Head of Housekeeping

The job exists because big yachts split the interior into service and housekeeping. Service handles food, drinks and guests in public areas. You handle everything behind it: guest cabins, crew areas, laundry, linen, wardrobe care, deep cleaning schedules and the stores that feed them. You write the turndown standards, decide how a cashmere throw gets washed, keep the inventory of towels and toiletries, and make sure a cabin looks identical on day ten of a trip as it did on day one.

With guests aboard you are walking cabins from early morning, checking each one after your team has finished, briefing on guest preferences and keeping the laundry turning round on time. Owners on large yachts often bring wardrobes worth more than the tender, so garment care is a real skill. Between trips the work shifts to deep cleans, polishing schedules, stock takes, linen orders and training. In a shipyard period you protect and pack the interior, then put it all back.

Captains and chief stews hire people who have done three or four seasons as a stew, at least one on a yacht over 60m, and who can show they have trained others. Hotel housekeeping experience at five-star level counts for a lot, especially from Aman, Four Seasons or similar. Expect references to be checked closely. Calm temperament matters, because you sit between a demanding chief stew and a tired team.

Most Heads of Housekeeping come up as second stew or senior housekeeping stew. From here the usual move is chief stew on a 50-70m yacht, or deputy and then chief on a large one. Some go on to interior manager on 100m+ yachts. A GUEST Level 3 management course, budgeting experience and some purser exposure make the step to chief easier.