so that problems do not occur in Bali,” he said.
He further added that several tourists had expressed their complaints. They had paid levies, if I’m not mistaken, IDR150,000, but they asked why the beach still looked dirty, and there was still a lot of garbage in the area having not managed properly.
“If the problem still exists, how can we realize sustainable tourism? Then, all parties must play their role to care. The role of the government must immediately take action in the future, so that it does not become a problem,” he hoped.
In the meantime, Public Relations Coordinator of IHKA of Bali Chapter, Roma Pujawan, explained that the event was attended by 510 participants, including more than 300 participants from the hotel sector, and supported by 45 vendors.
“Regarding the matter of participants, we were originally pessimistic, it turned out to exceed the target,” he said.
The activity was also attended by ASEAN delegates, such as those from Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia to share in dealing with problems in each of their hotel unit. Meanwhile, participants from outside the region, such as East Java, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Greater Jakarta, Central Java, and West Nusa Tenggara always attended.
Roma added that Bali’s challenges in 2025 are traffic jams, garbage and when it rains, flooding occurs. “As professional tourism players, we should continuously innovate to always maintain the quality of the presentation, cleanliness and comfort of guests,” he added.
Roma Pujawan then expressed his pride in the success of the event prepared with the team. “We were a little pessimistic about the presence of members, but because the topics presented are so interesting and in accordance with government directives, members actually overflowed,” said Roma while saying that on last June 23, the IHKA of Bali Chapter celebrated its 28th anniversary. (buda)
Photo caption:
Deputy Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia, Ni Luh Puspa, attended and handed over a gift to the Chairperson of IHKA of Bali Chapter /Photo: buda