Guests do not usually walk off with the towels. Ask any housekeeping manager and irons and ironing boards are near the top of the list instead.
Corby of Windsor's guest room irons pair a standard steam or dry iron with an anti-theft security box that fixes it to the ironing board or wall, which is the main deterrent, not the iron itself. Steam suits most guest rooms; dry irons are a cheaper option for budget stays where creasing matters less than cost.
Steam vs Dry: Which Does Housekeeping Actually Need?
The Corby Sherwood 1200W steam iron covers the vast majority of guest room use, with a 145ml water tank and a non-stick stainless steel soleplate that copes with shirts, trousers and the odd tablecloth without much fuss. It costs more than the equivalent dry iron, but for a hotel or serviced apartment where guests expect a proper crease-free result, steam is worth it.
The Corby Sherwood dry iron does the same core job with an adjustable temperature dial and no water tank to refill or descale. For a budget-focused HMO or a hostel-style stay where the iron gets occasional light use, the lower price and lower maintenance of a dry iron makes more sense than paying for steam capability that rarely gets used properly.
The Anti-Theft Problem Nobody Talks About
A loose iron in a guest room is an easy thing to slip into a bag on checkout day. Corby's answer is a dedicated security caddy, such as the Sherwood iron and ironing board holder, which locks the iron and board to a fixed point in the room rather than leaving them freestanding. The Corby Oxford and Sutton ironing centres go further, building an anti-theft security box directly into the ironing centre unit itself.
For a 20-room budget hotel in Blackpool replacing two or three irons a month at roughly £15-£25 each, that adds up to £360-£900 a year in silent losses that never show up as a single big-ticket problem, just a slow drain on the housekeeping budget.
Auto Shut-Off: The Safety Feature That Actually Matters
Corby's Sherwood steam iron cuts out automatically after 30 seconds resting on its soleplate and 8 minutes resting on its heel if left unattended. That is not a minor spec line. An iron left hot and forgotten is a genuine fire risk in an unsupervised guest room, and it is exactly the kind of unattended-appliance risk a fire risk assessment under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 expects a hotel operator to have considered and mitigated.
Cheaper irons without a reliable auto shut-off save a few pounds up front but shift that risk onto whoever is running the property. For guest-facing equipment, it is not the place to cut costs.
| Product | Type | Key feature |
|---|---|---|
| Corby Sherwood 1200W Steam Iron | Standalone iron | Auto shut-off, 145ml tank, non-stick soleplate |
| Corby Sherwood 1200W Dry Iron | Standalone iron | Adjustable temp dial, no water tank |
| Corby Oxford Ironing Centre | Iron + board combined | Anti-theft security box, felt-backed cover |
| Corby Sutton Table Top Ironing Centre | Compact combined unit | Anti-theft box, integrated hanger, fits small rooms |
Refitting several guest rooms at once? The Oxford and Sutton ironing centres standardise the anti-theft setup across every room, so housekeeping checks one thing, not two.
Compare Ironing Centres →Ironing Centre vs Separate Iron and Board
A combined ironing centre costs more per room than buying an iron, a board and a caddy separately, but it saves floor space in smaller rooms and cuts the housekeeping checklist down to one item instead of three. For larger family rooms or suites with the space to spare, a separate Corby Classic board with its own iron caddy is the cheaper route and gives housekeeping more flexibility if a board needs swapping out without touching the iron.
Every Corby iron carries a 3-year electrical guarantee. Since these are used regularly by staff as well as guests, they should sit on the same PAT testing schedule as your kettles and hairdryers under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, typically annually.
Frequently Asked Questions
Stop Losing Irons to Checkout-Day Bags
Corby's full guest room ironing range, standalone irons through to anti-theft ironing centres, is in stock at trade prices.
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