Services And Management In The Hospitality Industry
- December 27, 2023/ Uncategorized
Responsibilities of the Rooms Division
For the last few decades, the hospitality industry has been a source of income to many people. At the same time, it has been a source of revenue to many organizations and nations. The hospitality industry has gone global, and many hotels are being built all over the world with the intention of having clients from different parts of the world. However, that does not come without proper planning. An organization that is determined to invest in the hospitality industry has an obligation to ensure that the business entity meets global requirements. That does not come without making sure that all employees needed are available and the type of services they offer are competitive. An organization that makes sure that it has competitive employees and the hotel premises are up to global standards is in a better position to make profits than the competitors.
Services provided by rooms division in diverse contexts.
These services include following, financial responsibility involving every customer in the hotel. The room division manager is responsible for ensuring that every customer has paid and that each is allocated to the room he or she paid for. The room division manager is also responsible for ensuring that all the desires of the employees are met. Ensuring that the employee’s goals are satisfied calls for a more productive workforce, it also leads to best quality of services from the employees to the customers. The room divisional manager is responsible for ensuring that all the guest services are all operational and working in the best possible condition (Chung, 2003, 5). Guest relations are some of other things that a room divisional manager is responsible for, ensuring that all the customers are relating well without any of the customers interfering or jeopardizing with the comfort of any other customer is also his responsibility. The division manager is also responsible for the security of the employees hence the need to make trips around the premises checking the peace.
Discuss the accommodation and front office services for different organizations
Accommodation services in hotel rooms fall under three possible categories; these are short-term, long-term or seasonal accommodation. The services for seasonal and long-term accommodation are usually more and better than those in short-term accommodation. They include elegant rooms, spacious workspace and wireless internet services. Short-term services are comfortable rooms at discounted rates (Steed, 2005). Front office services, on the other hand, include, welcoming visitors into the rooms, answering any of their questions and taking their details. They help in directing hotel directors and visitors to their different destinations in the hotel. They maintain security and safety in the premises; this includes ensuring that all visitors sign in the logbook. Finally, they maintain the organization telecommunications equipment; this is achieved by ensuring that everyone who uses this system follows the set steps.
- To personally welcome visitors into the premises, this is sometimes done over the phone. They also answer or refer inquiries.
- To direct employees and company heads with directories that offer the needed information (Vallen & Vallen, 2009, 5).
- Ensure security through ensuring all the visitors keep and maintain the procedures set, to monitor the logbook and ensure all necessary people sign on entry and handing out visitor badges.
- Maintaining the telecommunication equipment by ensuring all who use them follow the required steps (Kuhn, 2010, 9).
Accommodation and Front Office Services
Responsibilities of a doorman
- To be the first person in contact with all incoming guests
- Maintain the presence of the guests at the doorway to make them feel welcomed and valued.
- To assist the visitor into the building by carrying their luggage
- To hail cabs for guests leaving the office
- To act as business concierge
- To assist visitors with directions to places they wish to visit next
- Legal and statutory requirements that apply to rooms division operations.
- Safety Law and Health
The business conducting the division must ensure to observe laws and other matters concerning the business operations. This must be done in all the departments affected by the expansion. The management must provide all safety gears included all through the expansion process
- Reservation contract
The organization is expected to follow the supply of goods and services Act of 1968 according to its contract. The trade description act in the case of room division of business premises and the unfair contract terms Act of 1982. In the case of a hotel, it is obligated to provide its clients affected by the division with food, drink, and other products listed in the reservation contract (Vermeule, 2004, 3).
- There must be signs to alert people of all the hazardous substances and equipment present in the rooms affected that can harm people.
- In the case of a hotel where operations are affected, the consumer law applies. The employees in the room under construction are expected to continue providing their clients with service in the best possible way.
- Pricing details and tariffs of the rooms and other commodities affected must be made available to the guest in all details. Displaying of all amenities in the affected room is also expected in this regulation.
- Evaluate services provided by the rooms division in a range of hospitality businesses.
- Front office, under this the business offers,
- Selling and up-selling available rooms
The front office offers guests with the already reserved rooms (Baker et al. 2001, 2). After all the guests have taken the rooms they reserved, the hotel will attempt to sell the vacant rooms to those who call or those who walk into the business looking for available rooms. In upselling, high-quality rooms due to either being bigger in size or having a better view or a higher floor are sold at a higher price.
- The other services offered is to maintain balance guest account, here hotels open new customer accounts and charge all the services that the client gets from this account.
- Services such as handling mail, messages, and hotel information are also offered at the front desk (Sutton et al. 2008, 5)
- Reservations Under reservation customers are offered,
- Confirmed reservation.
In this area, reservation is made within enough time such that there is time to print their card with the date and types of the room the customer booked. The customer is expected to show up with the result to confirm the rooms upon reporting (Nazir et al. 2014, 3).
- Guaranteed reservation
This is a form of the reservation where the organization takes the credit card information of the patient or his or her financier. In return, the client is guaranteed of a room even if he arrives late. If the customer does not show up, he is still charged for the room.
- Housekeeping
- Cleanliness and serviced guest rooms
- Operating of the department as per the set regulations
- Record keeping for inventory
- Concierge services
- Guest services
The guest and concierge services are often offered by the door attendant, concierge and bell person.
- Security
Under this, a patrolling security officer is looking out for any danger or risk to the guest or their belongings (Enz, 2003, 32). Any hints of danger are forwarded to the local police. The security is equipped with two-way radio and closed-circuit television cameras, and there are electronic key cards and fire alarms.
Understanding of the impact of contemporary management issues on the front of house area
- Assessing the importance of the front of the house area to effective management (Morrison, 2003, 2).
- The front part of the hotel is always the first thing that customer sees; it provides to all who are coming to an expectation of the services offered inside. This area is the face of the hotel; a well-planned trimmed and perfectly manicured outside is likely to attract more people meaning better income.
- In the case of people holding a meeting at the hotel over drinks or people making negotiations about a deal, the first impression of the hotel dictates a lot of how a conversation is going to be. An appealing front of the hotel is likely to bring all people involved into a feeling of calmness and make them agreeable to ideas (Paraskevas, 2001, 7).
- In the hotel industry, customer satisfaction is essential to progress. This is achieved by offering them services like concierge services, cab booking, sight-planning and they only make the customer have a bigger will to be associated with the hotel. Prompt query handling and remarkable offices also make customers loyal to specific hotels.
- A well planned out front yard portrays a well-planned and organized management. Customers are known to project a picture or service of a thing and associate the qualities to the business. For hotels with this kind of front space, the idea the space projects assure customers of wise leadership, and this gives the customers faith in the hotels’ services.
- Aspects of planning and management of the front of house area
- Strategic planning process
In this, the front hotel area must be structurally planned to keep the requirements of the clients in mind. The structures must be designed in an elaborative style that portrays good services for the clients (Barros, 2005, 7). Planning this without considering the customers would result in a complicated picture of the front area that does not pass on the intended information to the visiting clients.
- Effective planning techniques with an image of the future.
Responsibilities of a Doorman
To get the best out of the front area, the plan must be meticulously designed for maximum efficiency. Every turn the customer makes must be thought of before the setting up of the different feature like flowers and paintings to ensure that the visitors get the intended meaning in every turn. Any plans on the front area must be kept in mind and included in the planning process (Hai-yan & Baum, 2006, 6). The expected objective of this whole process must be measurable, to gauge the effectiveness of the plan of the front area.
- Adaptable planning.
This means that planned out changes consider the present case of the front area and gets the future aim of the same area then adapts to achieve the intended final purpose. The plans for the future must also not be very detailed; this makes them inflexible to adapt to any unforeseen changes in the future. Effective plans need to leave a chance for the adjustment to be effective.
- The planning must also be open to iterative improvements
This means that the planning process must be set in such a way that future improvements are possible. If this is done correctly it will give the front area an artist look while still leaving the area ready for improvements in the future should improvements be needed, any iteration of the front area should be better than the last one. The hotel could even pass the idea of the iteration by its staff, and they could contribute by offering their ideas of the best form of modification. These ideas are then evaluated, and the best one is actualized.
- Learning from experience
By learning from past response of the customers about past front area idea, the hotel should be in a position to plan for better ideas of the same area in the future. This is because no planning model no matter how well informed fails to get obsolete. Keeping this in mind, the hotels should be able to apply the past eras most sophisticated ideas and their present version to get better front area ideas (Den Hartog, 2005).
- The course of action.
The determining element of an effective planning process is the course of action. These are actual aims in the process of planning that must be achieved within a specific period. Some simple techniques of planning have simple elaborative aims, bigger hotels; on the other hand, have complex processes with different complexities under the same ideas. These call for a flexible planning process that can handle both simple and complex tasks, it should be in a position to repeat the planning process successively at lower levels of the organization while maintaining the overall plan.
- Decentralized effective planning.
Impact of Contemporary Management Issues on the Front of House Area
For the most applicable plans, companies should not plan beyond their means or expertise. This can be ensured by not allowing the executive part of the business to make detailed strategic plans. This should be done by a body that is closer and more conversant with the intricate detail of strategic plans.
- Individual accountability
Effective planning ends when a task is assigned to a single person. This puts the fate of that task in the person’s hand. Without accountability in these individuals there is the risk of miscommunication, misunderstanding and finally failure (Forza, 2006, 3).
- Support initiative and judgment
It is widely said that it is better when plans are made by those who are going to execute them. This is more so in strategic planning when the executors of strategic plans make them the chances of success increases exponentially.
- Considering the available resources
Strategic planning is most reliant on committing the available resources in the most crucial positions. Committing to unavailable resources or wastefully using the available resources is a sure way to fail.
- Key operational issues affecting the effective management and business performance of the front office area for a given operation
These standards can work to motivate or demotivate workers. Employers should not alter administrative standards from what is indicated by the human resource department. They should be in line with job duties (Armstrong, 2007, 9). This should also be the case when it comes to the qualifications needed for a certain position by the human resource and the job expectations. No worker should have their expectations changed from what the positions they hold demand.
Motivation and rewarding
Motivation should not be assumed to be in the pay check the employees get. Firms should ensure to motivate their employees through rewards, job advancement and a chance to get involved in the management of the firm. Such will go a long way in demonstrating that the employee’s efforts are valued.
Commitment
Research shows that workers who feel that the company they work for are committed to their success work harder than those who do not. This commitment by corporations can be shown through different practices; a company could offer its employees competitive pays, it could offer to pay for the employees’ higher education, frequent upgrade of office equipment and many others ways
This means that rather than an employer telling the employee of his or her shortcomings, the employer and the employee both go through the employees work over the past period reviewing the employee’s targets, to check the progress. The employee is then given a chance to explain any shortcomings and together with the employer they come up with solutions. (Root, 2017, 4). The employer and employee should then set targets for the employee on how to improve on his or her work. This helps the employee feel respected and as a crucial part of the company.
Effective Planning
3 Analyze the key operational issues affecting the effective management and business performance of the accommodation service function for a given operation.
- One of the main challenges that hinder performance and effective management is the failure of the management of a business to communicate the business strategy to the staff and other stakeholders. The staff is crucial to a companies’ ability to reach its goals, operating without informing them of the business’s strategy makes them blind to the future they are to be working towards.
- Not measuring the progress achieved
A business’ progress is all about reaching an indeed held goal. However, focusing too much on the final goals and failing to recognize the immediate ones can lead to failure to achieving the ultimately targeted goal. Measuring the progress made within a period allows a company or organization to acknowledge the achievement and reward those responsible for it. Failure to do this will in most cases lead to workers feeling unappreciated and overall being demoralized (Merchant & Van de Stede, 2007, 3).
- Inability to hold quarterly strategy reviews
Keeping these reports allows the board to get a chance to remedy any strategies that are not bringing the desired effect. Avoiding these meetings means anything that is ailing the company continues to fester for an entire year before it is removed. At this time most of the problems are too bad to remedy the effects leading to problems in management and performance
- Not celebrating the achievements made in the business.
The only way to show your workers that you appreciate their efforts is mainly through celebrating and acknowledging them. Lack of doing this makes the labor force feel unappreciated and bored of working. This leads to performance issues as the worker’s productivity goes down.
- Failure to adapt to change
Not changing with the times leaves a business at the risk of losing its market share. In the business world, the customers are always believed to be right. Once the client’s preferences change, businesses should change with them to keep them as their clients. Firms that fail to do this lose their market share to the competition and their performance goes down.
LO4 be able to apply techniques to maximize and measure occupancy and rooms revenue
This can be achieved by,
- Carefully focusing on all aspects of the operations.
- Understanding and planning for the demand patterns.
- Fine tuning your business to its most profitable position or status. This is done by determining when the business makes the most profit. This is between profits at full occupancy or once you lowered the room rates by $10.
- Determining the value of overhead cost like cleaning by maids and the opportunity cost of leaving the room vacant, and choose what is more profitable.
- Having a clear understanding of the guest’s peak and off-peak times and how to maximize on this.
- Clearly, knowing your target market and how to target them.
- Performance revenue or yield management activities to maximize occupancy and rooms revenue. These include the following,
- Increasing the use of technology and science in business to increase the number of customers
- Employing the advantages of revenue management to give the company a chance of competing with other large similar businesses. It would also help the business to get a better forecast about room occupancy over different variables.
- Investing in merchandising your product
- Advertising your hotel to increase customer pool
- Employing yield management to have a better understanding of the businesses customers; this can then be used to maximize revenue for the hotel
- Sales techniques that room’s division staff can use to promote and maximize revenue.
- Introducing and marketing the hotel’s special packages
By packaging special services that the hotel offers, the staff can mask high prices by focusing more on the services offered (Siteminder, 2016, 1). Services that are not commonly combined with accommodation will lead to better selling packages and more profit.
- Targeting and grouping customers within the majority of the available people, according to their numbers, ensures that the hotel is always focusing on the most available clients (Mohsin & Lokyer, 2010, 7). If on Mondays there are more youth in the customer pool. The business can organize packages that would best meet the tastes of the youths and on that day focus on that market. Different days can concentrate on different markets. Such a plan can lead to more sales and higher profits.
- Increasing the business’ investments in advertising would mean that the company would be collaborating with customers to spread the news of the hotel to newspapers and editorials. This would increase the customer pool and the expected profits.
- Introducing a mailing list in the hotel to communicate with your regular customers and keep them informed of all the business’ new products. This creates a better relationship, and the special treatment of clients is possible to increase the number of clients for the hotel (Weatherford & Kimes, 2003, 4).
- Collaborating with local companies that could use the hotel for meetings and social events. This increases the services that the hotel offers and also increases the customers targeted. A company that tries the hotel’s space to hold a meeting will inform another, and soon the hotel will be famous for its conference holding services. Targeting the companies with branches means that all the different branches could become the hotel’s clients.
- Discuss the purpose and use of forecasting and statistical data within the rooms division.
Forecasting plays a predominant role in the determination how different hotel packages will be affected by the different aspects of the market and changes in customer preference (Weatherfold, 2004, 3). Any changes that a hotel is thinking of implementing can first be tested out using forecasting to gauge the possible result. In doing this organization are saved from venturing in potentially risky business deals. To achieve this statistical data involving some of the different hotel variables are of great importance to get the needed results (Kim, 2008, 2). When it comes to room division, statistical data informs the planners of the most appropriate sizes of demarcations of the room and the most efficient way of arranging these rooms. This applies the statistics collected and computer software
- Room division performance indicators, measure the success of accommodation sales.
Employee Motivation and Rewarding
Room performance indicators attempt to get the average occupancy rate; these calculations are as follows.
Room occupancy= 100 * (Room occupancy
Total number of rooms occupied)
Bed occupancy= 100 * Number of beds occupied
Total number of beds occupied
Double or twin beds occupied= 100 * Double or twin beds occupied
Total number of double or twin beds occupied
Conclusion
Ensuring that a business is profitable is not as easy as many may think. However, with the right measures in place, one is guaranteed of best results. The hospitality industry is one of the industries making billions of dollars in profits globally. With proper planning and right strategies, a hotel can thrive in the competitive world. The welfare of the employees as well of the customers should be given priority. A hotel cannot be successful in the absence of its important stakeholders. The responsibility of making sure that the stakeholders are retained and satisfied solely lies on the management of the specific organization. With the right measures in place, thriving in the hospitality industry is not as difficult as it has proved to some.
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