Premium Cleaning Standards

Dear Sailing Lovers,

I am thankful to be able to bring you closer to our Premium Cleaning Standards and how we approach this part of our work. It represents an important part of our Service and your Sailing Vacation making it one of our 3 core maintenance priorities.

Similar to our Premium Technical Standards and the technical aspect of our Yacht Care, all work withing our Premium Cleaning Standards is done by the following personnel & partners;

1. Ban Tours Yachting Cleaning Managers
2. Specialized Sail Yacht Bedlinen & Towels Cleaning company
3. Professional Sail Yacht Cleaning Company

Our internal business standards & postulates apply for our Premium Cleaning Standards as well, they are;

1. “We work with partners that are heavily specialized in the cleaning process for our Sail Yachts.”
2. “We clean only with high-quality products which come with a warranty for their cleaning performance”
3. “Each Sail Yacht goes through our Cleaning Process without exemption”
4. “Work is finished only when all of the generated cleaning data enters our spreadsheets available for further analysis”

With this being said it is also important to mention that our Premium Cleaning Standards are divided into two major categories;

1. Wintertime; Off-season Cleaning activities
2. Summertime: Weekly, Sailing Season, Cleaning activities

Wintertime Cleaning activities

When our Sailing Season comes to its end our services immediately begin. Our actions can be divided into three different logical categories; a) various linen items subject to inspection and deep cleaning with the help of our specialized partners, b) various removable parts which go through our Cleaning work or are carried out by our specialized partners, c) disposing items subject to complete change.

So first we unload all linens, these would be:

1. Mattresses
2. Cushions
3. Bedlinen
4. Towels
5. Saloon & Cockpit cushions
6. Rags

Secondly, we remove all other movable parts;

1. Stoves
2. Kitchen, Cabin & Toilet cabins
3. Lower & Upper deck dining tables
4. Dishes
5. Dining sets
6. Utensils
7. Toilet Seats
8. Showerheads
9. Removable deck/floor parts
10. Gas tanks & hoses
11. Various hoses
12. Life vests

Third, we throw away all parts that are not subject to deep cleaning and/or do not meet our Premium Cleaning Standards with regards to health issues. These would be:

1. Sponges
2. Rags
3. Toilet brushes
4. Other various one-time parts with similar usage

When this aspect of our work is finished we start to disinfect and deep-clean our “naked” Sail Yachts. Each Sail Yacht is washed & scrubbed with the help of disinfectants, then dried followed by surface polishing.

The same method is applied for all removable parts (2nd category) I mentioned above. Each part of this work (washing, drying, polishing) is done by separate cleaning tools.

Cleaning a Sail Yacht takes time and has lots of tight spaces, surfaces with tubes as well as numerous storage areas. For this reason, each cleaning starts with one simple thing; a complete list of things needed to be covered by our Premium Cleaning Services.

We do not leave a Sail Yacht until all things have been checked and inspected by another person. This little trick is used for us to secure to always have a fresh pair of eyes for inspection.

All the data checked for each Sail Yacht ends up in our spreadsheets and is available for analysis. We use this data to compare how much time is spent doing something, to calculate various costs and serves as a constant guide on what can we do!

A good part of our cleaning operations is carried out by our specialized partners as I mentioned before. While we are doing work that I described above our partners do the numerous parts of our work. Here are two examples of how these processes work;

1. Regular stove maintenance & cleaning

• Parts disassembly
• Deep cleaning, refurbishing and / or parts replacement
• Parts assembly
• Final check-up
• Installation back on board

2. All linen items (mattresses, cushions, bed linen, towels, saloon & cockpit cushions, re-usable rags)

• Specialized washing with professional detergents and 90° C temperatures
• accordance with European Standards EN 1276 / EN 1650)
• Drying in separate machines with 75° – 90° C temperatures
• Ironing in specialized machines with 165° C temperature
• Safe storage of cleaned linen in our specialized warehouse equipped with moisture collectors

Everything I have described here is our constant, regular winter Premium Cleaning Standards process.

Summertime Cleaning activities

Once the Sailing Season starts and all of you finally have a chance to start your Sailing Vacation all of our operations shift to weekly change of Clients on our Sail Yachts. The preparation for each crew change begins weeks before you arrive.
We collect all the necessary info about your arrival which enables us to make an optimal Yacht cleaning schedule. The schedule itself is divided into three categories based on simple logic and what our sales team has booked;

1. Clients with booked priority check-in
2. Clients who are arriving earlier to the Marina
3. Clients who will be “late” in their arrival

This weekly arranged schedule is coordinated with our sales and technical team. Also, one important aspect is usually Friday, the day before the clients leave their Sail Yachts and end their vacation. On this day our technical team inspects the Sail Yacht itself and has a chance to talk with people on board. This moment provides us with critical insight on what to expect the following (cleaning) day.

With these two things covered our cleaning operations start (usually on Saturdays). We imitate wintertime operations; first, we remove all linen, rags, sponges and other items that are completely replaced for new guests. These items go into specialized trolleys for dirty laundry and head out to our partners who go through the cleaning process I explained in the Wintertime process. Two important things are also added to this process;

1. Trolleys for dirty laundry are disinfected after each weekend (change of crews)
2. All laundry, drying & ironing machines are disinfected after weekly cleaning operations

Secondly, we shower the toilet and bathroom areas with specialized bathroom disinfectants, dry them with separate cleaning tools and finally polish the surfaces with a third set of cleaning items. The kitchen area goes through the same process for all surfaces, stove, refrigerators, sinks as well as cleaning all the dishes, dining sets, knives, and other kitchen utensils.

Third and final we deep clean & vacuum all storage parts, cabins, and living room areas.
All these actions are done with a complete cleaning list as well which is followed by the inspection done by one of our Cleaning Managers (three of us in total). This work is done by a total of 16 people reserved just for carrying out our Premium Cleaning Standards during Sailing Season weekends.

I sincerely hope I brought you closer to this important part of your Sailing Experience and assure you that as a company we always try to obtain the highest possible standards within our Charter industry. I am also proud to say that they are usually much higher than regular rules & regulations.

In the end, I would like to ask for your help with two things! First I kindly ask you to throw all trash in appropriate places. Our beautiful nature will only stay this way if we all do our part. Second, if you will be boarded on your Sail Yacht let’s say 30 minutes later than previously communicated know that it is for your safety & security know that you know what is being done behind the scenes.

Thanks for reading and if you have some questions feel free to contact us at any time!