Rooms Division
Front Office / House Keeping / Uniformed Service / Concierge /
Telephone Operator / Other Rooms Divisions
People
Product
Promotion
Profit
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PEOPLE
Selection / Induction / Training / Motivation / Development
Diagnosed by:
Mr. Rene Balin
Department:
Rooms Division
-
Sherif El Sadek
Rooms Division Manager
Data and Findings:
The Rooms Division Manager in responsible for Front Desk, Reservations, Guest Relations, Bell
Captain and Security. Exec. Housekeeper reports directly to the GM and oversees the Laundry
Department.
Selection
The pre selection of new TMs is done by the HR department. It was noticed that inter-company
transfers and the personal contacts with the TMs in other JV hotels give the hotel a base to select
new candidates.
Induction
The induction of new employees is set up once per months the entire group. They do receive a 10
day cross exposure in the FB department when they start at the hotel. At the Front Desk Sherif
and his assistant Moustafa Kamel handles the induction and training foundation at the
department when new Team Members (TM) join the team. After this initial introduction to the
department the new TM works closely with a senior TM in the department he/she is assigned to
Training
The daily briefing of the GSAs is part of the pre-shift meeting with is conducted by Moustafa
Kamel. A daily topic is selected in advance and is part of the of the overall plan submitted to the
Training Manager monthly. The weekly training sessions are done jointly with Sherif El Sadek.
Those sessions include check in procedures and special guest contact
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I reviewed the monthly plan but I could only see 6 sessions for the Front Desk which are done by
the Asst. FOM Moustafa without assistance from Sherif el Sadek. Based on our experience of
the previous stay and the check in on 11/24/10 there is a need for more detailed training and the
ability to make decisions without guidance in the interest of best guest satisfaction. The standard
JV SOP procedures do not offer the 5 Star service we have been looking for.
The Training matrix per TM is an important tool to guide the trainer and the new TM through the
progress in the training. I could not see the folder of each TM’s matrix at the Front Desk.
No training sessions were conducted at the Front Desk during the 3 days of the Audit. Overall
there are not enough session planned for the month. Only daily briefings of the team are done in
the am/pm.
The new team members start in the department without the hotel orientation which only takes
place once per month.
Motivation
The Human Resources Department conducts general programs for all TMs during the month and
the participation is open for all departments.
Sherif conducts off site motivational outings for the Front Desk and Reservations Department
teams to provide them feedback of the services they provide.
The new incentive programs (Rooms & FB packages) are not in place yet and will hopefully be
approved to go into effect as of 2011. Presently they only have the upselling progam which does
not does not produce high volume and low incentives for the TMs in the department.
Development
Sherif is planning with the HR Department a cross training expose program with other JV
properties in Egypt.
He assigns new projects and plans training sessions for the future development of his team. This
can only work if strict guidance is applied to those projects. But again he is not training the team
and leaves this responsibility to his Assistant Moustafa.
Visible Rooms Management in the guest areas was only noticed when we were present in the
lobby and other areas. During the MS visit there was nobody in those areas to ensure that guests
they receive all the services offered at the hotel.
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Department:
Rooms Reservations
-
Zulfakar Ahmed
Reservations Manager
Data and Findings:
Induction
Based on the information I received there is the 10 day cross exposure prior to the departmental
training induction at this property and that includes transfers from other JV Hotels as well. After
this is completed the reservations training starts in the department as described below.
Training
No formal training program in place for the reservations department presently. Some minor
sections are in the FDesk “Training on the Job” recap but no detailed training matrix has been set
up for the important training with time lines. He advised me that any special task training is
based on the “on line” JV SOPs only.
Those SOPs do not meet all the training aspect in reservations and therefore other tools are
needed in the future when new TMs will join the reservations department.
Motivation
The upselling progam is not a great motivator for the team and needs to revised since other JV
properties are more successful with this program.
Res Mgr Zulfakar has his own motivation program on a personal basis but the hotel does not
offer a special motivation structure for this critical department besides the standard programs in
HR.
Development
He is developing a “Demand Calendar” for a clearer view of the yield rates and the annual
seasons. Otherwise he has no plan presently to develop his Senior Reservations Supervisor to a
potential Res Mgr position for other JV hotels.
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Department:
Rooms Division
-
Karine Kranhold
Director of Housekeeping
Data and Findings:
Induction
The HR/Training department’s induction – orientation only takes place once a month and
therefore she has to cover all the basics in her department with On/Off the Job training and the
daily morning briefing.
Training
Monthly training plan & Supervisor standards training was presented but I was not able to see
the confirmation that the TM’s attend those training sessions. The requested copy of the plan was
not given to me since GM’s approval is required.
Hkeeping developed a new On the Job training guidelines and they just been presented to the
team.
System
The Housekeeping Department keeps the stocks in the bungalow units very low to avoid high
consumption and loss of inventory. They get their supply weekly and distribute accordingly each
unit.
The vacant room and arrival reports are reviewed at the daily early morning briefing with the
Supervisors by the Asst Housekeeper and /or Director of Housekeeping.
The “Pillow a la carte service” is in place. I had the pillow of my choice in the room already.
The communications meetings take place monthly but I could not see the attendance of those
sessions.
Development
Karine is planning to implement the Assistant HK education and training towards the end of this
year. Cross training with the laundry department is in place now.
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PRODUCT
System / Policies /Procedures / Standards
Diagnosed by:
Mr. Rene Balin
Department:
Rooms Division
–
Sherif El Sadek
Rooms Division Manager
Data and Findings:
System
I reviewed the following Rooms departments;
Guest arrival by taxi from the airport; The taxis are not permitted to enter the hotel drive way and
drop the guests on the street in front of the hotel security gate. The security agent do not assist
with the arrival and just refuses and keeps on repeating not to enter the driveway. He should
welcomed the guests to the hotel and call the Bell Captain to assist with the luggage and direct
them to the hotel. Instead they are dropped at the entrance-exit gate and no service is offered.
Guest Relations Manager; Marina has just joined the hotel 3 weeks ago and had very little
training during that time since she is along in her position. She is representing the hotel without
business cards at this point for the guests. Her English needs to improve since she is difficult to
understand, her 1st language is Russian which is important for the largest guest origin of the
hotel. Sherif stated that her language level is the best they could find in Sharm. She conducts
guest satisfaction calls but those are not effective due to the language expression limitations.
Bell Captain desk, Captain Ahmed (in charge of 7 Bellmen) presented his information folder. I
was not able to see the bus schedule for the 3 buses the hotel operates and the guest call log
summary. His uniform shirt needs attention. For Egypt Air bus pick up they bellmen only hands
you the phone to arrange the pickup but they do not plan it for you. The do not cover any
Concierge services.
Limousine service desk next to the bell captain desk does not look very appealing in the overall
image of the lobby design. It could be located next to the tour operators daily schedule stand.
The airport pick up by the hotel needs to be revised for all individual travelers to inform them
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when reservation is made of the transportation options to avoid the airport taxi problems and
excessive charges.
At the arrival at the main entrance with the hotel bus from the JV Casino at 11:45 pm we saw 3
security-bellmen TMs eating in the security base station which is very visible right next to the
main entrance of the hotel. No welcome or assistance was offered and this impression does not
fit at all the image of a 5 Star hotel operation.
Front Desk; Moustafa operates the desk with 1 shift leader and 8 GSAs incl PBX, He advised me
that JV SOP’s are the foundation for the FDesk operation with some minor additions.
There is no Front Desk operations manual at the hotel to cover all special tasks and training
aspects.
Policies
I requested to see Operations guidelines and manual. The Guest Relations Manager had only
some city information and general hotel facts. The Bell Captain showed me a check lists but no
procedure / manual how this department is operating.
Procedures
Front Desk FB upselling and cross promotion of the outlets is not in place presently. The GSA
only hands out a flyer (Windsor Bar is missing) without any explanation and the guest are
suppose to watch channel #1 to get all the information for FB. This only works if the bellman
turns on the TV at arrival in the room while he is explaining the room features..
Standards
Hotel buses (3) do not meet 5 Star standards at all since they are not maintained and cleaned to
be presentable for the 3 destinations (Beach/Naama Bay/Airport)
Hotel Club golf carts are in bad shape with damages and urgent need to be cleaned/polished
Main lobby entrance and curb need attention in repairs and repainting
Entrance landscaping and planters all need to be replaced since the first impression is not
positive and 5 Star
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Bellmen & Security Guest carts
Main Entrance step damage
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Main Entrance outlet cover missing
8
Main entrance gate control
Department:
Main entrance Security office entrance
Rooms Reservations
-
Zulfakar Ahmed
Reservations Manager
Data and Findings:
System
The JV properties operate on Fidelio Version 8 since the opening of the hotel. All rates are
established by the Cairo Sales office. According to Res Mgr the rates are set for the year with
the annual budgets and during the year only minor changes are done based on reservations on the
books with some input from the hotels.
When we reviewed the Market Code Statistik Nov 23, ytd it was very evident that the Tour &
Travel allotment segment produces 73% of the total room nights.
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Policies
The JV company policies request from the property the room rates for the year by season for the
7 room types . According the Res Mgr Zulfakar they only load the Rack rate for the on line
bookings at the hotel when changes are decided.
Procedures
Upselling; Presently done by the Front Desk at check in only. In the past 5 months they only
recorded 50 upsells at check in or late check out with the result of $7,500 additional rooms
revenue at the 10% incentive for the TMs. The reservations department does not participate in
this program.
Reservation targets for the week; The Res Department does not have those targets visual in order
to motivate them to take reservations at the highest rate possible or to upsell incoming
reservations at the time of confirmation.
Yield system is not in place for daily individual rates since the BAR rates are quoted.
Standards
Reviewed filing system of future arrivals, cancelled reservations incl all group allotments, Travel
and whole sales contract files, daily trace report of partial or full payment in the reservations
back office.
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Department:
Rooms Division
-
Karine Kranhold
Director of Housekeeping
Data and Findings:
System
ON the job training and the “Show & Tell” with photos of the standards including the daily
training of the supervisors. I have noticed that the standards are not in place for all services since
the turn down service was done different on each day.
The quarterly mattress turn is done and recorded.
During the morning briefing the vacant room report is reviewed and confirmed.
Guest room Key cards are controlled and returned daily by the attendants.
Turn Down Service is to be expected at 5 Star Hotels. At the JV Pen this only goes for the VIP’s
and per request. How will the guest know to ask for this service? Quality “Good Night”
chocolates would be a good 5 Star standard amenity for the guests.
The “Best Cleaned Room” program is planned to be launched in 2011
The JV Care program is already in place but will be activated again in 2011
General Clean program for the rooms to be implemented in 2011.
The Chemical Safety Date Sheets are not displayed or available in all areas where TM’s could
get in contract with chemicals. Urgently contact Diversy for the information and install the
display units for the TMs to be trained on and have them posted.
The guest room attendant carts need structure and organization since they are visible to the
guests and the supplies are difficult to find during the room make up time.
The Housekeeping bungalow storage rooms need structure and organization
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Bungalow bed storage area
The Employee locker/shower rooms need urgently soap & shampoo with a towel system.
Presently they are not presentable as you would expect from a 5 Star hotel where the Employees
should see similar service levels for their areas as the offer to the guests.
TMs locker room
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TMs shower in locker room
Policies
Only the JV SOP’s are applied but again this property needs some modifications since it’s
different that JV Luxor and other hotels of the group. Most supervisors do not understand
English in order to apply the instructions.
Plans for 2011 to translate some topics into Arabic.
Procedures
In order to enforce the procedures check lists are required for the TM’s to meet the expectations
after the training sessions.
The bungalow HK service areas need procedures how to maintain them since the bungalow I
inspected with Karine was not in good order and presentable.
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Standards
The bed linen and towel par is presently 2.3 but it should be at least 3.0 in order to cover
potential problems in the laundry.
The bathroom standards of the amenities are of low quality standard and the presentation
accordingly.
The linen/terry cotton changing policy is in place and is applied for the bathroom as per the
procedure flyer.
The linen changing procedure is not as clear as experienced in my guest room during several
make up sessions.
The Tea kettle with coffee/tea set up needs upgrade, the tea bags are open and not wrapped.
The 17 large bungalow rooms are done by one room attendant and the supervisor has to oversee
7 bungalows of 120 rooms.
It’s impossible to get a detailed perfect room make up done with as many rooms and restricted
supervision.
It is evident that the dusting of the room, the setting of the furniture in the room as standard,
complete bathroom cleaning are not possible in the short time the GRA spend in the room.
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PROMOTION
Marketing / Awareness for Guest & Employees
Diagnosed by:
Mr. Rene Balin
Department:
Rooms Division
-
Sherif El Sadek
Rooms Division Manager
Data and Findings:
Marketing
JV Royal Peninsula and the JV Congress Center are not presented and promoted in the lobby and
the entire hotel as one unit. It is obvious that the tourist will have no need but the individual and
corporate guests may have a future demand to plan a meeting at the 2nd largest Conference
Center in the ME.
Presently 65% of the room nights are produced by the “ All Inclusive Packages” and present an
opportunity for promoting the other departments such as the Thai Spa and the A la carte F&B
outlets at the Front Desk and in the guest rooms. This is presently not done since the flyer given
is not effective.
The lobby JV-Maritime brochure stand did not have any info of the Conference Center and the
other 4 JV properties in Egypt. They displayed only on the JV Peninsula and several German
hotels.
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Awareness for Guest and Employees
The guest comment cards are difficult to find in the rooms and the GSA only ask again at check
out. For the month of September the hotel received 610 rating cards which is about 10% of the
occupied rooms only.
The Recreation Department is not promoting the outstanding Thai Spa operation with the Thai
Team in the lobby or at the beach during the day. The promotion flyer (see attached) is good in
design and layout but the paper stock is not very attractive. It does not meet the 5 Star standard.
The F&B Outlets should be promoted by the Restaurant Managers during group check in in the
lobby.The Employee of the month frame next to the Management roster in the lobby was not set
up just like the Guest Relations Manager frame.
Department:
Rooms Reservations
-
Zulfakar Ahmed
Reservations Manager
Data and Findings:
Marketing
The marketing of the Hotel and the Conference Center is done by the Cairo Sales office with
suggestions from the GM and Rooms Executives at the hotel. The on line marketing to increase
volume is done by the same office in Cairo.
The Fidelio Guest History system with the emails of the guests is presently not used to send the
guests special offers and promotions to return to the hotel for their next visit
Awareness for Guest and Employees
Unfortunately there is no visible marketing campaign for the Conference Center at the Hotel or
in the guest rooms to identify them as one unit for smaller and larger conferences.
The employees know about the two properties but again there is no visible effort to promote
those units as one. The reservation team has seen the rooms during their 10 day cross exposure
but it is doubtful if they can support the marketing drive with the information they have.
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Department:
Rooms Division
-
Karine Kranhold
Director of Housekeeping
Data and Findings:
Marketing
Karin believes that the best Housekeeping marketing support are perfect and cleaned guest
rooms. During the Mystery shopper visit we noticed several problems in the rooms which need
to be addressed to ensure full support of the marketing message for returning guests and
referrals.
Awareness for Guest and Employees
The HKeeping Team receives daily messages of the importance of their performance from the
leadership of the department. It needs to be verified if they do understand this message
The HKeeping Supervisors are challenged daily to come up with their own solutions of
departmental problems as part of the development program.
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Profit
P&L Statement / Expenses
Cost Control / a) Labor b) Others
Revenue a) Rates b) Pricing c) Yielding
Diagnosed by:
Mr. Rene Balin
Department:
Rooms Division
-
Sherif El Sadek
Rooms Division Manager
P&L Statement/Expenses
The Rooms Revenue per budget over actual 10/10 ytd is down by 17%
In October 2010 the hotel had 65% All Inclusive packages
The annual budgets are prepared by the Controller of the hotel and just presented to the
Executives. Therefore they do not identify and support the budgets. The budget process should
be done jointly with the Executives of the hotel and work closely with the Controller and the GM
Cost Control
a) Labor cost
The payroll increased by ¾% points over annual budget
b) Other expenses
It was noted that the turn away expenses have increased substantial due to the flood in the
middle of Jan 2010. Guest transportation increased by 20% ytd.
Revenue
a) Room rates
YTD ADR is 277.61 LE which is 14% below budget. During my conversations with
Sherif I was not able to see additional programs in place to support an increase of this
low rate in the competitive set of the Hotel.
b) Pricing
The rates for the tour operators and on line booking systems are set up by the Cairo sales
office. Sherif adjusts the rack rates during seasonal peak and low seasons gaps with the
“Channel Rush” system.
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c) Yielding
Future plans for 2011 to upload daily for yield rates for the global distribution systems on
linen but presently not in place. The daily local competition analysis is suppose to start as
of early 2011
Department:
Rooms Division
-
Karine Kranhold
Director of Housekeeping
P&L Statement/Expenses
Cost Control
a) Labor cost
No separate report was shared with me and the monthly report
does not show the HK payroll separate
b) Other expenses
Karine just started in her position last month she does not have her complete data
available.
All purchases are placed with the Purchasing Dept which does not permit her to control
her expenses as she used to do in previous properties. The switch to Johnson & Diversy
produced cost reductions but the hotel does not have the monthly reports active.. The
service level comparison to EL will show if they can provide the right service.
It may be noted that FB does not used EL or Diversy since none of the Stewarding set ups
are done as required.
Revenue
Pricing
Karine controls the Laundry/Valet prices and they are in
line with other hotels
Appendix
a) Hotel guest room door knob repair request
b) Rate breakdown of the FB distribution for the All Inclusive package
c) Hotel Questionnaire
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