Managing Accommodation Services: Roles, Forecasting, Maintenance, and Security

This report discusses the organisation of front office functions, key roles in housekeeping, forecasting linen stock, scheduling maintenance, and importance of security in managing accommodation services. It provides insights into Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park's operations and how different departments collaborate to ensure customer satisfaction.

Managing
accommodation services

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Covered in PPT.......................................................................................................................1
P4 Explain the organisation of front office functions within a variety of accommodation
services...................................................................................................................................1
P5 Discuss the key roles within the front office department for a selected organisation Roles
and responsibilities:...............................................................................................................2
P6 Review the key roles found within the housekeeping department in a selected organisation
................................................................................................................................................3
P7 Assess the importance of forecasting linen stock and other guest supplies to ensure
sufficient supply to meet demand...........................................................................................4
P8 Illustrate the importance of inter-relationships between housekeeping and other key
departments.............................................................................................................................5
P9 Examine the importance of scheduling maintenance or repair work to minimise disruption
to guests..................................................................................................................................6
P10 Discuss the importance of security within a selected organisation.................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The hospitality industry is the biggest field of business in which one of the most
important business sectors is accommodation. Which is contributing to the national and
international economical growth along with the increasing GDP (Kandylis, 2019).
Accommodation is referred to as the lodging, room or shelter which provide a satisfactory place
for the customers to stay and live. It is very important for the hospitality industry that they
manage their services of the accommodation in order to gain a competitive advantage. Mandarin
Oriental Hyde Park, London is the world’s best accommodation services provider. In this report,
analysis and evaluation of the different types of accommodation services, size and sales along
with different types of ownership are done. An essay further proceeds with study and analysis of
classifications systems and online review sites role in customers interaction, the role of the front
office and housekeeping department concerning best accommodation services. The role of the
security and collaborative work of the hotel services departments in context to the customers’
satisfaction is analysed. Functions of the front office department and housekeeping department is
analysed along with the evaluation of linens forecasting and the importance of the maintenance.
TASK 1
Covered in PPT
P4 Explain the organisation of front office functions within a variety of accommodation services
Front Office operational structure:
Functional areas of the Front Office: There are a variety of accommodation services in the
context to which the front office have to function effectively, such as booking, customers
guidance, high services etc. below is some functions of the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park front
office department is explained.
Reservations are the primary function of the front office as this involves the schedule
dates, selection of room, length of stay and payment method's (Dieterich, 2018). Reception is
another most important functional work of the front office department, which involves the
activities like Greet to all guests, respond to their phone calls and answer to their questions and
assisting customers with check-in and check-out. guest services are front-office functions under
which the morning services of the guest with appropriate information and services is done, like
newspapers, juice and their required services to their desk. in the front office, one of the most
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important functions is concierge, which covers the activities like arranging transportation, spa
services and other more services for the customers. Night Audit this is the front office function
done at the night related to the post checking of the morning work and transactions.
Front office organisational charts- In the selected organisation, due to the large
accommodation services front office organisation chart is very important, as this provides
systematic structure or direction of orders to the employees. Below is the illustration of the front
office organisation chart and assisting role of the managers.
P5 Discuss the key roles within the front office department for a selected organisation
Roles and responsibilities:
Accommodation services organisation, front office managers roles are differentiated with
some specialisation but the common goal is customers satisfaction and management of their
information for future services promotion. Below is an illustration of some key roles and
responsibilities of front office managers roles.
Within the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, there are the Different functional roles of the
departments' managers, such as Front Office Manager role is to make sure that customers should
have a good experience while checking into the hotel, they have to manage every requirement of
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the customers by maintaining effective coordination with another department (Yao, 2019).
The reservation Manager role is to handle the room booking services of hotels along with
several more tasks, such as fast response to the customers’ phone calls, emails, updating arrival
reports and reviewing room inventory. The reception Manager is playing the most important role,
such as they have to assure that all staff maintaining the desired level of customers services and
they have to make a positive experience by greeting clients, Guest services Manager have to
respond to guest requests and complaints, oversees lobby operations and hotel amenities such as
they make sure the valet services, pool or spa operations. The night Audit Manager role is to
manage the overnight request of the guest and management of the day shift work or transaction
details. Head Concierge communicate directly to the guest and give all essential information
related to accommodation and other additional services.
The Front Office staff role is involving the overall management of the front office
function discussed above along with the assurance of effective services to the guest with
effective communication, they have to build a strong relationship with the guest and meet their
all needs. The skills, qualities and competencies required for different functional roles, is
commonalty involves effective communication skills and multitasking along with the attention
and cultural awareness. The importance of the role of Front Office services and the
interrelationships between the different functional areas is then management of good impression
of the organisation in front of the customer along with the assurance of their grate satisfaction.
Front Office operations relate to the overall business mission and objectives by meeting
the organisation quality and standards of hospitality services (Fukuda, 2020). It impacts the
overall experience of the customers with the hotel and its good efforts help to achieve the
organisation mission, of customers’ satisfaction with luxury services.
P6 Review the key roles found within the housekeeping department in a selected organisation
Housekeeping operational structure:
In-house housekeeping Contracted out housekeeping
The group of the housekeeping staff which is
the employees of the hotel is called in-house
housekeeping.
The external housekeeping services providing
company, provide the organisation or hotel,
housekeepers based on contract.
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Under this type of housekeeping, employees
work under the hotel and follow their
standards.
But its recruitment cost and equipment
management is the limitation in comparison to
out housekeeping.
These are effective because the hotel can get
all required housekeeping services without the
responsibilities of managing housekeeping
inventories.
Security problems and the possibility of poor
cleaning (Lee and Cheng, 2018).
Roles and responsibilities:
Executive Housekeeper- There are several roles of the executive housekeeper such as
they have to recruit the housekeeping workers for the hotel and then provide them effective
training regarding cleaning standards and behaviour with the customer. They have to motivate
the staff for customer satisfactory work with the consideration of hygiene factors. They have to
manage the budget of employee recruitment and housekeeping equipment allocation. The
executive of the housekeeping department also has to make sure that they develop and manage
the effective scheduling guide for employees. They have to manage the multicultural team with
positive relationships and respect for each one culture. The service housekeeper or employees’
role is to follow the scheduling guide and front office manager instructions to meet the cleaning
needs of customers.
P7 Assess the importance of forecasting linen stock and other guest supplies to ensure sufficient
supply to meet demand
In the hospitality industry such as in the hotel, forecasting plays a very important role in
the management of sufficient supply and meet the demands of customers. This is involving the
activities like inventory analysis and customer needs analysis to build the resource's allocation
plan. In Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, forecasting is done effectively with a computerized
maintenance system.
Managing and forecasting inventories:
This is involving management of the lines such as sheets, pillowslips, towels and other
customer facility products like bath products. Other than that there are some consumable (soaps,
shampoos, conditioners, mouthwashes, shower caps, pens, notepads) and non-consumable times
(cleaning equipment like a mop, wipers, etc.) which have to be managed according to the
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customer and hotel management needs. That is important to analyse the linen need and develop
the balanced par stock levels (Sadeh and Garkaz, 2019).
Budget and control of expenses:
Forecasting also involves the management of an effective budget for resources allocation.
This can be done with Actual costs (means the present cost of the resources and operation) and
budgeted costs (is the future cost of the related operation and resources) management.
Guest-room cleaning:
In the forecasting that is also important to inspect the guest rooms and assure the deep
cleaning, according to the cleaning standards. There should be the use of biodegradable
housekeeping equipment and green detergent.
P8 Illustrate the importance of inter-relationships between housekeeping and other key
departments
Relationship between housekeeping and the other functional departments found within
accommodation services:
In the hotel inter-relationships with the housekeeping and other functional department is
important to manage each accommodation services effectively. Such as another then the shelter
customers come to the hotel for conferences and events and when they stay they need food and
beverage to chill. So to meet all needs of customers that are important to manage the
collaboration with Front Office, Food and Beverage, Conference and Events department. A front
office and housekeeping department are interconnected as customers require the quick room and
cleaning services for which the front office manager have to inform the housekeeping executive,
which further instruct the staff for housekeeping services. The front office manager has to also
coordinate with the housekeeping department in context to the food and event department for
cleaning services needs. Food and beverage are interrelated with the housekeeping department.
As it involves the cleaning and linen management of the food processing area. Conference and
event departments provide a clean and well manage place for the meeting, with the aid of
housekeeping departments. As they coordinate to manage the cleanliness and facilities within the
conformance room (Rapapali and Steenkamp, 2019).
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P9 Examine the importance of scheduling maintenance or repair work to minimise disruption to
guests.
Scheduling maintenance or repairing is important to manage the customers’ satisfaction
with minimisation of disruption to the guest. As it involves the upkeep of the various system and
components in the hotel. Such as in Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park involves the upkeep of the
refrigeration, elevators, cable TV, phone lines, room furnishing and lighting fixtures. All these
maintenance activities help to manage good customer service without any errors.
 Routine is the type of maintenance that is done on a pre-planned basis to analyse
the prevent the problems. In Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park this type of
maintenance is involving the complete replacement of the equipment based on
time intervals without any inspection. An example is electrical, and plumbing.
 Scheduled is the type of normal maintenance activity which should be done daily
such as the room and hotel are cleaning. In Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park this type
of maintenance comes under the housekeeping department, which involving the
activities like cleaning guest rooms, cutting grass etc.
 preventive is the type of maintenance that involves the focus on inspection of the
hotel system and makes the repair or management of AC, lightings, plumbing etc.
to prevent unexpected results.
 The cost implication is the concluded amount of the maintenances expenses. For
the analysis of which KPI measures are used. In context to the selected
organisation maintenance expense is 16$.
 Room refurbishment is a maintenance activity that involves the cleaning and
decoration of the guest rooms. The relationship between the maintenance and
housekeeping departments is that housekeepers have to perform the scheduled
maintenance and help in the other routine or preventive maintenance during the
process to remove unclean things.
Importance of scheduling maintenance
 Scheduled maintenance is important for the accommodation services is that it
helps hotels to run smoothly along with increasing guest satisfaction. This is
possible because this system helps to manage things within the right time along
with the assurance of safety, cleanliness and complacence with brand standards.
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The above-discussed maintenance is important for the organisation customers
disruption minimisation, as it involves the repair and management of all-essential
work which impact the customer comfort and level of satisfaction. Within the
scheduled maintenance the risk of customers disappointment related to the room
refurbishment and chilliness is can be reduced (Chan, 2020).
P10 Discuss the importance of security within a selected organisation
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park is very concerned about their customer's safety and
managing the different security standards along with the application of security tools. The reason
behind the security needs within the hotels in the higher class customers and risk of the
customer's harm or financial loss due to which every hotel have to make sure that they are using
security measures for their customers. It is an essential for for the organisation to take care of the
safety of the customers in order to feel them that they are been valued and also it is necessary for
the company to use of the safety and secure system within the organisation to protect them any
kind of mischiefs and the theft which can happen at any time.
Selected organisation is using security tools like the key card for the customer security,
without which no one can enter into the room. Front office manager after-hours access to the
property to safeguard the customers. Risk assessment security plans are managed with the
analysis of all possible risks of the hotel, to prevent it, alarms are used within the hotel to give
the customers tool of security with the help of which they can alert others about the risk or
hazard, camera systems is another important tool of security with the help of which things can be
easily managed and monitored to assure customers safety. Health and Safety and fire procedures
are managed within the organisation through health insurance, first aid and fire management
guide (PANDE and CHUNG, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it is concluded that it is important for hotels to provide effective
accommodation service to their customers as it helps them to gain higher growth and to gain the
loyalty of customers for a longer period. Along with this, there are different types of
accommodation services prevailing within the hospitality industry such as cottages, motels,
hotels and so on. Also the accommodation of the services is related to the facilities which is been
consumed by the customers. It is very important for the hotel industry to have the right set of
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services which can attract customers. Moreover, it is analysed that there are different types of
ownership available within accommodation services which are independent hotels, franchise,
chain hotels and many more. It is significant for hotels to emphasise current trends and give
services accordingly as it helps to attract a large number of customers that further leads to an
increase in productivity and profitability of the organisation. It is determined that with the help of
regular monitoring, hotels can provide timely and effective service to customers which help in
attaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
s
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