The Structures of the Hotel
Industry
Chapter 3
Two distinct structures frame the operation
and form of the modern hotel:
.
Organizational structure
. Physical structure
Differences notwithstanding, both the
organizational structure and the building
structure adhere to basic blueprints.
The Organizational Structure
Every hotel, no matter its size and complexity,
has an organizational structure that enables it
to carry out its daily operations.
Hotels employ a vast number of people with a
variety of skills. However, each hotel
organizes this diversified workforce in
different ways.
Hotel organizations follow the pattern of
other businesses or social institutions.
General managers get the authority they
need from the ownership interests of the
management company.
Ownership
Ownership can be rest within an individual, a
partnership, a joint venture, a REIT or a public
corporation.
Companies that both manage and own hotels can
also own and manage other companies, subsidiaries
of the parent.
Corporations are favored because investors have
limited liability.
Individuals who own shares are not liable for
company obligations. The corporate “ person” is the
one responsible.
The General Manager
Coordinating the whole, unifying the
specialties, and directing joint efforts is the job
of the general manager.
General manager (GM or the GM ) is the
favored title at the unit level–the operating
hotel.
Standing alone, the title of general manager
indicates no ownership interests.
The GM is simply the employee most responsible
to ownership, corporate or otherwise, and the one
person accountable for the full scope of the
operation.
Total responsibility for all that happens in every
department rests with the GM.
The GM deals either directly with ownership or
indirectly through layers of corporate levels and
titles.
GMs of large organizations have an assistant,
the “executive assistant manager.”
During the period of one person ownership,
GM personified their hotels.
Studies of general managers—and GMs are
heavily studied—indicate work weeks of up to
65 hours.
GM salaries are dependent on several criteria: the
size of the hotel; the ADR the manager is able to
deliver; and the revenue generated by the property.
Manager’s salaries ranging between $50,000 and
$2,000,000 per year.
The median salary for general managers is over
$125,000 plus incentives.
GM has an assistant “ executive assistant
manager”, who has one of many “assistants
managers.”
Hotel companies support their managers
with experts in specialized areas of law,
employment, environment, taxes and
technology.
The food and beverage manager has direct
operating responsibilities.
At one time, food and beverage accounted
for nearly half of hotel revenues industry
wide.
The Hotel ( or Resident ) Manager
The Hotel manager, also called the house
manager or resident manager.
Large hotels do have resident managers and
all the support positions.
Housekeeping; security; rooms; engineering (
repairs and maintenance ); laundry and valet;
revenue control; shops, rentals and business
centers; concierges; pools and spas are all
support positions.
The Rooms Manager
Reservations, telephone, concierge, and
uniformed services are among departments
reporting to the rooms manager, as is the front
desk.
Room Reservations: Reservations are requests
for rooms from prospective guests.
Manager of Guest Services
One final level of management is needed for our
full-service-hotel illustration, the manager of
guest services.
Large hotels have assistant managers supporting
this position during each shift.
Guest-service managers control the immediate
front-office staff, who are pivotal to the rooms
department’s assignment.
The Building Structure
Every hotel offers both guest rooms and the
organization to deliver those rooms. But the
similarity ends there.
The differences in the physical buildings
and the differences in the delivery systems
distinguish one property from another. It is
these differences that segment the industry
into its many parts.
The Old versus The New
The Old: Inside Rooms are enclosed by wings of the
building. The view is downward toward the roof on the
lower floor, which is often dirty and unsightly.
The New: Suites and All-Suites are very nice, some
have luxurious accommodations include kitchens and
formal dining rooms, saunas or swimming pools, and
even libraries.
Corner Rooms: are the most desirable rooms on the
floor.
Motor Inns: is a child of the motel.
Numbering for Identification
The floor number comes first followed by the
room number.
Americans number the first sleeping floor as
floor one regardless of the number of
intervening levels between it and the ground.
Numbering rooms is more arbitrary than
numbering floors. Each hotel is architecturally
unique.
Room Shape and Size
Room shape is architecturally driven; room
size is a financial/ marketing decision.
Interior room shapes result from the design
(concave, square, round) of the hotel.
Balconies are often part of a façade that adds
interest to the outside of a building.
The 12-foot or 13-foot width is upped to 16
feet, a luxury-sized room.
Bed and Bad
The Bed:
◦ The modern American hotel room has
gone through periods which favored, first, the
double bed and then twin beds.
◦ Americans are getting bigger. The queen
and king beds have taken over.
Bed Sizes and symbol:
◦ Single Bed: symbol S, sleeps a person. When
the room is furnished with one twin, the symbol
S is used, when furnished with a double bed, the
symbol is D.
◦ Twin Beds: A twin room, symbol T, contains
two beds each accommodating one person.
◦
Double Bed: Symbol D
◦ Queen and King Beds: symbol Q and K.
Although designed for two; three or four
persons might squeeze in when the room is
taken as a family room.
◦ Hollywood Bed ( Two beds joined by a
common headboard ): using the symbol of
the twins, T, since that’s what they are .
◦ Studio Bed ( Room ): is a sofa by day and
a bed by night. This is not popular anymore.
Symbol UP “ undersized parlor .”
◦ Sleigh Bed: Any bed can be a sleigh bed,
so named because of the sleigh-like shape of
the headboard and footboard.
◦ Daybed: like studio beds except they are
additions to the hotel room rather than basic
furnishings.
◦ Sofa Bed: is similar in function to a studio
bed.
◦ Rollaway Bed ( Cot ): is a portable utility
bed added to the usual room furnishings.
◦
Crib: for babies, similar to rollaway bed.
◦
Water Bed: rarely found in hotel rooms.
◦ Futon: which is a cotton-quilted bed,
come in regular mattress sizes.
◦
Wall Bed (Murphy Bed): fold-up bed.
The Bath:
◦ The bath accounts for about 20% of the room
size. A luxurious hotel has a bath of 120 square
feet.
◦ As the bath has grown larger, so has the
ancillary space. Some travelers don’t feel
comfortable with it.
◦ Whatever the final design, it must reflect
guest needs.