Lesson 2:

Hotel And Lodging

Operations
LODGING OPERATIONS
o This module will focus on the function and
operations of hotels. Although hotels range in
size from under 100 rooms to over 5000 rooms,
functions remain essentially the same.
o Size does affect how responsibilities are
separated however (and staffing)
o Hotels are generally divided into three major
functional areas
HOTEL OPERATIONS
o Rooms Division
o Includes Front Desk, Reservations, Uniform
Services (Security, etc.), and Housekeeping.
o Food and Beverage Department
o Includes Restaurants, Bars, Banquets and Room
Service.
o Staff and Support Departments
o Includes Accounting, Engineering, Marketing,
Human Resources and Contracted areas
ROOM DIVISION
 The Rooms Division is the heart of the Hotel
 It is the main business of the hotel and the
main source of revenue
 Rooms can contribute 70 percent or more to
overall revenue and even more to profit.
ROOM DIVISION
 The rooms division is overseen by the
Resident Manager ( or Assistant General
Manager) and various department heads
ROOM DIVISION
 The center of activity in the Room Division is
the Front Office
 The Front Office is responsible for checking
guest in, checking them out, securing
payments, listening to complaints,
communicating with other departments,
determining room availability and selling
additional rooms, among other
responsibilities
ROOM DIVISION
 The Reservations department is responsible
for taking reservations. Reservations can be
made by the guest via other methods but
many request are still made through the
hotel’s reservation department
 Reservation must maintain contact with other
department as well as other reservations
channels to be able to forecast available
rooms
HOUSEKEEPING
 The essential requirement that guests have is to
be able to check into a clean room
 The Housekeeping Department is responsible
for cleaning of guest rooms, stocking essential
supplies and amenities, laudry( sometimes ) and
maintenance of public areas
 Housekeeping is one of the largest departments
in the hotel ( up to 50% of all employees)
HOUSEKEEPING
 The Executive Housekeeper is the head of
the department
 He or she must be adept at scheduling,
coordinating, managing people, etc. A
primary responsibility is overseeing room
attendants
 Room Attendants are responsible for
cleaning of individual guest rooms
 Housekeeping work from a Room Report
which provides them with the status of all
guest rooms from which they can prioritize
their work
HOUSEKEEPING
 The housekeeping department must know at
any given time, the occupancy of the hotel,
the number of guests checking out, the
number of guest staying over, late check-out,
etc.
 Rooms can take as little as 20 minutes or as
much as 1 hour to clean and prepare for the
next guest
 Check-in and Check- out times are based in
large part on the time it takes to clean a room
UNIFORMED SERVICES
 The Uniformed Services Department is
another important department in the Rooms
Division of a hotel
 It consists of the Bell Staff, Valet, Security
and Concierge
 The bell staff assists with luggage acts as an
escort and answers questions
 The valet assists with parking
UNIFORMED SERVICES
 The Concierge is the resident expert in
activities, events, restaurants and attractions
 The position of Concierge is becoming more
important as hotel try to offer a higher level of
guest services
 There is an international association for
concierges ( Les Chefs d’ Or)
 Sometimes this responsibility falls to bell staff
or the front desk clerks in smaller hotel
SECURITY
 This department as well is becoming more
important
 Crime is increasing in many areas,
particularly downtown areas
 Hotels are required to provide “ reasonable
care” of their guests which includes general
security, locks and lighting and security of
guest belongings
SECURITY
 New security measures that have been
introduced in recent years include:
In- room safes
Keyless lock ( with magstrips)
Tighter security at the front desk
Redesigned hotels where guests ( and
others) must pass through the lobby
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
 The Food and Beverage department can
contribute 15 to 20 percent of overall revenue
 It should be a profit center but does not
always make money for the hotel
 This department is headed up by a Food and
beverage Manager who oversees both front-
of– the- house and back- of- the- house
function
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
 BANQUETS- are often profitable for hotels,
can support meetings and conferences or
outside functions
 RESTAURANTS- hotels are changing their
views of their restaurants. Some are limiting
what they offer and others are outsourcing
 BARS, ROOM SERVICE, FOOD
PRODUCTION , STEWARDING ARE OTHER
AREAS
STAFF AND SUPPORT DEPARTMENT
 Sales and Marketing
Responsible for “ creating customers”
Largely revolves around selling “ block” of
rooms
Can be a large department in convention hotels
specialized by market
 Accounting
Role is moving beyond just bookkeeping
Includes overseeing the “house ledger” and
the “city ledger”
Also, includes the night audit
STAFF AND SUPPORT DEPARTMENT
 Human Resources
Labor intensive industry requires progressive
HR
Responsible include support line department in
all HR related activities ( hiring and recruiting,
training, staffing, etc)
 Engineering
Oversees Heating, Cooling, Water, Lighting,
Telecommunications, Energy Management,
Electric, other
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
 Income and Expenses
 Revenue and profit
 Changes in income and expenses over time
 Outsourcing as a strategy to cut cost
 Cost of maintaining a hotel
KEY OPERATING RATIO
Occupancy percentage=
Rooms sold ÷ Total rooms available
example: 500 room hotel sells 300 rooms
AVERAGE=
Dollar sales÷ Number of rooms sold
Example: $ 18, 000 in sales
KEY OPERATING RATIOS
 NUMBER OF GUEST PER OCCUPIED
ROOM=NUMBER OF GUESTS÷ NUMBER
OF OCCUPIED ROOMS
 Revpar- revenue per available room=ROOM
REVENUE ÷ AVAILABLE ROOMS OR
PAID OCCUPANCY PERCENTAGE * ADR
(Average Daily Rate)
 AVERAGE ROOMS CLEANED PER ROOM

Attendant day = Number of rooms

occupied ÷ Number of eight – hour shifts
CAREER ENTRY POINTS
 Front office
 Accounting
 Sales and Marketing
 Food and Beverage
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
 Income and Expenses
 Revenue and profit
 Changes in income and expenses over time
 Outsourcing as a strateg