Chapter 10

Hotel and Lodging Operations

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

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

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

ROOMS DIVISION

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

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

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 hotel’s reservation department

Reservations must maintain contact with other departments as well as other reservations channels to be able to forecast available rooms

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.

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)

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

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

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

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 d’Or)

Sometimes this responsibility falls to the bell staff or the front desk clerks in smaller hotels

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CAREER ENTRY POINTS

Front office Accounting Sales and marketing Food and beverage