HMPE 8 ROOMS DIVISION

Hotel refers to full service accommodation withreception and guest rooms generally offering private
facilities with an onsite restaurant, room and bar services available...

Common Hotel Classifications:

1. Airport Hotels - these are hotels located near airports and are conveniently located to provide any
level of service from just a clean room-to-room service. They may provide bus or limousine service to
the air lines when needed to address guests’ needs.

2. Commercial Hotels – these hotels cater mainly to business clients. They usually offer room service,
coffee shop, dining room, cocktail lounge, laundry, and valet service as well as access to computers and
fax services.

3. Economy Hotels - as the name suggests, this hotel classification provides a limited service and is
known for clean rooms at low prices, meeting just the basic needs of travelers.

4. Suite/All-Suite Hotels – these are hotels which offer spacious layout and design. Most business
people like the setting which provides space to work and entertain separate from the bedroom. As the
name suggests,all rooms are in suite type.

5. Residential Hotels - these are hotels that offer long-term accommodations. Guest stay for a minimum
period of one month and up to two years.

6. Casino Hotels - these are hotels that are often quite luxurious. Their main purpose is actually in
support of the gambling operation. In the country, casino hotels often offer top name entertainment
and excellent restaurants.

7. Resort Hotels - these are hotels that are planned destination of guests, usually vacationers. Hotels of
this classification are located in the ocean (for some countries), near the ocean, or in the mountains
away from inner cities. These may offer any form of entertainment to keep their guests happy and busy.

IMPORTANCE OF ROOMS DIVISIONS- Knowledge of all aspects of hotel operations is very important.

As the competition today becomes more rigid, better ways of takingcare of our guests will be our
advantage.

It is the area that is most responsible to the hotel’s main product,the guest rooms. Everything begins
with rooms division.

The following are the areas of rooms division that each of us future hospitality professionals must be
able to identify and familiarize with:

○ Front Office

○ Reservations

○ Housekeeping

○ Night Audit

○ Loss Prevention/Security Department

Front office- This term is frequently used to imply both front office and back office operations.

❏ This is the most visible of all since it is responsible for the incoming and outgoing guests.

❏ Main duty is to enhance guest services by constantly developing services to meet guest needs.

Personnel in the front office:doorperson, bellperson, front desk, concierge, communications, night

audit, etc.

The Front Office is composed of twoareas: (1) the front desk and (2)the uniform services who

report directly to the Front Office Manager

1. Front Desk- This plays a big role in the hotel’s operations since it is the first and is often the last point
of contact with a hotel guest.

○ This is also called as the “hub” or “command center” of the rooms division because so much
information is funneled through it.

Functions and activities of the front desk:

○ Check in the guest upon arrival ○ Process guest’s financial transactions

○ Organize services during a guest’s stay ○ Perform guest checkout

2. Uniform Services- Sometimes referred to as Guest Services

○ All jobs essential to first and last impressions set the tone for the quality of service.

The following are the areas within this section:

○ PBX (Private Branch Exchange) -manages the communications into and out of the hotel

○ Bellperson - assists guests to and from their rooms

○ Valet parking/garage - manages the guests’ automobiles

Back Office - This is actually located directly behind the front office together with the reservations
department

The staff under the back office are responsible in liaising with guests by other means that the front
office is doing, like over the phone or written communication ○ The employees in this section usually
don't directly interact with the customers of the organization

The following are some of the tasks of the back office section:

○ Reservation (booking and maintenance)

○ Guest correspondence

○ Generation of reports

○ Receiving calls

○ Transferring calls to the right department/person

RESERVATIONS: Reservations call for total command of the keyboard, awareness of hotel
revenue goals, upcoming events, room availability, but above all listen to the guest so they can
match their requests with the hotel’s services
HOUSEKEEPING-
This is in-charge of keeping the hotel premises always clean, in order, and acceptable to the
taste of guests
-ensuring that the hotel’s main product, the rooms, are ready for sale

-In collaboration with the front officesection, the housekeeping group must determine what rooms are
to be cleaned, what rooms are available, and what rooms are not occupied. This is now called room
inventory

NIGHT AUDIT-

Led by the Night Audit Manager, and supported by anywhere from two to five auditors

❏ This is the department/area that reconciles the hotel’s daily financial transactions and other activities
for reporting purposes

❏ The team conducts its duties at night when the hotel is generally less busy
❏ In addition to this, the team also assumes some front office duties aside from their direct reporting to
the accounting department

LOSS PREVENTION/SECURITY DEPARTMENT

led by the Director of Loss Prevention

❏ This department is also vital in hotel operations

❏ The main task of this is the safety and security of the hotel guests and, of course, the employees

WEEK3/4

MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE
Role of the General Manager-Hotel general managers have a lot of responsibilities.

❏ They must provide owners with a reasonable return on investment, keep guests satisfied and
returning, and keep employees happy.

❏ The GM not only focuses on leading and operating the hotel departments but also on aspects of the
infrastructure, from room atmosphere to security.

-The GM is ultimately responsible for the performance of the hotel and the employees.

❏ The GM is the leader of the hotel.

❏ As such, she or he is held accountable for the hotel’s level of profitability by the corporation or
owners.

To be successful, GMs need to have a broad range of personal qualities. Among those most often
quoted by GMs are the following:

✓ Leadership

✓ Attention to detail

✓ Follow-through—getting the job done

✓ People skills

✓ Patience

✓ Ability to delegate effectively

The Executive Committee

❏ The general manager, using input from the executive committee, makes all the major
decisions affecting the hotel.

❏ This committee, which includes the directors of human resources, food and beverage, rooms
division, marketing and sales, engineering, and accounting, compile the hotel’s occupancy
forecast together with all revenues and expenses to make up the budget.
They generally meet once a week for 1 or 2 hours and might typically cover some
of the following topics:

✓ Guest satisfaction ✓ Employee satisfaction

✓ Total quality management ✓ Occupancy forecasts

✓ Sales and marketing plans ✓ Training

✓ Major items of expenditure ✓ Renovations

✓ Ownership relations✓ Energy conservation ✓ Recycling

✓ New legislation ✓ Profitability

One major role of the committee is thatof communicator, both up and down the line of
authority. This helps build interdepartmental cooperation.

❏ Not all lodging operations will have an executive committee—obviously there is

no need for one at a small motel, lodge, or a bed and breakfast (B&B).

The Rooms Division Manager-

❏ Rooms Division Manager was called before as the Resident Manager of a hotel.

❏ another term used is Director of Rooms. Whatever they may call it, one thing in common is
that all of them manage the day-to-day operations of the hotel, in the rooms division in
particular.
Below are some of the functions of the Rooms Division Manager:

✓ Manage areas of the hotel rooms division

✓ Supervise employees engaged in the operation of the front areas of the hotel

✓ Ensure proper staffing, purchasing, and budgeting

✓ Maintain open communications with other divisions and within his division

✓ Monitor availability controls

✓ Develop monthly plans

Front Office Manager

❏ This is the department head responsible for a large portion of the most visible aspects of a
hotel’s daily operations.

❏ He or she oversees the functions and performances of the front desk and the uniform
services.
(Under the Front Office Manager are the following: )

Front Desk Manager Responsible for the daily operation of the front desk and closely
communicate with housekeeping.
Front Desk Supervisor Ensures quality and efficiency of front office activities while supervising
the works of the front desk staff.
Front Desk Agent Ensures efficient guest check-in and check-out.
Bell Captain Directs and supervises the bellstaff.
Bellstaff Assist guests to the front desk, to their rooms and out of their rooms (checkout).
Doorperson Greet and assist guests arriving at the hotel.
Valet Supervisor Also called as Garage Supervisor; supervises the valet Parking and parking
garage staff.
Parking Attendant Park, care, and retrieve guest’s vehicle.
Concierge Manager Monitor and manage staff in provision of assistance toguests with any
requests.
Executive Housekeeper
❏ This department head can be viewed as the “behind-the-scenes” version of the front office
manager because he or she is responsible on other aspects of hotel services that the guests
expect to be excellent for them to be satisfied, the housekeeping and laundry operations.
The following table shows the people reporting to the Executive Housekeeper:

Assistant Executive Housekeeper-Ensures quality and efficiency of housekeeping activities

(guest rooms cleaned and other areas to be maintained) while supervising the works of the
housekeeping staff.
Senior Housekeeper- Ensures standards of cleanliness are maintained and work closely with
housekeepers.
Room Attendants- Clean and prepare guest rooms.
Housepersons Assist room attendants through provision of supplies such as linens, towels, and
amenities.
Laundry Manager Responsible in supervising, monitoring, and managing the internal laundry
operation of the hotel
Linen Attendant Monitor and ensure that there is adequate supply of linen and towels.
Tailor/Seamstress -Ensures that employee uniforms are properly coordinated with and repair
linens when needed.

Front office manager

Executive Housekeeper