Investigating Operational Roles and Skills in the Hospitality Industry

This report provides an insight into the operations of the hospitality industry, focusing on the operational roles within Grosvenor House Hotel. It examines the skills required for these roles and identifies current skill shortages. The report also suggests measures to address the skill gaps.

The Contemporary
Hospitality Industry
(Unit 1)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO2..................................................................................................................................................1
P4 Investigate a range of different operational roles within the hospitality industry.............1
P5 Examine the skills required for roles within the hospitality industry and current skills
shortages.................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality sector is a rapidly evolving industry which is extremely competitive and
dense in nature. This sector encompasses various sub sectors such as food and beverage,
accommodation, travel and tourism, recreation, and so forth (Chandani Jayamali, 2019). The
main aim of the businesses functioning within the bounds of this sector is to meet the needs
and wants of the customers by providing them with high quality offerings and thereby gaining
extensive satisfaction from them. Hospitality sector within United Kingdom is especially
known to be a massive contributor to the growth and development of the country’s economy.
It has undergone several tremendous advancements owing to which the skill set requirements
in the current time vary to the skill set required earlier.
The current report seeks to gain an insight into the operations of hospitality industry
by taking one of the most prominently running organisations as an example. The organisation
selected for carrying out this report is Grosvenor House Hotel. It is owned, run and managed
by JW Marriott Chain of Hotels. This is a luxury 5 stars hotel situated at the heart of London,
United Kingdom in the area called Mayfair. The location of this organisation provides an edge
to it over the rivals, as the Mayfair area of London is visited by a large number of tourists on a
daily basis. This has resulted into the growth and development of the hotel operations with the
passage of time. The report contains the diverse types of operational roles pertinent to the
hospitality sector. Besides this, it also includes the skills that are required by the employees
for carrying out their job roles in the hospitality sector. Lastly, it examines the skill shortage
of staff so that measures can be taken to address the same.
LO2
P4 Investigate a range of different operational roles within the hospitality industry
Being a wide and expansive sector, hospitality industry is home to a large number of
individuals (SKILLS, 2016). This sector provides employment to local individuals to address
the issue of unemployment. Also, it recruits people from across the globe that are equipped
with the potential to bring something unique and innovative to the table with the help of
which the company can elevate its market presence and financial performance in the long run.
Now, Grosvenor House Hotel is a luxury hotel which has extensive reputation in market place
because of its luxurious service package and impeccable customer services. This makes it
extremely important for the firm to make sure that the operational roles pertinent to the hotel
collaborative with one another in an effective manner to produce unbelievably remarkable

results. In this regard, the operational roles which are found within the bounds of Grosvenor
House Hotel are described as follow:
Housekeeper:
.This is determined to be that operational department existing in the hospitality association
that is occupied with building up a slick and clean environment while individuals are in the
hotel premises for the purpose of accommodation (Datu and et. al., 2019). This service can be
accessible to the visitors anytime of time atthe daytime or the nighttime. This specialty unit
ensures that the linen used in different parts of the hotel, for example, wellness focus, rooms,
meetings, spas and so forth, is clean Likewise, it is also determined to keep a look on the
tidiness of uniform of the apparent multitude of individuals working inside the lodging
organisation and general cleaning of the rooms. Thus according to the analysis it has been
identified that housekeeper is one of the most important operational role within hospitality
industry as in these individuals are associated with the responsibility related to cleaning
activities like the dusting, moping, polishing and more. They are authorised to ensure that all
rooms are inspected and cleaned according to standard. In addition to this it has been
underlined that housekeeper must ensure that all the activities related to proper cleaning is
maintained in room in order to make sure that customers get higher satisfaction.
Sales Manager: In the bounds of the commercial world, every organisation’s
functions with an aim to attain its objectives as well as goals in a timely manner. In addition
to this, it can be stated that the progress as well as the growth of the company is dependent
upon the selection of optimum strategies in the domain of marketing as well as sales. The
sales and marketing managers within Grosvenor House Hotel seek to make sure that the hotel
creates awareness of its services within the public at large. This helps the organisation to
ensure the development of healthy relations between the entity and its base of customers
across the globe. This results into the increment of organisational profit and sales in the long
term, thereby assisting in attainment of an edge over the rival firms within the confines of
hospitality sector. Sales manager in hospitality industry is associated with the most important
responsibility which is to maintain and nurture old as well as new customers. These
individuals are required to set goals in order to accomplish the activity of each week or month
in which they are required to attract customers with the use of different sales techniques as
well as policies. Sales manager is with the use of active direct sales, direct mail, marketing,
appointment call, telemarketing and other channels identify new market as well as business
opportunity in order to enhance sales of hotel. This is one of the most important responsibility

or role in hospitality sector through which organisation assure strong relationship with
consumers. Sales manager build and strengthen relationships with new as well as existing
consumers and enhance business opportunity for growth and profitability.
Front desk: This is the operational unit pertinent to the hotel premise which sets direct
interaction with the customers on a daily basis. In this relation, it can be said that the people
who are operating as a part of the front desk staff of Grosvenor House Hotel need to be
multilingual. It is required that these employees possess the etiquettes of communicating in a
way that can appeal to the guests who are making a stay at the hotel premises. It is the front
desk that holds the responsibility of capturing the attention of a new customer and retaining
them by way of effective communication skills and greeting them in an effectual way
(Ashton, 2018). This implies that front desk is accountable for leaving a long term impression
on the customers so that they can be influenced to make repeat purchases.
P5 Examine the skills required for roles within the hospitality industry and current skills
shortages
With respect to hospitality industry, it can be said that this industry gives employment
to large number of individuals. These individuals have diverse cultural and national
background. Now, these individuals require certain skills to become capable of gaining and
retaining the attention of the guests. This also helps the staff in augmenting the revenues and
profits of the company. In context of Grosvenor House Hotel, it can be said that there are
several skills which are required by the employees of this hospitality organisation. These
skills are discussed as follows:
Adaptability and Flexibility:
A hotel deals with large number of customers on a daily basis. These individuals may
have diverse characteristics and behavioural patterns, thus making it hard for the hotel staff to
adopt the behaviour accordingly. In response to this, it is essential that the workers of
Grosvenor House Hotel are adaptable as well as flexible in terms of catering to the needs and
demands of diverse customers. This allows the respective hotel to create a strong impression
over the people and making them stay loyal to the hotel for a long period of time (Morsy,
Ahmed and Ali, 2016). This even allows the hotel management to elevate its financial
performance in the long run.
Language:
The people visiting the premises of hotels can be from any national or cultural
background. This background may be different from that of the front office or other workers

of the hotel. Thus, having knowledge of multiple languages is a necessity in the current time
to be able to deal with diverse customers (SKILLS, 2016). Some of the employees of
Grosvenor House Hotel are multilingual and this provides help to the respective hotel in
gaining satisfaction from the customers by properly addressing their needs and demands in a
timely manner.
Communication:
This is yet another important skill which is required by the employees of hotel industry
to deal with the customers and comprehend their queries or demands. Also, it helps the front
office staff to leave a long term impression on the new customers in an effective manner.
Communication skills allow the employees of Grosvenor House Hotel to develop healthy
relations with the customers and retail them for a considerably longer period of time.
Current skill shortages
Thus, according to the analysis it has been identified that all the above mentioned
skills are required for different operational roles within hospitality industry segment. It has
been identified that in respective hotel there is a shortage of skills such as language,
adaptability and flexibility, communication in sales manager, housekeeper and front desk
officer operational role. It affects company to influence or attract customers in an effective
manner. It is essential to effectively develop these skills with the use of different techniques
as well as methods through which front desk officer, sales manager and housekeeper can
effectively perform their roles and responsibilities in order to influence attention of customers
in a well define and effective manner. In addition to this it has been underlined that in
respective hotel in some of the operational role there is skill gap exist which is required to be
filled in effective manner. For this hotel by taking use of different skill management
techniques such as providing proper training and development courses to employees can
effectively fill this gap and can assure satisfaction of customers in a well defined and effective
manner.

CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion done in the report, it can be comprehensively stated
that hospitality industry is one of the most progressing sectors across the globe. The inference
which can be drawn further is that the operations of this industry are constantly expanding in
terms of diversity. This has been possible mainly due to the effective collaboration on the part
of front office and back office operations. In addition to this, it has been further acknowledged
that staff engaged in carrying out the operations of hospitality sector requires some peculiar
skills, knowledge and competencies which make them compatible for the business operations
within the confines of hospitality industry. Some of the members of the staff may lack such
skill set and thus may be required to undergo training or exposure to the industry so that the
future skills can be developed within them. This will help them in effectively performing the
business activities and operations of the hospitality sector in an effective manner.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chandani Jayamali, K.W., 2019. Impact of interpersonal skills of hotel staff on guest
satisfaction (Doctoral dissertation, Faculty of Commerce & Management).
SKILLS, I.P.G.I., 2016. Importance-performance gaps in skills and knowledge of junior
management and staff in tourism and hospitality industry in Republic of
Macedonia. Journal of Sustainable Development, 5(14), p.68.
Datu, Y.A., Limantara, S.W., Soelistiyowati, E., Hardjanto, T.D. and Fuadi, Y., 2019. The
Design of TBECC (Test of Business English Communication Competence) for Front
Office Staff in Hotel Industry: A Case Study of Hotels in Surabaya,
Indonesia. PEOPLE: International Journal of Social Sciences, 5(1).
Ashton, A.S., 2018. How human resources management best practice influence employee
satisfaction and job retention in the Thai hotel industry. Journal of Human Resources
in Hospitality & Tourism, 17(2), pp.175-199.
Morsy, M.A., Ahmed, G.S. and Ali, N.A., 2016. Impact of effective training on employee
performance in hotel establishments. International Journal of Heritage, Tourism, and
Hospitality, 10(1/2).
SKILLS, I.P.G.I., 2016. Importance-performance gaps in skills and knowledge of junior
management and staff in tourism and hospitality industry in Republic of
Macedonia. Journal of Sustainable Development, 5(14), p.68.