Hillside Hotel Rooms Division: Services, Front Office, & Management

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the rooms division at Hillside Hotel, a 5-star hotel operating in the UK. It discusses the various types of accommodation and front office services offered, the roles and responsibilities of accommodation and reception service staff, and the legal and statutory requirements relevant to rooms division operations in the UK. The report assesses the role and importance of the front of house department in effective hospitality management and examines key aspects of planning and management of the front of house area. Furthermore, it critically discusses operational issues affecting front office management and business performance, analyzes the role of property interior design, and examines the planning and management of accommodation service functions. The report also explains revenue/yield management activities to maximize occupancy and discusses sales techniques for rooms division staff, including the importance of forecasting and statistical data. Finally, it includes calculations of Rooms Division performance indicators to measure accommodation sales success.

ROOM DIVISION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction..................................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1........................................................................................................................................................2
P1.1 Discuss the different type of accommodation and front office services needed and analyze the
roles and responsibilities of the accommodation and reception service staff..........................................2
P1.2 Evaluate the type of services provided by the rooms division department in a range of
accommodation facilities such as hotels, holiday camps or university campuses and discuss the legal
and statutory requirements that apply to rooms division operations in the UK......................................4
TASK 2........................................................................................................................................................5
P2.1 Assess the role and importance of the front of house department in the effective management of
a hospitality business and discuss the key aspects of planning and management of the front of house
area for your new hospitality operations.................................................................................................5
P2.2 critically discuss the key operational issues that would affect the effective management and
business performance of the front office area for hospitality operations................................................7
TASK 3........................................................................................................................................................8
P3.1 Analyze the role and importance of design and development of property interiors, including
functionality to the effective management of the hospitality operations.................................................8
P3.2 Examine the key aspects of planning and management of the accommodation service function
and analyze the operational issues affecting the effective management of the accommodation service
function for property................................................................................................................................8
TASK 4......................................................................................................................................................10
P4.1 Explain how you would perform revenue/yield management activities in order to maximize
occupancy and rooms revenue and discuss what sales techniques that rooms division staff can use to
promote and maximize revenue in your hotel. Provide example using the case scenarios...................10
4.2 Discuss the importance and use of forecasting and the use of statistical data within the rooms
division in your property and calculate Rooms Division performance indicators to measure the
success of accommodation sales using the appropriate software package as an example....................12

Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................13
References..................................................................................................................................................14

Introduction
Room division includes various departments and functions that play crucial role in offering the services
to the guest except at the time of hotel stay. The front office is the most highlighted department in the
hotel, with the highest number of contact of guests. In the current study, the scenario of Hillside hotel is
taken which is 5 star rating hotels and operates in UK by Nazleem Holdings. The report will discuss
about the accommodation and front office services, roles and responsibilities of a range of
accommodation and reception services staff along with legal and statutory requirements as well. The
impact of contemporary management issues on the effective management and business performance in
the front of house area of Hillside hotel will be presented in report. It will also review the factor that
contributes to effective management along with techniques used in measuring occupancy and room
revenue.
1

TASK 1
The room division is an important department as it has the main responsibility of reservation,
registrations and assignment of rooms. It is the front face of the hotel which can make a good
impression on the customers by providing quality services. Rooms division comprises of various
departments for offering different services to the guest.
P1.1 Discuss the different type of accommodation and front office services needed and analyze the roles
and responsibilities of the accommodation and reception service staff
There are various types of accommodation which are provided by room division department in Hillside
hotel:
Reserving rooms with registration and room assignment is an important service of this department. It
also updates room status and maintains the guest accounts which will help in maintaining their accounts
as it develops a comprehensive database for guest information. This division in Hillside also coordinate
with the guest services as they provide all the services which are needed by guest and they ensure they
match guest expectation with their services. For achieving guest satisfaction they carefully organize their
office charts and use strategies and tactics by well designed their job description and specification
(Melián-González and Bulchand-Gidumal, 2017). Room division department helps in allotment of
rooms by proper booking of individuals and if it is not booked it is given when there is availability.
Front office is called as centre nerve of the department as it gives first impression to the guest in form of
services and information which are provided through out of stay. It is a duty of the manager in Hillside
hotel to provide all the services which are needed by guest. Various front office services are:
It has to maintain guest account and make use of property management systems and open a separate
account for guests and posting of all charges from various departments as it means various charges are
directly debited to guest accounts and payment is received on check out which will directly transfer to
city ledger (Engen and Magnusson, 2015). Guest accounts are to be managed by Hillside hotel
management so that when they are leaving it became easy to charge for all facilities and services.
The hotel has to also check mails, messages, faxes which are delivered by customers as customer
directly approach to front desk and front office employees should have all the knowledge about the
2

organization. Front office services are 24 hour services which are distributed between three are two
shifts with different tasks and duties. A booking department of the Hillside will be opened for customers
so that pre booking can be made by them. Checking mails and reply is needed by customers.
Front office has the duty to handover the rooms to expected guests and available rooms which are not
reserved and it also apply yield management to sell the rooms with high prices which have better view
and larger size. There are different rates of rooms according to their sizes and view (Sørensen and
Jensen, 2015). Rooms are allotted on average daily rate of Hillside hotel and according to their sizes and
facility as high price rooms have some special features then other rooms. The rooms are graded
according to their sizes, interiors and various facilities.
Roles and responsibilities of a range of accommodation and reception service staff in Hillside hotel
Hillside hotel generally give number of accommodations and staff services to the guests it includes
room allotment, dining, banquet facilities, entertainment, laundry, gym, spa and other recreational
facilities. Hotel reception staff is responsible for welcoming the guest, check in and check out and
dealing with all the enquiries which are through phone, fax and mails. They provide also with
reservation enquiries, answering guests and dealing with the complaints of guests. There are various
duties which are performed by reception service staff in hotel Hillside:
 The main duty is to allocate the rooms to the guests and passing all the information on messages.
It is a duty of reception staff to prepare the bill and take payment from guests and handle the
foreign exchange. They are helping guest with special requests by giving valuable services like
using hotel Hillside safe or luggage area and by ordering and booking of some activities which a
guest wants (Engen and Magnusson, 2015).
 As the first impression especially in case of 5 star hotels is reception staff and they are also
known as gatekeepers who are bearing the responsibility of staff as by giving their valuable
services. Generally the responsibilities which are performed by hotel Hillside are: answering
queries, record keeping, taking reservations, dealing with room services, bill payment of
customers, responsibility of holding room key and making reports and statistics.
3

P1.2 Evaluate the type of services provided by the rooms division department in a range of
accommodation facilities such as hotels, holiday camps or university campuses and discuss the legal and
statutory requirements that apply to rooms division operations in the UK
The services in respect to accommodation facilities have been discussed above. But evaluation of
services provided by room division in at least three different hospitality businesses.
 The Hillside hotel in UK has the room division service has separate front office. There are
separate department for all the services bookkeeping department is totally different which keeps
all the details regarding guest their Name , address and there is different department for laundry
services as it does room cleaning and services of cleaning related to guests (Engen and
Magnusson, 2015).
 Hillside hotel in UK provide all the queries regarding guest in their room division department
and the responsibility towards room cleaning is responsibility of quality management department
and it has front office and housekeeping for proving room services to the guests. The front office
takes the order and providing sleeping facility to guests.
Further, to run the hospitality business successfully it is important to comply with the legal and statutory
requirement is very important. Hotel Hillside gives enough of safeguards regarding security of luggage
of the customers. The hotel is contracted to various companies regarding security issues and they have
contract with the other hotels in case of emergency and there is Hillside hotel which have separate
premises to entertain the guests. Under the law the hotel maintain security of guest by maintaining
security of data records and it is prohibited to disclosed data to third party regarding accommodation of
guests and it is privilege to hotel if police security is needed in case of any issues ( Kadish et.al. 2016).
By providing all these facility it generates high revenue to hotel. The room and safety services are
comply with the safety act of UK and in UK there is healthy environment for hotel employees and
guests as there information is not shared with any other organization as it follows data protection act.
The materials like oils, pesticides. Room used by hotels and requires to be managed and recycled as it is
under hazardous waste management. There are various legal obligation are faced by hotel Hillside by
providing room to the clients.
The booking details should be disclosed by hotels for the room division operation of hospitality industry.
The price and discounts on room bookings and number of days of stay are to be disclosed by room
4

division operation and it is generally based on average daily rate. Regulations of hotels of UK are
according to safety standards (Cortes, 2015, August).
TASK 2
P2.1 Assess the role and importance of the front of house department in the effective management of a
hospitality business and discuss the key aspects of planning and management of the front of house area
for your new hospitality operations
Assessment of importance of front of house in Hillside hotel is as follows:-
Shortage of labour: This industry is a seasonal industry as the jobs of employees are not permanent in
nature so there is shortage of jobs at peak season as in peak season there will be required more people at
job. As in this industry it is required that labour should be skilled and educated. In hospitality services
uneducated individuals are not needed (Bowie et.al. 2016). Labour which are required in this industry
should be educated and skilful which can attract guest by their marketing skills.
Overbooking: Booking more rooms which will be more than accommodations can lead to customer
dissatisfaction and can cause negative mouth publicity in the market which can build negative image of
hotel. This problem can be avoided through efficient demand. Overbooking is generally done when there
is high probability of cancellation. If there is no cancellation then it will reflect wrong image in front of
clients as they feel disappointed by the services. Thus the same practice is to be performed by Hotel
Hillside.
Overhead cost: The biggest problem of travel and tourism industry is overhead cost and this cost will
remain increased as time increase this cost is bears by hotel Hillside.
Disrupted power: Power cuts and water supplies are some of the unmanageable issues which are reason
behind good image of the Hillside or bad image building of hotel as they are unmanageable and can
disrupt smooth functioning.
The front house in Hillside hotel provides various services for example food and beverages services. The
front office combines all the department of hotels provides guest services in order of food and beverages
services and the queries of the guest are solved by front office staff as they are responsible for all the
management facilities of hotel Hillside. It provide variety of services under one roof the front house
5

responsible for proper functioning of all the departments as there are various department handled by
front house effectively and efficiently (Robinson et.al. 2016).
Key aspects of planning and management of the front of house area for a given hospitality operation:
Efficient management: Multiple functions are performed by hotel Hillside like human resource
management, financial management and infrastructure facilities and various support systems like
information technology. Efficient management lead to quality services to the guests.
Room management: Now a day IT system helps in reservation and pre booking of rooms and it can be
cancelled and this various things are managed by IT department. Room management of hotel Hillside
has to perform various tasks which include: check in and checkout of guests. It also includes room
cleaning, safety of room, dry cleaning etc.
Sale management: The main motive of sale management is customer retention and it can be managed
by software technologies in hotel Hillside.
Forecasting demand: Mathematics is used for yield management as it able to forecast demand and
supply of data as it cause high profitability to business and it generally uses economies of scale.
Safety and security: safety of guest is responsibility of hotels as they have provides infrastructure
security to the guest this task is generally assigned to housekeeping and admin management (Hill and
Hill, 2017).
Job planning: Allocating jobs duties and responsibilities to various staff members so that it avoids any
confusion. Various duties include front desk duties, bell service, information and enquiry it must
planned that it does not led any confusion. Planning of jobs and allotment of jobs are done by human
resource department in Hotel Hillside.
Data recording: Keeping customer information privately so that data can be secured and used when
needed. Sometimes recorded data are to be used in emergency and it helps in maintaining records of
guests and their stay and payments.
6

P2.2 critically discuss the key operational issues that would affect the effective management and
business performance of the front office area for hospitality operations
Customer satisfaction helps in identifying the operational issues of the hotel Hillside and achievement of
higher level of customer satisfaction can be gained by managing front area operations and resolving
customer queries which can lead to high level of satisfaction. Many travellers not received satisfaction
through infrastructure facilities and not by the ambience it can be achieved by quality services provided
by staff (Boddy et.al. 2018). Hillside hotel in UK introduced total quality management system. The front
office operation management increases the sales by giving variety of services of food, entertainment,
transportation and accommodation and it directly increase the profit of Hillside organization. Further by
increasing profits it directly helps in financial strength of hotels and it directly affect the working of
Hillside.
7

TASK 3
P3.1 Analyze the role and importance of design and development of property interiors, including
functionality to the effective management of the hospitality operations
Assessment of importance of property interiors and design to the effective management of Hillside
hotel:
Interior design of hotel means ambience of hotel as it signifies the design and infrastructure. Basically
design of hotel attracts the customers as it includes shape, size, colour, designing, furnishing etc. As
many hotels are known for their infrastructure design and their main focus is on interior designing of
hotels and it has to be maintained by the hotel for maintaining their brand image (Ching and Binggeli,
2018). In this competitive era one has to establish its brand image and ensures quality. The interior
property of hotel Hillside attracts the guests and it provide brand image to the guests.
Interior designing of rooms includes room designing, lightning, heating facility and utilization of space
and hotel owners employ highly creative and qualified interior designers for designing the hotel Hillside
which will give competitive advantage in the market (Cobos et.al. 2016).
P3.2 Examine the key aspects of planning and management of the accommodation service function and
analyze the operational issues affecting the effective management of the accommodation service
function for property
There are various small boutique hotels which are facing problem of various services like interior
designing, maintenance of room, accommodations etc. They are small hotels which give more
importance to quality services like anti allergic bedding facility, safety for guest, pest control etc. Lien
management in this small hotel incur high cost expenses by it retain customer for long run (Certo, 2018).
The another technique is adopted by small boutique hotel is they are attracting customer by giving high
quality service as compare to other hotels as their interior designing requires high investment at the
beginning but it will be long term investment for the hotels as it will give high competitive advantage.
The key operational issues affecting the effective management and business performance of
accommodation service function
8

Hillside hotel in UK face the problem of marketing and promoting their activities. Now a day’s main
promotional technique use is social media platform as in UK promotion of small boutique hotels are not
there as customers are unaware about the services offered. The quality service provided by boutique
hotels are affecting operational performance of church street hotel as they provide quality services,
cleanliness, maintenance of rooms (Mason, 2015). The only reason behind promotional barriers is that
small hotels have to deal with operational issues and effective management is required.
9