Room Division Operations Management - Assignment Example

Task A: Research Report Legislative and Regulatory Requirement Relevant to Rooms Division Operations There are certainly numerous legislative and regulatory requirements in the hospitality industry that apply to rooms divisions operations in hotels and resorts. As this division deals with front of house area and accommodations staff, legislation deals with the privacy of the guests, protection of privileged information, and security of self and belongs within the room. Hotels are under an ethical and legal obligation to protect the personal information they receive from clients. This includes names of registrants, in addition to personal and financial information given by the guest. Upon check out, all information should be dutifully disposed of. In addition, front of area staff must not give out any information about their guests unless they have approval to do so (McMillan, 2013). Within the room, accommodations staff are under the typically legal obligation to safeguard the belongings of their guest to go to reasonable measures to ensure their personal safety. In addition, rooms must be kept up to the standards of cleanliness as stipulated by the particular jurisdiction that the hotel property is in. Roles and Responsibilities of Accommodation and Reception Staff Accommodation staff are responsible for ensuring the each room in the hotel is up to standards each and every night. They are also ‘on call’ to bring guests any needed and necessary items that might have been overlooked in the cleaning process, or that simply are used by the guests quicker than normal. The accommodation staff is often responsible for setting the standard of the hotel, as they want to ensure that the rooms are clean and ready for each guest, depending on the level of hotel that is in question. Reception staff are also extremely valuable because they are the ones responsible to talking to guests before, during, and after their arrival. An often overlooked function of the reception staff is that they are often the first place the guests go to when they have a complain about various aspects of the room division operations. It is the reception staff that, if effectively managed, can be empowered to accommodate the wishes and desires of guest, within reason, and to ensure that their stay is pleasurable from start to finish. Finally, reception staff are also responsible for the typical tasks of checking in customers, and helping them to settle their bills upon check out. They are the most visible face of the hotel, so they need to constantly be ‘on top of their game’ (McMillan, 2013). Services Offered by Room Division Operations Room Division Operations can typically be divided into three separate, yet complementary, divisions. These include reservations, front office, and uniformed services. Those employees working in the reservations department are particularly important, as they typically provide the hotel’s first contact with the guest. Guests can make contact with the reservations department by contacting the hotel directly, going through a centralized reservations system, or by booking on the Internet. Another important room divisions operations department in the front office. Employees in this department are typically responsible the greeting of guests, getting them registered, and assigning them rooms. Front desk clerks also offer services to the clients and take care of necessary monetary tasks. Finally, those employees in the uniformed services department offer a wide range of services to guests staying at the hotel. They are usually distinguished by their uniforms, and come in the form of bell staff, concierge, valet, and door persons. The bell staff will help with luggage and help direct guests where they need to go in the hotel. Concierge is an expert of not only the various features of the hotel, but of events in the surrounding area. As such, they can help guests locate special events they might want to attend, and even procure reservations or tickets (McMillan, 2013). Importance of the Front of House Area and Accommodation Services to Effective Management The front of house area and accommodation services staff are critical to the overall guest relations at any given hotel. As such, effective management is needed to properly train and equip staff members in these respective departments in an effort to provide guests with the best possible overall experience at the hotel. As has been mentioned, the staff in these departments are often the face of the hotel, as they may be the only hotel employees that some guests even interact with. Management should empower their staff to handle minor problems that arise in a timely and efficient manner, as every minute that a guest has to wait for a resolution to an issue is time that they are unhappy with the services at the hotel. It is plausible, therefore, to conclude that a poorly performing front of house area and accommodations staff is generally reflective of poor managements. Hotels need strong managerial personnel in order to motivate and inspire their room operations staff towards excellence. While most hotels to tend to employ a top-down managerial style in order to improve efficiently and disseminate duties quickly and effectively, it is equally important to demonstrate a trust in lower-level staff to resolve guest disputes and correct any deficiencies that might arise from time to time, without having to wait for a front-office manager to become available (McMillan, 2013). Task B: Written Account with Analysis of Crowne Plaza London - Buckingham Palace Evaluation of the key aspects of planning and management of the front of house area and the accommodation service The Crowne Plaza Buckingham Palace is located in the historical section of London, and a traditional building that has been remodeled to house a five star quality hotel. The age of the building presented unique challenges in arranging the front of house area in such a way that could provide the services that guests staying at the Crowne Plaza brand internationally have come to recognize. To begin, there is minimal area in front of the hotel to drop off passengers, so there is always adequate uniform staff in the form of bell boys on hand to assist passengers quickly and get their vehicles on their way. This effort is necessary to set a good first impression, as guests typically wish the check-in process to go smoothly, and be efficient and quick. In addition, the concierge is near the door in order to provide assistance to unique needs of both the leisure and business traveler alike. This includes, again, facilitating taxi flow and directing patrons to various public transport options that may be at their disposal. The reception area is small, yet functional. The management of the hotel went to great care to arrange six different lanes where guests are able to check-in with minimal fuss. There is a back-office behind the counter to facilitate check-out and financial services. In addition, management has arranged a small, yet functional, lounge area for guests to wait during peak check-in times. As the front of house area is small for a hotel of this size, management of the reception area is critical. It is vital that guests are attended to rapidly, so the staff is required to already have prepared key cards and check-in slips for all pre-confirmed guests. This enables check-in, for the most part, to go quite quickly and smoothly. The accommodation staff at the Crowne Plaza Buckingham Palace faces some unique challenges given the age of the building. Room corridors are quite narrow, yet the clientele is noticeably upscale, as room rates at this property start in the 300 Pound per night range. As such, the staff must work diligently to clean rooms in a timely manner, without crowding the corridors with necessary cleaning equipment. Their work must be done efficiently, quickly, and to the standards dictated by UK government legislation, and Crowne Plaza’s own policies and standards. From all appearances, the management at this property has trained its staff extremely well and has gained a reputation for excellence of service. The hotel as a whole receives high marks in both its front of house operations and accommodation services. Critical evaluation of the main operational issues affecting the effective management and business performance of the front house area and the accommodation service It is important to note that many of the operational issues affect the effective management at this particular property (Crowne Plaza Buckingham Palace) are out of the control of management and room divisions operations staff. There is often, for example, a backlog of guests waiting to get to their rooms during peak check-in times. This is due to the reality that the hotel can only have a few elevators put in, even after remodeling, due to the architectural structure of the building. Upon further evaluation, it can also be noted that the reception area is inordinately cramped compared to similar caliber properties. This appears to be out of necessity, again, as the area is simply small to begin with. The management of property likely opted to go with more check-in counters, at the expense of personal space, in order to keep guest check-in and check-out flowing as smoothly and quickly as possible. The location of the bell and concierge staff was an excellent move for this property. There is adequate space for the staff to operate. Given London’s rainy weather, and the fact this hotel is quite a walk from public transport, services offered include umbrella distribution and taxi ordering. This, again, is done efficiently given the close proximity to the entrance and the main road. In addition, the location of the uniformed staff is away from the reception staff, ensuring that nothing detracts from the check-in counters, which as noted are already sorely lacking in space. All in all, the Crowne Plaza Buckingham Palace has done an exemplarily job of turning a historic London building in world-class hotel. Task C: Practical Task An explanation of revenue/yield management The concept of yield management is most commonly utilized in the hotel or airline industry in order to maximize revenue of any given day. Quite simply, it is based on the expectation that not every consumer or guest who makes a reservation will actually utilize that reservation. As such, it is quite common for a hotel that has 200 rooms to actually allow more than 200 rooms to be booked, on the expectation that some people will simply not show up to honor their reservation. To management the yield, however, takes careful management and planning because a hotel does not want to be known for frequently overbooking its property. In fact, overbooking is frowned upon and proper yield management strives to avoid this phenomenon (Kimes, 2011). Many wonder why a hotel would even want to have the possibility of overbooking its property, yet the reality is that this is one of the primary ways that hotels maximize their revenue. A hotel room that is sitting empty, particularly when the property is busy, loses potential profit to the organization in the form of room and auxiliary (food and beverage for example) income. By properly managing the yield, the hotel makes the best use of their existing rooms. An analysis of sales techniques used to promote and maximize revenue Hotels implement a variety of strategies to both promote and maximize their revenue. Income generated by the hotel does not stop at the rate paid for the room. Many hotels will implement strategies designed to have guests purchase items in their room that contribute to the overall bottom line of the property. At higher end properties, this revenue can be quite substantial. This comes in the form of room service, mini bar items, laundry and dry cleaning services, and in room entertainment options and features (Kimes, 2011). This is why yield management is so important. A hotel strives to have as many of their rooms occupied on any given night in order to maximize their potential to earn revenue in various ways. The sales techniques implemented will vary by hotel and region, but entail highlighting the various features of the hotel and offering promotions suited to the season and to the particular clientele that might be occupying the hotel at that particular time. An evaluation of the usage of forecasting and statistical data in the room division The use of forecasting and statistical data in the room division is an essential component to the daily management of any hotel. Such information permits the hotel to make decisions related to overbooking, in addition to promotional campaigns aimed at getting the maximum number of beds let per night. If forecasting, for example, determines that February is extremely slow at the Four Seasons, that is when statistical data would be used to determine the pricing point at which more beds will be let, given the time of year. Currently, the Four Season case study shows 180 rooms are let, which is a respectable 84% occupancy. The hotel has room to sell, however, as yield management would dictate that more than 215 would be booked for that time period. As such, the use of forecasting will result in pricing fluctuations for this time period until such time that the desired number of rooms are booked, thereby increasing the potential for maximizing auxiliary revenue. A description with calculation of performance indicators used to measure the success of accommodation sales There are some noticeable trends evident in the statistical data presented for the Four Seasons Winchester. Single rooms in London are notoriously difficult to let, except during conferencing events. As such, it is understandable only 55 of the 75 rooms are occupied, which is only a 73% occupancy rate. This is more than 10% lower than the overall occupancy rate at the hotel. There are several considerations here. First, the hotel does not receive as much extra income from single rooms, as there is only one individual in the room. As such, the concern is not as high when they are not booked. At the Four Seasons, however, this is a considerable that is being lost nightly, as the average room rate is quite high. As such, the hotel should consider a more aggressive marketing campaign targeted to the single traveler. As this is high-end hotel catering to the business traveler, it is not plausible to reconvert some of the rooms to twins. In addition, it is noticeable that of the 180 rooms occupied, 100 of them are taken by singles. This is a trend worth noticing, as it means that only 260 guest are present in a hotel that sleeps many more. More should be done to attract couples to the hotel. Works Cited Kimes, S. (2011). The future of hotel revenue management. Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, 10(1), 62-72. McMillan, D. (2013). Trends in the international hotel industry. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 5(2), 151-163. Read More