Front Desk

Ø Greet visitors

Ø Check in and check out rooms for customers

Ø Process guest arrivals and departures

Ø Provide information about the hotel’s other services or local information to guests

Ø Interact with other staff in order to have a completely understanding about the hotel’s current situation

Ø Maintains a working knowledge of all guest services, promotions and programs

Ø Handling complaints, settling disputes and resolving grievances and conflicts with customers

Reservation Department

The Reservation Department plays a vital role in forming positive perceptions of the Hotel and company amongst potential clients as well as reinforcing Hotel’s high standards and existing clients.

Ø Accept and process all reservations and requests

Ø Control room and rate availability

Ø Operate and update the guest history

Ø Maximize room sales through effective use of rate controls, upselling and yield management

Ø Speaking to local travel agents to arrange discount hotel offers for improved booking levels

Ø Keep accurate records of bookings on the hotel reservation system

Ø Forecast likely revenue streams

Cashier

Ø Processing cash, debit card and credit card transactions for guests

Ø Maintain related records and files regarding financial transactions that take place at the front desk

Ø Answer guest inquiries regarding fees and services

Ø Responsible for preparing and submitting daily bank deposits

Ø Guarantee the security of the safes or safe-deposit boxes

Concierge

Ø Provides information, advice, guidance and assistance to hotel guests

Ø Being both the first and last point of contact with guests

Ø Able to understand their individual requirements in order to best serve them, within reason

Housekeeping

Ø Ensure the cleanliness, maintenance and the appeal of lodging

Ø Training of its personnel

Ø Requisition and control of the necessary supplies and equipment

Ø Cost control and keepingreports. E.g. cost and amount of cleaning stuffs

Ø Purchasing for exclusive items for special occasions

Ø Handling small complaints

Laundry

Ø Ensurethe proper cleaning, drying and ironing of linens and garments (sorting, washing, drying and folding operation)

Ø Repair minor damage of linens and garments

Ø Ensure the proper function of laundry machines

Hotel Yield Management

Yield management is to allocates the right type of room to the right guest at the right price. Therefore, same type of hotel room could be sold in different prices even in the same time. Hotels use this system in order to best maximize the return. The demand for hotel inventory fluctuates according to the season. During holidays, the demand for hotel rooms increase, hotels can increase the room price to generate more profits. On the other hand, hotels need to impose inventory control when the holidays pass. For example by offering discount during low demand season, where the hotel room will likely not been reserved. Also, hotels can implement market segmentation which means repackage its basic inventory into different products. For example, some empty rooms can be repackaged into luxury room to attract rich customers. Hotels can also use purchase restriction, length of stay requirements, non-refundable deposits and requiring fees for changing or canceling rooms.

Here are some hotel rate plans to achieve yield management which can be maximize profit.

Complimentary rate- Free for room rate but still charge for other consummation such as food and beverages.

Contract rate- contract with someone in discount room rate

Corporate rate- rate for business companies

Day rate – rate for less than overnight stay

Group rate- rate for group

Net rate- Net Fares and Travel Agent rate. Only for travel wholesale consolidators(may be the cheapest rate)

Rack rate / Walk-in rate- rate for anyone who walk in to ask the price(usually is the highest rate)

Extra person- charge for additional person in one hotel room

Per person- rate charge per person rather than per room

Service charge- ++ plus plus

Trade discount

Value added tax (VAT)

Weekly rate- lower rate for stay on one week or more

Hotels also adjust room rates per season or even two months to facing different demand.(high price in peak season, low in cool season).

Trends about Rooms Division Operations

Nowadays, the operating rooms divisions in hotels are quite similar to the traditional one. However, there are still some trends on operating rooms divisions. And we summarized them as the following:

1. More about customer-oriented.

Hotels would develop full-scale service to satisfy customers’ needs. For example in Four Seasons Hotel, there is a department of Kids which is offering recreational activities especially for them. It shows that hotels nowadays are not just care about the adults but also their children.

2. More free individual travelers.

It’s because of many countries or regions have modified their policies. Take Hong Kong as an example, she implemented Individual Visit Scheme on 2003 to allow Mainland China travelers to visit Hong Kong and Macau individually. Therefore, they might be more walk-in guests who may need more attentions from hotel staff.

3. Pickier hotel guests.

Since many people have more travel experience, they become knowledgeable on choosing hotels

4. Less business travelers.

Due to advanced technology, many companies would like to cut cost on business travel expenditure; they would prefer the use of video conference to have meetings with business partners overseas

From the above trends, we think hotels might focus on developing entertainment and providing employee training courses to provide a better accommodation service to the guests. In other words, hotels might improve their physical facilities to fit the guests’ needs. And they will also train their employees to be knowledgeable to build a long term relationship with guests in order to build customer loyalty.