Hotel and Lodging Operations
LODGING OPERATIONS
 This module will focus on the function and
operation of hotels. Although hotels range in
size from under 100 rooms to over 5,000
rooms, functions remain essentially the same
 Size does affect how responsibilities are
separated however (and staffing)
 Hotels are generally divided into three major
functional areas
HOTEL OPERATIONS
 Rooms Division

Includes Front Desk, Reservations, Uniform
Services (Security, etc.), and Housekeeping
 Food and Beverage department

Includes Restaurants, Bars, Banquets and
Room Service
 Staff and support departments

Includes Accounting, Engineering, Marketing,
Human Resources and Contracted areas
ROOMS 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
ROOMS DIVISION
 The Rooms Division is overseen by the
Resident Manager (or Assistant General
Manager) and various department heads
ROOMS DIVISION
 The center of activity in the Rooms Division is
the Front Office
 The Front Office is responsible for checking
guests in, checking them out, securing
payment, listening to complaints,
communicating with other departments,
determining room availability, and selling
additional rooms, among other
responsibilities
ROOMS DIVISION
 The Reservations department is responsible
for taking reservations. Reservations can be
made by the guest via other methods but
many requests are still made through the
hotel’s reservation department
 Reservations must maintain contact with
other departments as well as other
reservations channels to be able to forecast
available rooms
ROOMS DIVISION
 The Reservations department attempts to
maximize (1) room rate and (2) occupancy
rate
 This is known as Yield Management –
maximizing these two at any given time
 Reservations departments must consider city
wide events, competition, minimum stays, etc.
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, laundry
(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
 Housekeepers work from a Rooms 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 in, the number
of guests checking out, the number of guests
staying over, late check-outs, 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 hotels 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 the bell
staff or the front desk clerks in smaller hotels
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 locks (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 Frontof-the-House and Back-of-the-House
functions
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
DEPARTMENTS
 Sales and Marketing
 Responsible for “creating customers”
 Largely revolves around selling “blocks” 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
DEPARTMENTS
 Human Resources


Labor intensive industry requires progressive
H/R
Responsibilities include supporting line
departments in all H/R 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 costs
 Cost of maintaining a hotel
KEY OPERATING RATIOS
 Occupancy percentage =
Rooms sold ÷ Total rooms available

Example: 500 room hotel sells 300 rooms
 Average rate =
Dollar sales ÷ Number of rooms sold

Example: $18,000 in sales
KEY OPERATING RATIOS
 Number of guests per occupied room =
Number of guests ÷ Number of occupied
rooms
 Revpar – revenue per available room =
Rooms 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