Grooming Standard

What Is It?
Skills, experience and qualifications are important, but so is our grooming. Our appearance is a
statement of who we are. Our grooming should create a professional image at work and we have
to be attentive to our appearance and posture. Grooming is the combination of style and
discipline. It is to project an image of organization’s culture and ethics to our esteemed
costumers which is our guests. It also enhances the personality of employee, character of an
organization and value of the company.

Why Is It Important?
First impression that will create lasting impression. It is also essential to make ourselves feel
good and confident. If we feel good about ourselves, everything goes better.

How Can We Do It?

We can keep ourselves looking fresh and professional by paying a good attention to:
a) Our dress and/or uniform
b) Our hair
c) Make-up
d) Nails
e) Breath
f) Body Fragrance
g) Expression and Body Language
Here are some grooming tips that might be useful for us who work in a hotel or any hospitality
industry:

Hotel’s Generic Grooming Policy

a) Hair: Clean, trimmed and neatly combed or arranged.
b) Facial Hair (men only): Freshly shaved, mustache or beard neatly trimmed.
c) Fingernails: Neat, clean and trimmed.
d) Breath: Beware of foods which may leave breath odor. Beware of tobacco, alcohol and coffee
odor. Use a breath mint if needed.
e) Body: Freshly bathed/ showered. Use deodorant.
f) Make-up (women only): Use sparingly and be natural looking.
g) Perfumes/Colognes/After-Shave: Use sparingly or none at all. Your scent should not linger
after you leave.

Personal Hygiene and Sanitation

Every hotel employee has to really pay a good attention to his/her personal hygiene and self
sanitation, outside or within the working environment. Here’s how:
1) Shower twice, daily.
2) Use deodorant or perfume fairly, our scent should not linger after we leave.
3) Shave or remove facial hair daily for male associates.
4) Shave legs and underarms for female associates.
5) Brush our teeth periodically during shower, after each meal and after having some cigarettes.
Use mouth freshener if necessary.
6) Maintain our health by checking up to a doctor periodically.
7) Wash our hands after each activity, especially after going to the toilet, before and after each
meal and cigarettes, and before going back to our activities. Washing our hands is also very
important before we handle any foods.

Uniform and Name Tag

Uniform is our company’s identity that we have to represent positively. We need to keep our
uniform clean, tidy and free of stains and tears.
Nametags make life easier for our guests and for our fellow associates. To guests, our nametags
show that we are someone they can ask for assistance. To fellow employees, it helps create a
positive environment when we call each other by name.

Hair
Our haircut must always be properly maintained in a neat condition. We need to shampoo at least
once every couple of days and most importantly, we need to keep our natural hair color. Other
things that we need to consider are:
1) Utilization of hair wig is not allowed.
2) No hair-doing in the working area, especially not in front of our guests.
3) Hair bangs must be kept above eye-brows, no hair covering your eyes.
4) Hair accessories must be kept simple and black in color.

Shoes, Socks and Hosiery

Appropriately, we need to use:

1) Simple plain black socks and hosieries.

2) Plain black lace style or plain black slip on style shoes with low heels.
3) Non-slip sole to avoid injury.
4) No sandals, open toed or strap shoes are permitted.
5) Well-polished shoes at all time.

Belt
Only plain simple black leather belts are allowed.

Nail
Only clean, trimmed and well-manicured finger nails are allowed.
1) Nail longer than the fingertips are not permitted.
2) Artificial nails and nail arts are not permitted.
3) Only clear or natural nail polish is permitted.

Make Up
1) Present a polished, professional, five-star image.
2) Look natural, be well applied, with no garish colors.
3) Earth and Natural Color is highly recommended.
Teeth Braces
Only clear and silver braces are allowed.

Eye Glasses and Contact Lenses

Only plain simple black, brown or silver framed eyeglasses with clear lens are permitted, as well
as only clear contact lenses are too.

Jewelry
Here’s how hotels or hospitality industries usually make the rules on jewelry:
1) Wedding & engagement ring is permitted
2) One additional regular ring also permitted
3) Simple in model
4) Plain, no stone/ diamond/ other additional material
5) Gold, silver, or its combination color only.
6) Large bulky rings & rows of rings on each hand are not permitted
7) Toe rings are not permitted

Tattoo and Piercing

Visible body piercing and tattoo are not permitted. Face or tongue or other visible body piercings
must be removed before commencing every shift.

Industry Expectation
Companies and organizations in the field of hospitality expect that their whole employees will
demonstrate their understanding on “how to keep our personal appearance always neat and
clean“. This demonstration shall improve our self-confidence as employees as well as our
concerns on personal cleanliness and hygiene, especially for food handlers.