They say everything is bigger in Texas, even hotel laundries. The Hilton Americas-Houston, the city's largest hotel, also has the largest laundry facility in the Hilton family of brands and one of the largest commercial laundries in the city. The 27,000-square-foot facility in the property's basement was built and equipped before the rest of the 24-story hotel was constructed on top of it.

The laundry is so large and efficient — it can wash and finish 625,000 pounds of laundry each month — that it's also a revenue producer for the hotel. Its size and high-efficiency equipment allow it to provide laundry services for other area hotels and the city's convention center, which connects to the Hilton.

The heart of the system are two massive tunnel washers, which at maximum capacity can process up to 5,500 pounds of linen per hour. The facility also uses an E-Rail sorting system not found in many hotel laundries. The unit sorts and weighs the linens and sends them to the washers based on a pre-programmed type and weight load to optimize energy efficiency and reduce man hours.

The laundry travels through nine wash zones. Since the water at zone one is the dirtiest, having had first contact with the soiled linens, and the water at zone nine is the cleanest, the water from zone nine is piped back into zone one to reduce water usage. The reused water also retains some of its original chemicals, reducing the quantities needed for cleaning. A weekly check of the system's chemicals ensures proper balances are maintained.

From the washers, the linens move to four 250-pound dryers and then to another machine that hangs and spreads sheets to be ironed.

The size and scope of the laundry came in handy in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. While maintaining its regular workload, the facility was also able to wash the clothing and linen for the displaced New Orleans residents housed in the adjacent convention center. In addition, laundry from Hilton's New Orleans properties were trucked to Houston and processed at the Hilton.