Process Changes in Hotel Operations - Assignment Example

Name} {Course} {Other required information} {Submission date} Process Changes in Hotel Operations Introduction This paper will describe one of a number of successful changes to the processes of operating a hotel. Every business will experience change, whether intentionally in order to improve its profits, products, or performance, or unintentionally through outside circumstances such as economic conditions or government regulations that affect the business. Just as there are many different causes for change, there are many different forms change can take. Changes can be made in the way a business is organised, in the people who make up the organisation, or in the way the organisation does business. In this paper, an important change that affected several different processes and departments within a hotel are discussed. In order to effectively describe this change, a description of the organisation and functions of the hotel will be given first, along with the reasons for the proposed change to the operations, and the objectives that change were intended to achieve. The process by which the change was implemented and managed will be described in detail, along with the positive and negative affects it had on different parts of the hotel’s organisation. In conclusion, the results of the change will be assessed, with emphasis on areas where the change process might have been improved. The Chang Cheng Hotel The subject of this study is the Chang Cheng Hotel in Yongzhou, Hunan, China, where I was an Assistant Manager at the time the change was made to our operations. In this position I was responsible for supervising the staff and making decisions according to our hotel’s policy during the times that the General Manager, who was my immediate superior, was not available. This role allowed me to experience the change process in great detail, but also required me to accept a large part of the responsibility for making the process successful. The staff of the Chang Cheng Hotel was organised into five departments, each with its own manager who reported to the General Manager: Guest Services: This included the Front Desk staff, the Concierge, the Bell-Men and Valets, and two ladies who were responsible for reservations and room bookings. Food & Beverage: This department had two parts, the Restaurant staff and the Meetings & Banquet staff. The Meetings & Banquet staff also worked in close co-operation with the Guest Services department in the scheduling of the various business and social gatherings hosted in our hotel. Housekeeping: This department included the maids responsible for keeping the rooms and common areas of the hotel clean, and the staff of the laundry. Maintenance: This four-man department was responsible for repairs and maintenance of the building and facilities, as well as other duties such as maintaining the outside grounds. Administration: This was the office staff that handled such tasks as billing and accounting, payroll, and personnel management. The Chang Cheng Hotel has long been a successful and popular hotel, but the economic good fortune and increase in international business and tourist visitors to our city had encouraged the building of new hotels. Facing new competition, the owners of the Chang Cheng Hotel directed that strong measures be taken to improve our services to meet international standards and attract more guests, but at the same time they wished to increase the hotel’s profitability. We could certainly attract more visitors, but if our costs remained the same or increased because of the added business, then we would not be able to meet the second part of the owners’ order. Therefore, our real challenge was to find ways to reduce our costs and make our operations more efficient. Identifying an Area for Change In order to determine what parts of our operations could be improved the staff and management conducted a series of meetings, some at the department level and some with the entire staff. These meetings were a form of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. (BNET, 2008) By having meetings with different groups, we were able to gather input from every point of view and examine all the activities of the hotel. The issues that were repeated or mentioned most often by different people or groups were the ones that would require the most attention. When we were finished with the discussions, we developed a chart that described the SWOT analysis for the hotel: STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES OPPORTUNITIES THREATS 1. Professional, competent staff. 2. Average experience of employees 5+ years. 1. Shortage of staff in the maintenance, housekeeping depts. 2. Several employees in these depts. nearing retirement age. 1. New staff available from hotel/management schools nearby. 2. Young, recently-graduated workers = lower payroll. 1. New hotels competing for same local workforce. 2. Level of service might decline due to lack of experience of new workers. 3. Well-known location near city center. 4. Older building with lots of “charm”. 3. Building systems somewhat inefficient. 4. Increasing amount of repairs needed to building due to age. 3. Systems could be upgraded as repairs are needed. 4. Building’s “charm” and “character” good marketing features. 3. Maintenance needs keep some rooms out of service. 4. Competition from new hotels that could market modern, cutting-edge features. A number of small changes were implemented in different areas of the hotel’s operations to improve service, but the one area that affected every department and represented a significant change in the way work was done was in the area of maintenance. This is typically a large cost for any hotel; a study in 2006 in the U.S. estimated that maintenance costs averaged about 6.8% of total revenue, and were increasing. (4Hoteliers, 2006) Proper maintenance of the hotel building and fixtures is certainly necessary, because guests who are faced with rooms that are in disrepair or a building which looks worn-out will stay somewhere else. Maintenance does not directly produce revenue for a hotel, which is why some owners and managers are hesitant to spend money for it, but if they do not pay attention to maintenance needs, revenue will almost certainly fall. As illustrated by the SWOT analysis, the Chang Cheng Hotel was facing several problems related to maintenance. The building required constant close attention to maintain its appearance and functionality. The staff of the maintenance department, while very experienced and competent to do this work, was too small to keep up with the many tasks required, so that a certain number of rooms were continually out of service waiting for repairs. This was further aggravated by the age of the building and its systems such as the heating and cooling system and the plumbing, which were old, inefficient, and required more time to repair and maintain than newer, more modern systems. Planning a Change There were three objectives of the planned change to the way maintenance was done at the Chang Cheng Hotel: 1. Maintain a pleasant and attractive appearance and functionality of the property to help attract new guests and encourage guests to return for future visits. 2. Keep all the rooms (150 total) in constant service, to maximise the hotel’s revenue-making potential. 3. Keep costs for maintenance at a constant percentage of revenue, 6%. In order to successfully implement the change, a plan was developed and then communicated to the entire staff. This was the most important part of the process, because poor communication and resistance to changes in the methods and routines to which employees are accustomed are the biggest obstacles to successfully making a change. (Norris, 2008) If the staff was informed at the beginning what the change or changes would be, why they were important, and how the staff would benefit from them, the more likely they would be to support the effort and make it successful. The change involved dividing some of the responsibilities of the maintenance department among the rest of the hotel staff. Because of the way work was organised and the rules that had been put in place concerning job functions, much of the time and effort of the maintenance staff was spent on inspection and simple tasks, so that repairs that required their expertise were often delayed. To help illustrate the planned change to the staff, a chart of job duties “before and after” was presented: BEFORE AFTER MAINTENANCE TASK RESPONSIBLE DEPT. RESPONSIBLE DEPT. Inspect building and rooms for basic repairs (worn/broken fixtures, lights, furnishings, etc.) Maintenance Housekeeping Clean and tend outside grounds – garden, walkways, building exterior Maintenance Guest Services (Valets & Bell-Men) Inspect kitchen and restaurant areas for equipment maintenance/repairs Maintenance Restaurant & Kitchen staff Inspect/maintain/repair heating/cooling systems, plumbing, electrical systems Maintenance Maintenance Inspect/clean/maintain laundry equipment Maintenance Housekeeping The new program required that the employees be trained for their new responsibilities, and that a system of measuring and rewarding performance be developed. (Norris, 2008) The workers were understandably skeptical of the changes, because they had the impression that the new program would simply mean more work. Proper training would make them more comfortable with their new responsibilities, in large part because it demonstrated that for most employees the new tasks were not difficult or time-consuming. A system of measuring performance not only allowed the management to relate the specific activities to the overall objectives for the hotel, but also gave the employees specific targets to meet, and the opportunity to earn bonuses if those targets were exceeded. Once the employees understood that the “extra work” would be more profitable for the hotel and for themselves personally, they were enthusiastic about trying to make the changes successful. One example of how the program was implemented was in the housekeeping department. Under the old methods, the maids were simply responsible for cleaning the guest rooms; if in the course of doing so they happened to notice that something was out of order – a light bulb that needed to be changed, or a piece of furniture broken, for example – they would report it to maintenance, who would then attend to it as soon as they were able, with the affected room being taken out of service until then. But the maids were not specifically responsible for checking that everything in the rooms was in proper condition and working order; that was the responsibility of maintenance, which conducted room-by-room inspections. The result of this process was that at any given time, several rooms would be out of service due to minor maintenance needs, and others would have small problems that would often be noticed by guests, simply because the maintenance men had not inspected those rooms yet. Under the new system, all the maids were trained to inspect the rooms for maintenance problems as they did their cleaning, checking that all lights were working, telephones and televisions were in good order, air conditioning and heating fixtures clean and working properly, and that the furnishings of the room were in good repair and appearance. Each maid was given a small supply of light bulbs and air conditioner filters – a particularly annoying maintenance item in the past – so that they could take care of these minor needs themselves. Anything more serious would still have to be reported to maintenance of course, but these problems could be addressed much more quickly because the maintenance workers were freed from the time-consuming process of conducting room inspections. The change was estimated to affect the individual maids to the extent that they would be able to clean two fewer rooms per shift, due to the extra time required for the inspections. This was not well-received by the maids at first, because their pay was based on the number of rooms they could clean per day. In order to compensate them, a reward system was developed wherein each maid would receive a small bonus for every room in excess of 143 – which represented 95% of the 150 rooms in the hotel – that were available for guests each day. In addition, the target number of 143 was well above the 130 to 135 rooms that were available on average before the changes were made, so in real terms this actually made more rooms available for the maids to clean, which of course meant more money for them. Once the housekeeping staff understood how the changes would benefit them in a practical way, they became excited about them, and regularly exceeded the target set. Assessing the Success of the Change Overall, the change in the hotel’s maintenance program could be considered a great success. In the first year after its implementation, the hotel maintained a daily average of 146 rooms of 150 available, which was also reflected in an increase in revenue. Guest complaints about maintenance-related problems decreased to virtually none, and there were far fewer service interruptions in areas like the kitchen and laundry due to the closer attention paid to the equipment by those staffs. The reasons for the success can be found in the way the changes were planned: First, a clear objective was given by the ownership and management of the hotel. Second, all the hotel’s operations were examined and input from the entire staff was sought in order to identify the area where changes would be most successful. Third, a plan for implementing the change was developed, and most importantly, communicated to the staff in clear and complete detail. Fourth, proper training and resources were given to the staff so that they had the tools they needed to make the changes work. And finally, a system of measuring and rewarding success was developed to encourage the staff’s efforts and give them incentives to be successful. The one part of the change that was not really successful was in the costs of the maintenance program, which actually increased slightly as a result of the new program. Although this did not meet the goal set by the hotel’s owners it was not really regarded as a failure. As a result of the extra time the maintenance department gained by having other departments take on some of their old responsibilities, they were able to pay closer attention to the larger systems in the hotel, such as the heating and ventilation and plumbing systems. Extra cleaning of ducts, inspection and calibration of thermostats and controls, and in some cases upgrading equipment for more efficient operation could save the hotel up to 20% in energy costs (Brodsky & Appelbaum, 2005), and so the maintenance department gave special attention to these areas. This resulted in some higher costs, but it was expected that over the long term the costs would be recovered and even result in a profit due to energy savings. The management and owners of the Chang Cheng Hotel were surprised at first by the higher costs, but this could have been avoided if the change planning had included an assessment of longer-term effects and objectives. References 4Hoteliers.com. (2006) “Hotel maintenance creeps up.” From: PKF Hospitality Research, 2 August 2006. BNET staff. (2008) “Analyzing Your Business's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.” BNET Basic (n.d.), accessed 22 December 2008. Brodsky, Stuart and Bruce Appelbaum. (2005) “Maintenance strategy yields big savings.” Hotel & Motel Management, 19 September 2005. Norris, Maya. (2008) “Change Agents.” From: Chain Leader, 1 April 2008. Allbusiness.com. Read More