Chapter 4: Rooms Divison Operations

Part One: Departments and their functions in rooms division
There are seven departments in rooms Division:
Front office, Reservations, Housekeeping, Concierge, Guest services, Security and Communications.
The Rooms Division Organization Chart

  
 Functions of different departments:
    1. Front Office

It is the hub or nerve center of the hotel. It is responsible to  sell and up-sell rooms, maintain balanced guest accounts and offer services such as handling mail, faxes, messages, and local and hotel information. It is a revenue center of the hotel.

There are three main types of staff handling the duties of front office:

1.  Front Office Manager: Enhance guest services by developing to exceed guest needs.

2. Guest Service Associate: Greet guests as they arrive at the hotel, escort them to the front desk, personally allocate the room, and take the guest and luggage to the room.

3. Night Auditor: Posts charges, Closes the books on a daily basis, Balances guest accounts, Completes daily reports using the statistics on the following slides.

2.  Reservations

It is a department headed by the reservations manager. The desired outcome of the reservations department is to exceed guest expectations when they make reservations. It is a cost center of the hotel. There are two main types of reservations:

1. Confirmed reservations are made with sufficient time for a confirmation slip to be returned to the client

2. Guaranteed reservations are given when the person making the reservation wishes to ensure that the reservation will be held

3.  Housekeeping

It is the largest department in terms of people. The head of this department is the Executive Housekeeper, and his/her duties are:  providing cleanliness and servicing the guest rooms and public areas, operating the department according to financial guidelines, manage the inventory control – control costs for supplies and equipment. It is a cost center of the hotel.

4. Concierge

It is typically appear in the luxury hotels. It can elevate property’s marketable value. The duties of this department are to handles guest needs, assists guests with restaurant reservations, directions, tickets to shows, etc.

The staff work for this department should have knowledge of the city and ability of speaking several languages. It is a cost center of the hotel.

5. Guest/Uniformed Services

The uniformed staff is headed by a guest services manager, which consisting the door attendants, bell persons, and the concierge. It is a cost center of the hotel.

6. Security

It provides guest safety and loss prevention. The security officers are responsible for the equipment (i.e., smoke alarms, key cards, etc.), safety procedures and identification procedures. It is a cost center of the hotel.

7. Communications

This department is responsible for management of in-house, guest communications, and emergency center. It is a profit center: Hotels generally add a 50% charge to all long-distance calls placed from guest rooms.


Part Two: Role of the Housekeeper

While the housekeeping staff of a hotel is commonly known for room upkeep--restocking toiletries, changing bedding and general cleaning--the role of the department extends beyond hotel cleanliness.





















Importance

• According to Sudhir Andrews, author of "Hotel Housekeeping," the housekeeping department is vital to attracting and keeping guests through it's role of maintaining top quality decor, cleanliness and service.

Service Staff

• The housekeeping department includes many roles in the service staff of a hotel. Aside from room attendants, who tend to room cleanliness, the department includes gardeners, maintenance men, bellhops, laundry staff and floor managers, as well as, occasionally, customer service professionals.

History

• Matt A. Casado, author of "Housekeeping Management," said the history of hotels can be traced back even further than the ancient "houses of rest and solace" in Pompeii. The modern hotel--and hotel staffing--arose from the inns popular in 14th century England, such as those found in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."

Housekeepers

• According to an article on expresshospitality.com, most customer complaints are directed to the chief housekeeper and sorted out among the housekeeping staff. The article also noted that housekeepers often coordinate purchasing special items and assist sales teams.

Special Roles

• According to Casado, the housekeeping department is also responsible for a level of security, safety and environmental duties such as composting and recycling.

Part Three:The Guest Cycle
The guest cycle describes the different situations that the guest encounters during entire process of booking and living at the hotel.  There are four major stages that the guest must go through:

1.  The Pre-Arrival Stage
         At the pre-arrival stage, the hotel must create a reservation record for each potential guest.  This stage is very important because the very first guest service encounter occurs during the reservation process. The employee who is taking the reservation should have excellent communication skills that will encourage to guest to follow through to the reservation process. 

2.  The Arrival Stage
       At the arrival stage, registration and rooming takes place and the hotel establishes a direct business relationship with the guest. The guest is also asked to give their personal information and financial information to keep in the hotel's records and are given their room number and key after the front desk has all of their information. This is the stage where the guest can check-in to their room. 

3.  The Occupancy Stage
      At the occupancy stage, the front office department must meet the guest's expectations in a timely manner. The staff should give full attention when the guest has a complaint or requests for a service.  In each hotel room, there is a comment card that guests can fill out if they have suggestions on how to improve the  hotel's services.  In addition, if the hotel room has any damage, the guest must pay for the damage fee. 

4.  The Departure Stage
    At the departure stage, the guest must be walked out of the hotel.  The front office clerk must retain the guest's records for future reference.  Lastly, this is the stage where the cashier settles the guest's outstanding balances and charges.  The guest must take all of their belongings out of the room by check-out time, return the room key, and leave the hotel, usually by 12 pm. 
Key Performance Indicators
          The Occupancy Statistics can tell the front desk clerk how well the hotel is doing for that night. The data tells how many rooms are taken. 
         The Percentage of Occupancy shows how full the hotel is.  The higher the percentage, the better.  These numbers are computed on a daily basis to indicate how the hotel is doing for that day.  It is very important for the hotel to keep track of the daily percentage of occupancy so they can predict what rates to assign each hotel room.  

   Percentage of Occupancy =

 Rooms Occupied

         Total Hotel Rooms  x 100%

Another statistic that the hotel computes daily is the Double/Multiple Occupancy Percentage.  This percentage shows how many people will be occupied in one hotel room.  

Double/Multiple Occupancy Percentage =

 Total # of Guests – # of Rooms Occupied x 100%

       # of Double Occupied Rooms