Capacity Planning for Resource Turnaround Operations

Problem definition : Many shared resources, such as hotel rooms or rental cars, require cleaning, charging, or some other operation to “turn around” the resources between successive customer uses. We study staffing and shift planning decisions for the turnaround service capacity in order to minimize the sum of customer waiting and staffing costs. Stochastic customer arrival and departure patterns, coupled with worker shifts with breaks, add to the managerial challenge. Methodology/results : Using the frameworks of diminishing return submodularity and M-convexity, we demonstrate analytical properties for capacity decisions in three staffing scenarios, including our primary model that focuses on shift planning. We propose a solution heuristic that efficiently provides near-optimal solutions. We illustrate the value of our model for hotel housekeeping operations using data from a large city-center hotel. Reallocating some room attendants to different shift start times, especially later in the day compared with current practice, can effectively eliminate guest waiting after the posted check-in time. Managerial implications : Hotels can reduce room attendant idleness and room readiness issues by departing from the common industry practice of all workers starting at 8:00 a.m. Simply having two shift start times in the morning may virtually eliminate waiting and help in recruiting and retaining workers.