CHAPTER 2

VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the discussion, you are expected to:

• Discuss the various departments and sections in the hotel industry.
• Define the departmental responsibility.
• Outline the hotel management structure.
• Discuss the responsibilities of hotel and management professionals,
its qualification and working condition.
• Discuss the skills required for hotel management professionals, salary
package and overall prospects in the hotel management.

A hotel can provide good service when all departments will work together in an efficient
and effective way by showing goo team work, coordination and communication.

The most important function of a hotel is to provide food and shelter to prospective
guest. To provide food and shelter, there are number of departments or areas who all functions
together round-the-clock inside the hotel premises.
All departments are broadly categorized in two parts:
1. Operational Departments (Core Department)
• Front Office - revenue center
• Food and Beverages Service - revenue center
• Housekeeping - cost center
• Food/ Kitchen Production - cost center

2. Administrative Departments (Non-Core Department)

• Maintenance Department
• Accounting Department
• Human Resource Department
• Electronic Data Processing Department
• Communication Department
• Security Department
• Purchasing Department
• Sales and Marketing Department

Function of Front Office:

• To allot the room to the guest, called check – in
• To maintain the room records for reservation and allocation
• To collect the room charges and miscellaneous charges for various
service used by guest during his / her stay as the hotel, at the time
of departure of guest

Sections:
Front Desk
• Reception- the section is used for check – in process of the guest
• Information- the section is used for providing various information in-
house guest.
• Cashier Desk- this section is used for check out process of the
guest
• Guest Relation Desk- this section is used for collecting guest
feedback and maintenance the guest history.
• Bell Desk- this section is used for assistance of guest during check-
in and check-out process
• Travel Desk- this section is used for assistance of guest for
arranging vehicles for guest movements and for making
transportation and reservation.

Back Office
• Reservation Desk- the section is used for taking booking of room
• Telephone Operator- the section is used for attending all phone
calls land up in the hotel or for providing trunk dial facility to guest.

Function of foods and beverages services:

o To provide foods and beverage facilities to the guest
o To provide food and beverage for groups, conferences, meetings,
theme parties, etc.
Sections:
 • Restaurant
• Room Service
• Banquet
• Bar and Lounge

Functions of Housekeeping:
o To take care of the cleanliness of rooms, and the hotel building and
its furniture and furnishings.
o To maintain the linen room for maintenance of the room linen,
restaurants linen, etc.
o To maintain the gardening work of the hotel.
o To maintain the guest laundry facility for room guest.
o To maintain staff laundry facility for staff of hotel.

Sections:
• Linen Room
• Housekeeping Desk
• Housekeeping Store
• In- house Laundry
• Gardening Area

Function of Food / Kitchen Production:

o To provide various type of dishes to the guest as per the menu.
o To provide food for various buffet and banquet parties.
o To provide food to the staff of the hotel.
o To prepare different type of dishes for special occasion.

Sections:
• Hot Kitchen
• Pantry/ Cold Kitchen
• Pastry/ Bakery
• Butchery

Functions of Maintenance:
o To maintain all the equipment inside of the hotel.
o To be responsible for smooth, supply of electricity, water, and
smooth function of air conditioning unit.
o To maintain all the furniture and fixtures of rooms and other area of
hotel.

Functions of Accounting:
o Preparation of budget and allocation or revenue and expenditure for
various department.
o Maintain all accounts related books in accordance to the
government rules and regulations.
o Preparation of balance sheet of the hotel.
o Liaising with government offices for tax and revenue related matters.
o Collecting of revenue from guests, companies, etc.
o Giving salaries to employees.
 o To keep check on the food and beverages cost.
o To keep check on purchase and sale of alcoholic beverages for
the property.
o To keep account of revenue generated and expenditure under
various heads for each department.

Functions of Human Resource:

o Recruitment and section of employee for hotel as per
requirement.
o Training and development of employee.
o Maintenance of attendance records, leave records, etc.
o Maintenance of personal file for each employee with all details,
for the purpose of periodically appraisal.

Functions of Electronic Data Processing:

o Maintenance of the property management system of the hotel.
o Maintenance of various aspects of internet and its related
matter.
o Generation of various relevant electronic data as per
requirement of hotel.
o Maintenance of all computer units hired or purchased by hotel,
and its relevance software.

Function of Communication:
o Maintenance of telephone communications for each room and
other area of the hotel.
o Maintenance of cable connections of televisions of rooms and
other places of the hotel.
o Maintenance of audio-visual equipment for conferences and
parties.
o Maintenance of audio-visual equipment of the hotel.

Function of Security:
o To be responsible for safety and security of guests of the hotel.
o To be responsible for safety of employee.
o To keep check on theft cases of hotel.
o To cooperate with staff for fire exit procedure.
o To keep record of received materials and dispatched material of
the property.
o To keep record of movement of fixed assets of the property.
o To keep check on authorized entry of people.

Functions and Purchasing and Stores:

o To purchase materials from the market as per requirement of
various department of the hotel.
o To purchase all types of equipment and materials for the hotel.
o To liaison with different companies or vendor for supply of
perishable or no- perishable goods.
o To liaison with different dealers for provision of non- vegetarian
items (chicken, mutton, fish, beef, etc.).
o To store all purchased items properly as per basic rule (F.I.F.O).
 o To issue the material to the user department of the hotel after making proper record.
o To maintain the smooth flow of perishable and non- perishable goods for the
department.

Function of Sales and Marketing

o To sell the room nights and various conferences facilities to various clientele.
o To sell the room nights to individual guest for holiday purpose.
o To make the brand image of the hotel in the market.
o To act as an agent for hotel and provide various information of changes and updating.

Hotel Management Structure

A hotel organization structure is comprehensive plan by a hotel owner to define

departmental activities and responsibilities. The structure bring order to every aspects of hotel
operation from the front desk and room service to the human resources department. Hotel
organization structures are necessary to ensure maximum profitability from each room,
restaurant and bar on a daily basis. Your hotel can run efficiently if it creates an organizational
structure that is easy to understand.

The size and magnitude of hotel management structure varies significantly depending on
the size and function of the hotel. A small hotel normally consists of a small core management
team consisting of the General Manager and a few key department managers who directly
handle day-to-day operations. On the contrary, a large full-service hotel often operates more like
a large operation with an executive board headed by the General Manager and consisting of
key directors serving as heads of individual hotel departments. Each department normally
consists of subordinate line-level managers and supervisors who handle day-to-day operations.

Because of the variety of food, beverage and accommodation services provided by a

hotel and in order to give and efficient service to the customer or guest, it is necessary to divide
the hotel operations into distinct department. Figure 1 show the principal divisions/ departments
of full-service hotel.

Sample of Major Departments of a Full-Service Hotel Large / Full-Service Hotel

A typical organizational chart for a large resort/ hotel operation:

General Manager Reports to Regional Vice President and / or Owner / Investor

• General Manager
o Assistant GM or Director of Operations
o Director of Front Office
▪ Front Desk Manager
➢ Front desk Supervisor
➢ Rooms Coordinator
▪ Night Auditor
▪ PBX Supervisor
▪ Guest Service Manager
➢ Concierge Supervisor
➢ Bell Captain
➢ Valet Captain
o Executive Housekeeper
▪ Housekeeping Manager
 ➢ Floor Supervisor
➢ Laundry supervisor
➢ Public Area/ Custodial Supervisor
o Director of Sales and Marketing
▪ Senior Sales Manager
➢ Sales Manager
▪ Senior Marketing Supervisor
➢ Marketing Manager
➢ Public Relation Manager
▪ Revenue manager
➢ Reservations Supervisor
o Director of food and beverage
▪ Restaurant Manager
➢ Restaurant Supervisor
▪ Executive Chef
▪ Room Service Manager
➢ Room Service Captain
▪ Bar Manager
o Director of Events and Catering
▪ Convention Service Manager
▪ Event Manager
▪ Catering Manager
➢ Banquets Manager
o Director of Finance
▪ Finance Manager
o Chief Engineer
▪ Engineering Manager
o Director of Human Resources
▪ Human Resources Manager
▪ Recruiting Manager
o Director of Security
▪ Shift Supervisor
o Information Technology Manager

Additional Management Positions may exist for outlets such as a Golf Course, Spa, Gift Shops,
and additional facilities.

Small/ limited-Service Hotel

A typical organizational chart for small hotel operation
General Manager reports to Regional Director and/ or Owner / Investor

• General Manager
o Front Office Manager
o Housekeeping Manager
o Sales Manager
o Food and Beverage Manager

Administrative function for small scale hotel such as Accounting Payroll, and Human Resources
are normally handled by a centralized corporate office or solely by the General Manger.

Responsibilities of Hotel Management Professionals

 People who want to make their career in hotel management, for them it is important to
know the duties and responsibilities of hotel management professionals.

There are various departments in a hotel like front office, food and beverages,
housekeeping and food/ kitchen productions known as the operational departments while
maintenance, accounting, human resource, electronic data processing, communication security,
purchasing; and sales marketing are the administrative departments. Managers of different
departments have different responsibilities. Generally, there is a General Manager over all of
the managers of various departments of a hotel. He is responsible for smooth operations and
customer satisfaction.

Front Office Manager

Front office is the area in a hotel where the guest arrives first. Front office professionals
are the people in any hotel whom guest interact first. That’s why front office management is one
of the most important parts of hospitality management or hotel management.

Front office manager is obviously responsible for managing all the duties and activities of
the front desk or reception. Generally, it includes attending to the guest, escort the guest,
answering guests’ inquiries, registering the guest, settle the accounts of the guest at the time of
check out, coordinate to various departments of hotel etc. front office manager is also
responsible for front office staff scheduling and training.

Executive Housekeeper/ Housekeeping Manager

Housekeeping Manager is responsible to manage all the activities all the activities
related to housekeeping maintenance, cleanliness and appearance of hotel.
Team of House Persons and Room Attendants is given to Housekeeping Manager to
maintain hotel clean and friendly. Housekeeping manager is responsible to get work done from
this team to provide customers with quality services.

Food and Beverages (F&B Manager)

Food and Beverage Manager (also known as F&B manager) is mainly responsible for
managing catering food and beverage services in a hotel. he has to manage the theme of
restaurant, music, table reservation system, catering operations, smooth operations in case of
specific event (i.e. party, wedding etc.,), prompt of efficient catering services, decoration and
well presentation of food, supervision and training of waiters, handling guest complaints
regarding meal and forward those complaints to chef, cost control, waste disposal, cleaning of
table and floor area of restaurant etc.

Kitchen Manager / Chef

Many times, it is misunderstood that the responsibility of chef is just cooking of food.
Chef is much more than a cook. Chef has a depth knowledge of food, flavor, nutrients, the
combination of flavors, and calorific values of various ingredients as well as the whole dish.
Main responsibilities of the chef include creating menu, food preparation, develop new
recipes and variants of existing recipes. Chef is also responsible to train kitchen staff and
supervise them. In addition to this, Chef is also responsible for inspecting the kitchen
equipment’s, appliances and work area.
Chef is the person in a hotel who has mastery with the sense of flavors, take care the
nutrition of the food and satisfy the guest with the urge of wanting more.

Hotel Maintenance
 A hotel maintenance person will ensure that just about everything in the hotel is in
proper working order. Daily task may include daily changing light bulbs, removing waste and
painting. Other tasks will be assigned as needed, including fixing of replacing toilets, piping
room appliances and vacuums. Many hotels have an indoor pool, and you must ensure that the
water pumps and chemical pumps are working correctly/ also, you will need to be familiar with
heating and air conditioning units, electrical wiring and plumbing, hot to troubleshoot, fix or
replace these items.

Hotel Accountant/ Controller

Overseeing accounting functions includes ensuring timely and accurate reporting of
financial information, handling year audits-, short- and long-term financial forecasting, and
working as part of the hotel’s executive management team.

Human Resource Manager

Humana resource manager handle a variety of personnel and administrative functions
within an organization or business, including benefits and compensation, employee training,
recruitment and disciplinary procedures. Specific responsibilities of an HR professionals depend
of the type of company she works for and her specific job within the HR department.

Data Processing Executive

The main responsibility of the Data Processing Executive is the conversation of data into
correct form. Computer data processing is any process that uses as a computer program to
enter data and summarize, analyze or otherwise convert data into usable information. He is
responsible for automating all the operations being used in data processing. The responsibility
of data processing system is to manipulate raw data into information, and likewise information
systems take raw data as input to produce information as output.

Hotel Communication Officer

The hotel communication officers provide an effective service by answering emergency and
highly priority telephone calls, as efficiently and quickly as possible. It also obtains and record
accurate information, assesses the level of any hotel information and responses appropriate
action properly.

Hotel Security Guard

The primary responsibility of a hotel security guard is to protect the hotel and the guests,
employees and property within it. Hotel security guards must keep a log book of anything
unusual or problematic that happens, and they often act as liaison between police and hotel in
the event that something happens. Hotel security guards spend the majority of their time
patrolling the grounds and premises of the hotel, or monitoring the hotel via security cameras.

Hotel Purchaser
The hotel purchaser is responsible for ordering inventory, supplies, equipment and
services for all departments and divisions. The purchaser is responsible for securing the best
price for all purchases without jeopardizing quality. The hotel purchaser is responsible for
generating and submitting orders in accordance with the company policies and procedures.
Purchases must follow the proper chain of command and all specialty purchases must be
approved by the department managers. The hotel purchaser is responsible for conforming all
orders and their subsequent delivery. This includes reconciling the shipments, manifests, shot-
and back- stocked orders and damaged items. The hotel purchaser must log all purchasers into
the centralized purchasing system for proper tracing must log all purchases into the centralized
purchasing system for proper tracing and classification. The hotel purchaser must maintain a
large database of vendors and contacts within the industry. Networking is useful tool in
securing difficult items, rush orders and bad dogged merchandise.

Sales and Marketing Manager

A sales and marketing combine both strategy and sales elements for dynamic leadership
roles that implements revenue generating plans with coordinated sales efforts. This can include
responsibilities with product development, picking strategy and product distribution. Analyzing
current sales figures and forecasting projected numbers to implement effective marketing and
sales strategies is also crucial.

Typical Qualifications
Background and training required varies by management title and duties involved.
Industry experience has proven to be an essential qualification for nearly any management
occupation with the lodging industry.

Industry experience is the most basic qualification for management occupation in hotel. A
degree in Hospitality management studies, Human Research or an equivalent business degree
is often required or strongly prepared. A graduate degree may be desired for General Manager
Position but is often not required with sufficient management experience and tenure. A graduate
degree may however be required for corporate executive position or above such as a Regional
Vice President who oversees multiple hotel properties and General Managers.

Working Conditions
Hotel Managers are generally exposed to long shifts that include late hours, weekends,
and holidays due to the 24 hours operation of the hotel. The common workplace in the hotels is
fast-paces environment, with high levels of intentions with guests, employees, investors, and
other managers.

Upper management consisting of senior managers, department heads, and General

Managers may enjoy more desirable work schedule consisting of more traditional business day
and having weekends and holiday off.

Depending on the size of the hotel, the hotel managers day may include scheduling
breaks, covering window for check-in or check- out, handling cash, reconciling bank accounts,
writing a review for an employee, disciplining an employee or handling dissatisfied guests, these
duties may way each day depending o9n the needs of the property. The managers responsibly
include knowing about all currents local events as well as the event being held on the hotel
property. Managers will be required to attend regular department and company meetings. A
hotel / casino property may require additional duties regarding special events being held on
property for casino complementary guests.

Skills Required for Hotel Management Professionals

Hotel management or hospitality management is a part of service industry and the
customer’s satisfaction is the main objective of the industry. Many skills are required in an
individual to build up a career in the field of hotel management.
• Communication Skills.
• Leadership Quality.
• Sales Ability
• Time Management
• Basic Knowledge of Computers
 • Public Relation Skills
• Negotiation Skills
• Multi-Tasking
• Team Management
• An Eye for Detail
• Marketing Skills
• Stress Handling Skills
• Personal Grooming
• Swimming (could work as an extra advantage for job)

Salary Package in Hotel Management Professionals

As per general survey, average salary in hospitality management or hotel management

at manager and above levels in year 2010 was between $4,500 and $1,200 depending on the
education, skills, experience and geographical location.

Overall Prospects of Hospitality Management

Major advantage of step hospitality management or hotel management field is that many
doors get open for the professionals of the hospitality of the hospitality industry. For example, a
professional of hotel management or hospitality industry can join:
• Airline Catering
• Banks, Insurance and other financial sector (as front office, customer care, public
relation etc.)
• Cabin Crew in Airlines
• Call Centers
• Club
• Cruise Liners
• Educational Institutions (for render hospitality training)
• Fast Food Joint
• Hospital Administration and Catering
• Hotel
• Railways Catering
• Recreation and Health Centers
• Restaurant
• Telecom industries
• Tour and Travel Companies.

VIDEO GUIDE:
Please check the video guide below of
‘Introduction to Hotel and its Departments’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OblQXejHts8
Hotel and it's Secondary Departments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC87bvn_AO0