Report: Managing Accommodation Services (Unit 7) - Detailed Analysis

This report delves into the multifaceted aspects of managing accommodation services within the hospitality industry, focusing on the scale and size of accommodation services, different ownership models (independent, managed contracts, and franchises), and the impact of grading, classification systems, and online review sites on consumer decision-making. The report examines the crucial functions of the front office department, including reservation, reception, guest services, and housekeeping, emphasizing their roles in enhancing customer satisfaction and achieving organizational goals. The key responsibilities of the housekeeping department, including forecasting linen stock and ensuring sufficient guest supplies, are also highlighted, alongside the importance of interdepartmental collaboration and the significance of scheduling repair and maintenance to minimize guest disruption. The report uses Holiday Inn as a case study to analyse the advantages of security measures and the importance of front office roles in ensuring positive grading and reviews.

Front Sheet
Unit Title and Number: Managing Accommodation Services (Unit 7)
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ..............................................................................................................................4
Scale and size of accommodation services within the hospitality industry….....……..4
Different forms of ownership ……..……………………………………………………......6
The role of grading, classifications system and online review sites…………..............7
TASK 2...............................................................................................................................8
Front Office functions………………………………………..…………………..……….....8
The key roles of front office department …………...…………………………………....10
TASK 3.............................................................................................................................11
Review key responsibilities and roles of housekeeping department in a business
organisation…………………………………..…………………………………………......11
Mention the value of forecasting of Linen Stock along with other guest supplies in
assuring sufficient supplies………………………….…………………………………….13
Mention the merits of interrelation among housekeeping and other departments of
selected company……………………………………………………………………....….14
TASK 4.............................................................................................................................15
Describe the importance of scheduling repair and maintenance work to reduce
disruption to the guests…………………………………………………………………....15
Analyse the advantages of security in context with selected company………………16
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES................................................................................................................18
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INTRODUCTION
Hospitality based service management is the managerial and administrative
science of overseeing hospitality organisation. Hospitality industries include food and
beverages, hotel and event management. Hospitality industries are a type of industry
which includes services like food, lodging, beverages, event planning, transportation
and event planning etc. The report will highlight the size and area of accommodation
services. The study will detail the different types of ownership which are available in the
accommodation services. The classification system and online sites which impact
consumer decision making. Moreover the study will highlight functions of front office
department within the accommodation services and roles of front office management in
an organisation (Killaspy and et.al, 2016). Accommodation services are referred to the
services which are offered to customers to satisfy their basic and luxury needs while
travelling or staying at a hotel. These services are mainly concerned with lodging and
food facilities (Abramova and et. al., 2015). This assignment is prepared in context with
Holiday inn which is a UK based American hotel brand, headquartered in
Buckinghamshire, UK. This hotel is founded in 1952 and operates in global manner.
This report will cover about roles of housekeeping department in business and
importance of forecasting about supplies needed by guest. Also, value of interrelation in
housekeeping and other departments, security at workplace & schedule repairing is
discussed.
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TASK1
Scale and size of accommodation services within the hospitality
industry
Hotel- The main purpose of hotels is to provide travellers shelter, foods,
refreshment, and other goods and services. Their objective is to provide high quality
services to customers. The size of hotels normally there are fifty rooms and large
amount of people can stay at single time. The hotel provide both luxury and mid range
services to consumers. Hotels provide different types of facilities to customers, luxury
hotels provide more facilities to people and budget restaurant offer less facilities to the
consumers. Accommodation sector contributes to hotel industries (Martin-Fuentes and
et.al, 2018). The accommodation service sector contributes in generating revenue for
the hotels. Scope of the hotel industry is increasing rapidly. The industry contributes
about 3.6% to UK GDP (Suhartanto, 2015).
Hostel- Hostel provides lower priced, accommodations where guest can stay by
paying rent. In hostels services like a bed, a share bathroom and sometimes a kitchen.
The scale of this industry is very large as demand of hostels is increasing rapidly.
Mostly hostels are used by students for living. The room size of the hostels is not very
large as normally 80 to 100 people can stay in normal size hostels. The other services
offered by hostels are daily breakfast and free Wi-Fi, so that they can do all their study
work (Kenway and Lam, 2016).
Event management- This includes managing the teams of people responsible for
each function, budget, and execution of planned event. Various types of events are
being organised by the company such as wedding event, business event and other
types of events. The scope of this type of business has been grown very rapidly and is
now becomes global business. The contribution to GDP is around £42.3 billion to UK
economy (Tussyadiah, 2016).
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Pubs- A pub is an establishment body and has a license to sell alcoholic drinks
which includes beer etc. In pubs different types of alcoholic drinks are provided to
consumers. As pubs is the place where people come any enjoying by having drinks of
their choice. The purpose of this business is to satisfy the customers by providing
different types of drinks. There were around 48350 pubs in United Kingdom in 2017.
There is a decrease of approximately 8450 pubs in the last ten years and over 12450
pubs in 2000. The scope of this type of business has grown very fast and pubs are in
almost every country. Pubs contribute around £70 millions to the UK economy (Martin-
Fuentes and et.al, 2018).
Restaurants- A restaurant is a type of business which prepares and serves food
and drinks to customers. The purpose of the restaurant is to offer different types of
foods to people. Meals are generally served and eaten at the premises but many
restaurant take and delivery systems also.
The scope of this business is very large as this type of business can be expanded
by making chains. Costumer expenditure on restaurant and cafes has reached around
88 billion British pounds in 2017 (Celata, Hendrickson and Sanna, 2017).
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Different forms of ownership
It can be different forms of ownership available to accommodation services such
as it can be independently owned, managed contracts, franchise and referral groups.
Independently owned- The benefits of independent hotel is that it has flexibility
i.e., it can make changes according to situation without concerning any other. All the
profitability and loss is beard independently. The most famous independent hotel in UK
are Gregans Castle hotel and Kinloch Lodge (Ma and et.al, 2016).
Managed contracts- In this, the owner of hotel, contracts with separate company or
an operator for running a hotel. In managed contracts the owner gives right to separate
company to take the decisions and all the activities are done by that company only. The
profit sharing ratio is already mentioned in contract and according to that profit is
distributed between owner and Management Company (Steinberg and et.al, 2016).
Franchisee- A franchisee is a company which uses license of the franchiser to do
the name under his trade name, following the terms and condition of the contract. This
is also a type of contract the hotel gives right to use the brand name to the franchiser, it
benefits both the hotel and franchiser (Killaspy, 2016). It is a type of partnership and
sole proprietorship. As agreement contains all the details that how much money will be
given to the franchiser, profit sharing ratio, etc. Best hotel franchisee in UK Hotel
Express International and easy Hotel.
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The role of grading, classifications system and online review sites
The classification system includes star rating and letter grading. The rating
system is as applies that the hotels are rated on the basis of their performance on
different starts, as two stars, three stars, four stars and five stars. Hotel showing low
stars means that their quality of service offered are not so good and hotel showing high
rating stars means that the quality of services offered is extremely good. The rating
helps the consumers in selecting the right hotel. As according to different grading
customers can easily select the hotel (Steinberg and et.al, 2016).
Online review sites reveal all the details of hotels and help the consumers in
making right choice. There are many websites available which gives the review of
hotels. Such websites are trip advisor, Expedia, Google, Facebook etc. The online
review websites impact in such a way that by considering the review from website
consumers can easily choose the hotel, which satisfies their needs (Killaspy and et.al,
2016). Review sites and online booking sites impact in such a way that as on trip
advisor, the customer can get the reviews of hotels and make booking according to the
need. Online website provides all the details of hotel such as what is the location, what
types of services are provided, charge of booking etc. (Ma and et.a. 2016).
By visiting online website people can easily book the accommodation according
to their choice and people can also cancel the booking in some cases. Some hotel
takes cancelling charge also all these details are mentioned on the websites. This also
has negative impacts on the hotel as due to some bad review from customers the image
of the accommodation service provider are suffered. Sometimes correct information
may not be provided by the websites and thus customers are suffered. Online booking
facility is efficient and time saving and also gives various offers and discounts to
customers (Steinberg and et.al, 2016).
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TASK 2
Front Office functions
The front office departments serve the consumers and handle their quarries.
(Killaspy and et.al, 2016).
Front office functions are as follows:
Reservation- Officer Contacts the hotel regarding the availability for desired type
of accommodation and any other services that hotel can offers. Advance booking
facilities are provided so that consumers can book the hotel in advance according to
their choice (Managing accommodation services, 2019).
Reception- As the duty of receptionist is to welcome the guest and greet them in
a desired way. Their duty includes checking guest in and out, issuing keys, taking
reservation by telephones and e mails, preparing bills and dealing with payments
(Steinberg and et.al, 2016). Receptionist provides guest all information and answers
queries and deal with complaints. This helps in fulfilling the objectives of the business
as by the reception services customers get satisfied and also suggest to other persons.
Guest services- Officer Services are provided by hotel, guest services listen to
guest and provide them various facilities like extra towels, toothpaste, hot water or may
be a dinner recommendations. As taking care of customers is the heart of hospitality
services. The function of night audit is also performed by the hotels (Temple and et.al.
2016). This assist in fulfilling the goals of the organisation as by effective guest services
customers get satisfied and they also suggests other people about the organisation,
thus increasing productivity of the business (Steinberg and et.al, 2016).
Housekeeping- Housekeeping is the duty performed by front office executive
department. Housekeeping is responsible for cleanliness, maintenance and takes care
of rooms so that the visitors feel good and also helps in satisfying customers. This
department take care of customers need and requirements by providing services.
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Role of front office in following:
Positive grading: Front office plays an important role in increasing the productivity
of the organisation. Front office department plays an important role in dealing with
customers as when they are satisfied they give positive feedbacks and helps in
productivity of Hilton Hotel (Khoo-Lattimore and Prayag, 2015).
Reviews: It is the duty of front office department that when customers are leaving
they have to take feedbacks from them i.e., they are satisfied by the services offered or
not. They take review by giving a form to them which they fill and submit there or online
reviews also. Reviews assist in improving services and quality of the hotels
(Tussyadiah, 2016).
Front office department also assist in achieving mission and objectives of the
organisation. As front office manager ensures that all the work of front desk runs
smoothly. By providing better services and satisfying customers with their queries the
mission of the Hilton Hotel is achieved. Mission of the Hotel is to satisfy their customers
and increase their revenue. So front office department manages all the queries of
customers and guide them (Killaspy and et.al, 2016).
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The key roles of front office department
The key roles of front office department in Hotel Hilton are as follows:
Guest service manager is important person who manage hotel operations. A
guest service manager of Hilton Hotel develops customer service programs that go
beyond providing a room and bed. Hotel guest service manager sees the complaints of
customers and responds to it. It is the duty of guest service manager to take feedback
from the guests. For that hotel use customer satisfaction surveys or forms which are
filled by the customers before they check out (Ho, 2017).
Night audit manager- The night auditor handles of front office desk and
accounting duties. The main function of night auditor is guest ledger. Manager checks
the accounts of all currently registered guest of lodging establishment. Hilton Hotel
manager ensure accuracy of guest ledger, and makes sure that all guest have checked
out at proper time and gathered all paper work necessarily so that successful audit can
be completed. In performing front desk functions, night auditor remains available to
respond overnight emergencies.
Front office staff skills and qualities
Various staff skills and qualities are required to perform front office task. These
skills are problem solving skills, as the front office staff must have:
 Problem solving skill- Front office staff must have great problem solving skills
as in emergency times they can solve problems on their own without the concern
of any other person (Killaspy and et.al, 2016).
 Technical skills- Front desk operator must have technical skills, as must have
basic knowledge of computer and new gadgets. Must have basic knowledge of
MS excel and MS word.
 Communication skills- it’s the most required skills as the front office staff
represent the hotel to customers so it is must they have good communication
skills.
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TASK 3
Review key responsibilities and roles of housekeeping department in
a business organisation
Housekeeping department is considered as one of the biggest department in a
hotel which have a responsibility to create cleanliness, maintaining a healthy
environment for the guest. Aim of this department is to provide maximum comfort to
their customers so that they will prefer repeat visits. This will allow Holiday Inn in
earning high revenues and profits. Different operational roles of housekeeping
department in Holiday Inn are stated below:
 Executive housekeeper: All the employees in housekeeping department works
under this individual. Executive housekeeper acknowledges other staff about
their duties and responsibilities so that all the work can be performed
systematically. Executive housekeeper in Holiday Inn has the responsibility of
cleanliness’s and maintenance so that comfortable environment of hotel can be
maintained (Asenova, Bailey and McCann, 2015).
 Assistant housekeeper: Main role of assistant housekeeper in Holiday Inn is to
manage the resources among staff members which are provided by executive
housekeeper so that common objective maintaining cleanliness and
attractiveness can be maintained.
 Room supervisor: This person has the responsibility to check if crew of
attendants are performing their work in an efficient manner or not. Also, Room
supervisor in Holiday Inn have the task to interact with front desk department so
that special instructions about guest and their rooms can be identified and taken
care of properly.
 Room attendant: These employees of a hotel are also known as chambermaids.
In case of Holiday Inn, these employees have the responsibility to clean the
guest rooms and bathrooms so that guests do not face any issue of cleanliness
(Bolton, 2016). Other than this, reporting about repairs in rooms, changing
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supplies which are damaged and checking any suspected theft in hotel is the
responsibility of a room attendant.
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