Organizing hotel departments on the basis of revenue

On the basis of Revenue there are main three types of departments in a hotel.

a)     Operating and Revenue producing department.

b)     Operating and Non – Revenue producing department.

c)     Non- operating and Revenue producing department.

a) OPERATING AND REVENUE PRODUCING DEPARTMENT –

Ø   Major revenue producing department – There are 2 departments which produce major revenue or more revenue than other departments. – F & B department & Rooms.

Ø    Minor revenue producing department – These departments produce  

   revenue in minor  amount.

·         Business centre

·         Telephone

·         Health club

·         Laundry

b) OPERATING AND NON – REVENUE PRODUCING DEPARTMENTS-

Under this there are those departments which are non- operated by hotel but produce revenue on the basis of rental contract. There are some examples.

·         Sales and marketing

·         H R D

·         Accounts

·         Store and receiving

·         Security

·         Maintenance

c) NON – OPERATING AND REVENUE PRODUCING DEPARTMENTS –

Under it there are those departments which are non- operated by hotel but produce revenue on the basis of rental contract. There are some examples –

·         Shopping arcade

·         Other rental income

·         Travel desk

·         Beauty parlour

HOTEL ENTRANCE, LOBBY AND FRONT OFFICE EQUIPMENT

HOTEL ENTRANCE

Many times in addition to the building ambience, the main entrance and approach play a very important role in the selection of hotel for a guest. When a guest enters a hotel it is the entrance and thereafter lobby, which is subjected to scrutiny.

1.        The main entrance must be identifiable and directly lead to lobby and reception area of the hotel.

2.       The main entrance area should be able to accommodate the guest of the hotel who may come by various modes of conveyance.

3.        As a general rule the driveway in front of the lobby entrance should be at least 18 feet wide as to allow at least two cars to pass easily.

4.       A minimum of 16 feet high clearance from road should be allowed for coaches loaded with luggage on top.

5.       Entrance into lobby area is generally raised with number of steps.

6.       Separate luggage entrance in the form of a ramp starting from driveway to the main entrance, the recommended inclination with road of the ramp for luggage trolley and wheel chair is 1:10 as most convenient.

7.       Presence of door man and valet for parking of cars helps to manage the hotel entrance.

LOBBY

The atmosphere, décor and the staff are suggestive of what the guest is going to get in his visit to hotel. Lobby should be spacious but not wasteful

1.       The natural flow of guest should towards reception, information counter on his arrival in the hotel.

2.       Sufficient space should be in the lobby for shot time keeping of luggage in lobby before either sending to room or to the car.

3.       Lobby includes waiting area to check in, information and cashiers counter, concierge, bell desk travel counter, shopping arcade and elevators.

4.        The various F&B beverages outlets may also be reached through lobby.

5.       Location of cloakrooms and wash room for public are also in the lobby.

6.       The reception desk is also in lobby should be so located that ii is in clear view of the guest.

7.       Another important entrance from car parking area which is usually in basement opens up in to lobby.

8.       Lobby of big hotels should also accommodate G.R office. Lobby manager’s office back counter public and house telephones.

 RECEPTION COUNTER

SIZE : Basically  size depends upon the size and system used by the hotel. for a large hotel using automatic system the size may be small while for a small hotel using manual system the size may be comparatively big.

SHAPE: another important factor is the at the counter should be desigend matching wthe shape of the lobby such as          L shape, curve shape,semi circular shape etc

DIMENSIONS: Height between 38" to 42" 

                            Width is 30"

  Length depending on various factors such as size of lobby,type of  hotel, business profile of the hotel and the systems used etc.

Equipment used in front office

(A) Manual equipments

·         Whitney Rack: This system of room reservation, developed by the American Whitney Duplicating Check Company, is suitable for small and medium properties–with up to 150 rooms. It is based on the use of standard size slips, known as Whitney slips or Shannon slips, which can be held on a metallic carrier on Whitney racks.

The racks and carriers can be used over and over again. The running expense is only of the slips.

The Whitney racks are placed vertically, saving storage space

·         Information rack: It is important device position in the front desk and is used by the front desk agents to track the various in house guest of the hotel. The information contain is arranged alphabetically and consists of the following.

a. Name of the guest.

b. Number of the room.

c. type of the room occupied.

d. Rate of guest room.

e. Date of arrival and departure.

 f. Billing instructions.

·         Mail and message rack: It is wooden frame work containing an array of pigeon holes (wooden rack in square shape to leave message) in each pigeon hole is used to store various mail and message received for inhouse guests.

·         Key racks: Key racks are front office equipment located underneath the counter of the front desk. It is a wooden or metallic frame work containing slots for keeping the keys of the guest in sequential order of the guests present in their rooms.

·         Folio bucket:  It is an equipment which contains large number of slots where one can keep folios arranged sequentially according to the room number. This folio well is used to store and track the folio of the various registered guest.

( B)Semi Automated equipments:

·         Accounting posting machine:-

 It is very essential equipment used for posting the various charges on the accounts of the guest. The posting machine is generally used to calculate the total of the guest accounts and transactions.

·         Cash register:  It is generally used by the front desk to record the various sundry sales at the front desk such as stamps, newspaper, candy etc.

·          

·         Wake up devices:  These devices are used by telephone department to remind the staff of awakening of the guest at requested time. The most common wake up devices is known as James remindo (a kind of alarm clock with pull pin system).

·         Credit card imprinter:  This equipment is used when especially guest presents credit card, at the time of their arrivals or departure to settle their bill. It is used to make an imprint of the credit card used by the guest as a mode of payment.

·         Type writer:  Are used for preparing various documents related to the front office operations and also related to the guest.

( C)Automated Equipments

·         Credit card validater: It is also known as EDC or electronic data capturing machine. It is used by the cashier to check the validity of the credit card presented by the guest. This equipment is linked to the credit card data bank which holds information concerning the validity of the credit card. This ensures that the guest has the credit balance high enough to cover the projected charges and also verifies the ownerships of the guest from the card.

·         Fax machine:  Fax (Facsimile automatic Xerox machine) this machine is used through telephone lines and are used to receive and sent official documents. The operator dials the destination fax machine number and then sends the fax message inserting the message page into the machine.

·         Call accounting system:  It is fully computerized telephone system which allows the proper billing of the outgoing calls of the guest. It is also known as APBX (Automatic private branch exchange).

·         Computer:  Are used widely in front office department for the purpose of reservation, registration, accounting and auditing. Computer can also store and retrieve important data of the guest to carry out various services. A hotel management software is required to effectively use computers in hotel operations.