LESSON 3:

“THE BARE ESSENTIALS”

Prepared for you by:

Mrs. Maria Victoria C. Macale, MBA

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: In this chapter, future hoteliers will learn the

needed bare essentials of a hotel before they can start studying the various departments in it. They will be able to:

1. Discuss the two major players in the industry. These are the global hotelier & the hotel guest;

2. Identify and explain the interrelationship of various departments in the hotel;

3. Discuss the hotel operating cycle essential in prioritizing tasks;

4. Enumerate various rooms in the hotels essential in performing reservations for the hotel; and

5. Present an overview of the job positions in a hotel through an organizational chart.

THE GLOBAL HOTELIER:

A global hotelier knows how to meet the growing demands of tourists and are increasingly aware of the skills and attitudes they need to develop to be abreast with the market trends.

A MUST TO KNOW THAT:

With the world market leaning towards competency- based management, future hoteliers can only go up the corporate ladder if they constantly improve on the skills needed in their job.

BASIC COMPETENCIES OF GLOBAL HOTELIERS:

The global hotelier is perceived as a person who has the following basic competencies:

1. Self-management Competency

2. Communication Competency

3. Multicultural Competency

4. Teamwork Competency

COMPETENCIES OF MANAGERS

Managers need to have more than basic competencies for them to be successful in their daily tasks. They shld. posses the following:

1. Human Relations Competency- coach, counsel, and facilitate the learning of their staff.

2. Strategic Competency- having underlying knowledge and understanding of the organization and the industry and providing strategic action.

THE GLOBAL TRAVELER (TOURIST)

The global traveler in the 21st century is changing. Competition in hotel and resort industry is fierce and hotels are now proactive in knowing what their guest want.

The population of global travelers grows yearly due to the increasing global relations among nations.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GLOBAL TRAVELER:

1) Technology Driven- can use gadgets and equipment that can efficiently fast track daily transactions.

2) Budget Conscious-they now understand what they want. They choose hotels through internet reviews and blogs.

3) Detail Oriented- Guest know what they want – pampering and a smooth check in and check out.

4) Youthful Travelers- the power of the youth cannot be undermined as this demographic will continue to grow. As the era of baby boomers is at its decline, more generations Y and X can be seen traveling.

PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE:

It refers to the basic product and services offered by the hotel. This may include the total number of rooms, inside and outside facilities and services, amenities provided, rates, vision, mission, and sister properties of the hotel.

Basic product knowledge includes revenue and cost centers, the hotel operating cycle and guest room types.

HOTEL DEPARTMENT: REVENUE AND COST CENTERS

Revenue Centers

These are the income-generating

departments of the hotel.

They usually have direct hotel guest

contact and are called

“ Front of the House” and also called

“the nerve of the hotel”.

REVENUE CENTERS/ FRONT OF THE HOUSE:

1. Rooms Department/ Division- comprises the Front Office, Concierge, Porter and Housekeeping team.

2. Food and Beverage Department- comprises the outlets, room service, and banquet teams.

3. Other Departments- includes fitness and recreation facilities and other income-generating units not associated with rooms, sales and food &beverage.

COST CENTERS:

Cost centers provide technical support to the income-generating departments.

Most of these departments have little exposure in terms of guest contacts and are usually located at the “Back of the House” or “Heart of the House”

COST CENTERS/ “BACK OF THE HOUSE” DEPARTMENTS:

1. Marketing Dept.- in charge of creating promotional activities for the hotel

2. Engineering Dept.- in charge of preventive maintenance management of the rooms and facilities of the hotel.

3. Accounting Dept.- in charge of the billings of the guests and revenue and cost monitoring.

4. Human Resources- recruits, selects, orients, trains, and discipline all hotel employees.

5. Security- takes care of the safety of all the people in the hotel and responds to all cases of threats and emergencies.

6. Sales Department- room and F&B sales teams, responsible for saturating markets for clients for room occupancy, and for functions and events to be held in the hotel.

7. Administration or Executive Office- the office of the hotel’s general manager.

THE HOTEL OPERATIONAL CYCLE: Hotel operations can be divided into five (5) phases

as follows:

Pre-arrival

Arrival

In-stayDeparture

Post Departure

1. PRE-ARRIVAL PHASE: Guest contact occurs prior to the guest’s

arrival in the hotel. Under this phase, the guest inquires and

books a room or a banquet hall in the hotel.

The hotel personnel tries to impress the potential guest’s through product knowledge of the facilities and services of the hotel, and outstanding human relation and communication competencies.

SAMPLE TASKS IN THE PRE-ARRIVAL PHASE: It includes:

Room reservation

Banquet reservation

Answering the telephone

Answering potential guest inquiries.

2. ARRIVAL PHASE The first guest contacts occurs in this phase. Here, guests are welcomed to the hotel. Most of the tasks in this phase are performed

by the front office team. This phase is crucial as the hotel’s first

impression is imprinted on the mind of the hotel guest.

A disastrous first impression is hard to recover as guest will have a notion that all services will be bad from the start

SAMPLE TASK IN THE ARRIVAL PHASE INCLUDES:

Guest pick-up at the airport

Welcoming the guest

Carrying the guest’s luggage

Guest’s registration

Escorting the guest in the room

3. IN-STAY (DURATION) PHASE: This phase focuses on tasks performed in

the entire duration of the guest’s stay. All services are performed to make the

guest’s stay in the hotel highly satisfying. The hotel’s facilities are maintained and

the guest’s room is well kept to ensure guest comfort and satisfaction during their stay in the hotel.

Majority of the work are done by the housekeeping team.

SAMPLE TASKS IN IN-STAY(DURATION) PHASE:

Room cleaning

Turndown service

Accepting guest inquiries and request

Room service

4. DEPARTURE PHASE: The hotels prepares all necessary

requirements to a guest’s check-out from the property.

In this phase, all the guest’s requirements are settled prior to his/her departure.

The billing is double-checked for accuracy to avoid any guest complaints.

Future bookings are also asked.

5. POST DEPARTURE PHASE: Upon guest departure, the hotel’s

check any lost items by the guest. Then all the necessary guest

preference during his/her stay is inputted in the Property Management System

This is also the phase where administrative work is done.

GUEST ROOM TYPES:

1. Single Room – a room designed for a single traveler.

2. Double Room- a room with two double beds with

each bed usually measuring 54x75inches or

137x191cm

3. Twin Room- a room with 2 single beds with each

bed usually measuring 39x75in or 97x191cm

4. Suite Room – a complete room, usually with a foyer

that connects to one or more bedrooms. Usually,

these are the most expensive rooms in a hotel.

ROOM RATES: Some hotels have developed business-class

rooms, which are usually described as “Deluxe” (French word for “luxury”) and executive rooms.

Most guest rooms today are well-equipped in terms of business amenities that cater to business travelers.

In addition, they are highly flexible in terms of guest needs by providing them with their reasonable requests.

SAMPLE HOTEL ORGANIZATIONAL CHARTGeneral Manager

Director of Rooms

Director F&B

Director Sales & Mktg.

HR Director

Director Engineeri

ng

Director Finance

and Admin.

ACTIVITY 1. What are the basic competencies of a global

hotelier? 5 pts. 1-52. What is the “Front of the House?” 5 pts. 6-103. What is the “Back of the House”? 5 pts. 11-154. Identify what are the “revenue centers”? 16-

185. Identify what are the “cost centers”? 19-25 6. Explain your own understanding on the hotel

operational cycle. 10 pts.

GOOD LUCK!!!

TOUR ACTIVITIES/ASSIGNMENT: Visit nearest hotel in Calamba City and conduct a

survey. Choose a hotel department and interview the hotel

staff on the challenges and benefits in their respective jobs.

Interview hoteliers and ask them about basic knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to succeed in the hotel and resort industry.

Interview hoteliers and ask them about their opinions about the global traveler in the 21st Century.

Write it on a white paper then submit next meeting. Include some pictures for documentation…

Choose a partner to work on this assignment. You will be rated based on your teamwork and output

Thank You