Hotel and Lodging Operations

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Chapter 10

• Hotel and Lodging Operations

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LODGING OPERATIONS

• This module will focus on the function and
  operation of hotels. Although hotels range in
  size from under 100 rooms to over 5,000 rooms,
  functions remain essentially the same
• Size does affect how responsibilities are
  separated however (and staffing)
• Hotels are generally divided into three major
  functional areas

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HOTEL OPERATIONS

• Rooms Division
• Includes Front Desk, Reservations, Uniform
  Services (Security, etc.), and Housekeeping
• Food and Beverage department
• Includes Restaurants, Bars, Banquets and Room
  Service
• Staff and support departments
• Includes Accounting, Engineering, Marketing,
  Human Resources and Contracted areas

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ROOMS DIVISION

• The Rooms Division is the heart of the hotel
• It is the main business of the hotel and the main
  source of revenue
• Rooms can contribute 70 percent or more to
  overall revenue and even more to profit

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ROOMS DIVISION

• The Rooms Division is overseen by the Resident
  Manager (or Assistant General Manager) and
  various department heads

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ROOMS DIVISION

• The center of activity in the Rooms Division is
  the Front Office
• The Front Office is responsible for checking
  guests in, checking them out, securing payment,
  listening to complaints, communicating with other
  departments, determining room availability, and
  selling additional rooms, among other
  responsibilities

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ROOMS DIVISION

• The Reservations department is responsible for
  taking reservations. Reservations can be made by
  the guest via other methods but many requests are
  still made through the hotels reservation
  department
• Reservations must maintain contact with other
  departments as well as other reservations
  channels to be able to forecast available rooms

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ROOMS DIVISION

• The Reservations department attempts to maximize
  (1) room rate and (2) occupancy rate
• This is known as Yield Management maximizing
  these two at any given time
• Reservations departments must consider city wide
  events, competition, minimum stays, etc.

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HOUSEKEEPING

• The essential requirement that guests have is to
  be able to check into a clean room
• The Housekeeping Department is responsible for
  cleaning of guest rooms, stocking essential
  supplies and amenities, laundry (sometimes) and
  maintenance of public areas
• Housekeeping is one of the largest departments in
  the hotel (up to 50 of all employees)

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HOUSEKEEPING

• The Executive Housekeeper is the head of the
  department
• He or she must be adept at scheduling,
  coordinating, managing people, etc. A primary
  responsibility is overseeing room attendants
• Room Attendants are responsible for cleaning of
  individual guest rooms
• Housekeepers work from a Rooms Report which
  provides them with the status of all guest rooms
  from which they can prioritize their work

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HOUSEKEEPING

• The Housekeeping Department must know at any
  given time, the occupancy of the hotel, the
  number of guests checking in, the number of
  guests checking out, the number of guests staying
  over, late check-outs, etc.
• Rooms can take as little as 20 minutes or as much
  as 1 hour to clean and prepare for the next guest
• Check-in and Check-out times are based in large
  part on the time it takes to clean a room

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UNIFORMED SERVICES

• The Uniformed Services Department is another
  important department in the Rooms Division of a
  hotel
• It consists of the Bell Staff, Valet, Security
  and Concierge
• The bell staff assists with luggage, acts as an
  escort and answers questions
• The valet assists with parking

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UNIFORMED SERVICES

• The Concierge is the resident expert in
  activities, events, restaurants and attractions
• The position of Concierge is becoming more
  important as hotels try to offer a higher level
  of guest services
• There is an international association for
  concierges (Les Chefs dOr)
• Sometimes this responsibility falls to the bell
  staff or the front desk clerks in smaller hotels

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SECURITY

• This department as well is becoming more
  important
• Crime is increasing in many areas, particularly
  downtown areas
• Hotels are required to provide reasonable care
  of their guests which includes general security,
  locks and lighting and security of guest
  belongings

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SECURITY

• New security measures that have been introduced
  in recent years include
• In-room safes
• Keyless locks (with magstrips)
• Tighter security at the front desk
• Redesigned hotels where guests (and others) must
  pass through the lobby

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FOOD AND BEVERAGE

• The Food and Beverage department can contribute
  15 to 20 percent of overall revenue
• It should be a profit center but does not always
  make money for the hotel
• This department is headed up by a Food and
  Beverage Manager who oversees both
  Front-of-the-House and Back-of-the-House
  functions

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FOOD AND BEVERAGE

• Banquets are often profitable for hotels. Can
  support meetings and conferences or outside
  functions
• Restaurants hotels are changing their views of
  their restaurants. Some are limiting what they
  offer and others are outsourcing
• Bars, room service, food production, stewarding
  are other areas

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STAFF AND SUPPORT DEPARTMENTS

• Sales and Marketing
• Responsible for creating customers
• Largely revolves around selling blocks of rooms
• Can be a large department in convention hotels
  specialized by market
• Accounting
• Role is moving beyond just bookkeeping
• Includes overseeing the house ledger and the
  city ledger
• Also, includes the night audit

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STAFF AND SUPPORT DEPARTMENTS

• Human Resources
• Labor intensive industry requires progressive H/R
• Responsibilities include supporting line
  departments in all H/R related activities (hiring
  and recruiting, training, staffing, etc.)
• Engineering
• Oversees Heating, Cooling, Water, Lighting,
  Telecommunications, Energy Management, Electric,
  other

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FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

• Income and Expenses
• Revenue and profit
• Changes in income and expenses over time
• Outsourcing as a strategy to cut costs
• Cost of maintaining a hotel

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KEY OPERATING RATIOS

• Occupancy percentage
• Rooms sold Total rooms available
• Example 500 room hotel sells 300 rooms
• Average rate
• Dollar sales Number of rooms sold
• Example 18,000 in sales

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KEY OPERATING RATIOS

• Number of guests per occupied room Number of
  guests Number of occupied rooms
• Revpar revenue per available room Rooms
  revenue Available rooms or Paid occupancy
  percentage ADR (Average Daily Rate)
• Average rooms cleaned per room attendant day
  Number of rooms occupied Number of eight-hour
  shifts

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CAREER ENTRY POINTS

• Front office
• Accounting
• Sales and marketing
• Food and beverage