Comprehensive Analysis of Room Division Operations at the Hilton Hotel

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the room division operations at the Hilton Hotel. It begins with an introduction to room division, emphasizing the roles of housekeeping and front office departments and their significance in ensuring smooth hotel operations and revenue generation. The report then delves into the legal and regulatory requirements relevant to room division, including health and safety, hazardous substances, data protection, and consumer protection laws. It outlines the roles and responsibilities of accommodation and reception staff, such as reservation supervisors, receptionists, housekeepers, and room maids, highlighting their importance in maintaining customer satisfaction. The report further explores the variety of services offered by the room division, including accommodation facilities, amenities, and front office services. It also covers revenue and yield management strategies, sales techniques, forecasting, and the calculation of performance indicators used to measure accommodation sales success. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and references used throughout the analysis.

ROOM DIVISION
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
a) An analysis of key aspects of legislation and regulatory requirement relevant to room
division operations.......................................................................................................................3
b) Roles and responsibilities of selection of accommodation and reception staff.......................5
c) The variety of services offered by room divisions of the Hilton Hotel...................................7
d) The importance of the front of house area and the accommodation service to effective
management.................................................................................................................................8
e) The key aspects of planning and management of the front house of area and the
accommodation service................................................................................................................9
f) The main operational issues affecting the effective management and business performance
...................................................................................................................................................11
TASK B ........................................................................................................................................12
a) Explanation of revenue or yield management ......................................................................12
b) Analysis of sales technique used to promote and maximize the revenue of Hilton .............13
c) Evaluation of forecasting and statistical data in the room division ......................................13
d) A description with the calculation of performance indicators used to measure the success of
accommodation sales ................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION
Room division is a significant operational function adopted by hospitality industry. It
further comprises of two major departments, housekeeping and front office. In this respect, the
role of housekeeping department is to ensure the cleanliness and proper hygiene within hotel
premises. Thereafter, the front office department deals with welcoming of the guest and
developing first impression in the minds of customers (O'Fallon and Rutherford, 2010.). Room
division plays a crucial role in ensuring the smooth functioning of a hospitality organization.
Further, this division can be regarded as the heart of hotel which is main reason of its success
and prosperity. It further involves uniformed services that help hotel in keeping up its reputation.
The study conducted by US Lodging Industry reveals that majority of income by hotel is
generated through Room division department. In this respect, the major contribution to revenue
is of room sales and services. With the changing scenario, the first preference of customers these
days is on cleanliness factor that assure good and divine experience.
In the present report, various aspects of room division in hotel industry will be detailed
out. In order to enhance the study, a luxury chain of hotel, Hilton has been selected. It provides
high end services in different parts of the world. Further, it possesses more than 4,610 hotel
properties in around 78 countries. Also, it has more than 758,502 deluxe rooms and suites that
provide luxury services to its customers (About Hilton, 2015). Therefore, in this report, learning
will be shown regarding key aspects of legislation and regulatory requirement significant to
room division department. Thereafter, the roles and responsibilities of accommodation and
reception staff on cited hotel will be explained. The study will also be focused on the provided
case scenario of Five Season hotel situated in Winchester.
TASK A
a) An analysis of key aspects of legislation and regulatory requirement relevant to room division
operations
To ensure smooth functioning of Hilton in domestic and international market, it is
important for hotel to consider various laws and policies. This will help company in avoiding
legal consequences that will affect its working in adverse manner. The proper adherence of laws
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and procedure will help Hilton in sustaining its brand image in long run. Further, company is
required to follow duly the laws and policies related to room, services, pricing policy, hygiene
requirement, code of ethics, staff uniform etc (Barros, 2005). Therefore, following aspects
should be considered:
 Health and safety at work: The main aim of this policy is to reduce the risk for
individuals working in hotel. Considering this policy, the management of Hilton ensures
that it provides healthy and safe environment to its employees and guests. Further, the
organization ensures the chemicals that are used in laundry division and its storage in safe
place (Wilson, Burke, Priest and Salas, 2005). Thereafter, various substance used in
kitchen like, gas stove, knife etc are used safely so as to prevent harm to employees and
other members. Further, safety equipment like, fire alarm, extinguishers etc should be
installed in a proper manner within Hilton hotel.
 Hazardous substance: It refers to those harmful substances that can have severe impact
on the health of employee working in organization. It is mandatory for company using
hazardous substance in their operational areas to store, handle and use them safely. This
act further classifies substances as, very toxic, harmful, toxic, and corrosive (Patnaik,
2007). Therefore, management of Hilton should ensure the products falling in these
categories should be safely handled and stored. In this respect, main consideration is
given on housekeeping department as the cleaning material can cause skin irritation,
itching problem in eyes, inhalation problem etc.
 Protective clothing: It refers to clothes that are designed to protect worker exposed to
risk caused by unsafe work environment, adverse modification in physical environment
etc. Considering this policy, Hilton hotel provides staff members especially, chefs and
kitchen workers with a protective clothing to prevent themselves against heat and flame.
Therefore, they are provided with hand gloves, hair mask etc. Thereafter, while
construction of new hotel, protective clothing like, helmets, goggles etc is provided to
workers (Das, 2010).
 Data protection: It is an important law framed by UK government that aims at ensuring
protection of personal information of customers in order to prevent unauthentic use.
Therefore, Hilton is required to utilize the client’s information fairly and lawfully. With
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this aspect, management of hotel ensures the personal details like, name, address etc and
banking information, identification proofs of their guest to be kept safe and secure. For
this aspect, hotel use password for its computers, advanced data base management system
that can be accessed only by authorized person (Data protection act, 2015).
 Consumer protection law: The main aim of this act is to protect the interest of
customers while consuming various products and services offered by company. It also
protects interest of customers while doing online transaction for booking room or other
services in hotel (Weatherill, 2013). The management of Hilton ensures the online
transaction on its official website is secured. Thereafter, food served to customer is
checked and tasted before serving so as to assure it meets the requirement of customers.
 Price tariff and display: This law enables the service provider to furnish true
information about price and other additional or hidden charges associated with product
and service. The tariff charge should involve the entire cost that consumer is required to
pay (Pricing law and guidance, 2015). Thereafter, information must be provided to
customer regarding the charges taken over services. In this respect, the guest of Hilton are
prior informed about the extra charges for room service after 12 pm, additional charges
for using Spa, swimming pool, gym etc.
Hence, by strictly following the aforementioned laws and regulations, Hilton is able to
enhance its brand image in market. They further help hotel in retaining the trust and confidence
of it brand loving and various new customers in its operational activities (Wood and Brotherton,
2008).
b) Roles and responsibilities of selection of accommodation and reception staff
The accommodation and reception staff plays a key role in maintaining the satisfaction
level of customers of Hilton (Punjaisri and Wilson, 2007). They ensure to meet the needs of their
guest in an effective and innovative manner. Further, there are large number of roles and
responsibilities of accommodation and reception staff in the working of hotel. They are further
classified as follows:
Front office
 Reservation supervisor: The reservation supervisor is required to manage large number
of responsible areas within Hilton. They are responsible for managing the employees
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working in reservation team, giving training to new members, preparing work schedule
etc. The main duty of supervisor is to manage the shift timing of employees of Hilton. It
further ensure front desk employees are decently dressed and maintain professional
standards of hotel. Reservation supervisor note down reservation of guest in proper
manner. It main role is provide effective and impelling customer service during all times.
It also answer the queries and solve the complaint of guest in satisfactory manner. The
room supervisor assures that bookings for room division section are managed in proper
manner (Woods, 2008). Receptionist: The receptionist play a role of represent the hotel and perform its functions
under front office department. The main role played by receptionist is to greet the visitors
with a warm welcome. It further answer all the customers calls and ensure their visit in
hotel, their arrival time etc (Kim, Lee and Law, 2008). Further, receptionist of Hilton
supervise the dispersion of incoming and outgoing mail. In addition to this, it fulfill
administrative duty like, ordering office supplies, marking the attendance of workers etc.
The receptionist of hotel also oversee the allotment of room to guest as per their needs
and preference. For instance, guest may demand sea facing room or room with 2 bed
rooms or honeymoon suite etc. Therefore, receptionist keep update information of room
occupancy.
Accommodation
 Housekeepers: At present cleanliness and hygiene are first and foremost priority of
guest. Therefore, housekeepers play a crucial role in keeping cleanliness within the
premises of Hilton (Chan, 2013). The housekeeping of hotel check the rooms are clean
before they are allotted to customers. They do various functions like, changing bed sheet,
towels etc. They also provide additional item on the request of customers like blanket etc.
the management of Hilton ensures that housekeepers clear the background check process
as they are likely to be in contact with personal belongings and valuable items of
customer (Hai-yan and Baum, 2006).
 Room maids: They generally work under housekeepers and ensure the cleanliness of
hotel premises. It ensures moping, cleaning, refilling of guest supplies like, shampoo,
toilet papers, room fresheners etc. They also empty the dustbins and clean the litter from
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hotel premises regularly. The improper work of room maids can cause negative impact on
the image of Hilton. Further, it can also decrease the revisit ratio of guest in hotel.
Therefore, quality there work must be properly checked by housekeeping department
(Patterson, Forrester, Price and Hegney, 2005).
c) The variety of services offered by room divisions of the Hilton Hotel
There are variety of services are offered by room division of the Hilton Hotel with having
more emphasis on accommodation and front office department. The accommodation facilities
which are provided by the Hilton hotel are a basic bed and wardrobe for clothing with a luxury
features like en-suite bathrooms. There are various hotel amenities which are provided by the
hospitality management and it can be vary rooms to rooms according to the customers needs and
requirements (Zhang and et. al., 2011.). Hilton hotel provides room facilities like kitchenette in
which it include half-sized refrigerator, a microwave oven, and a coffee-maker. Other facilities in
accommodation services includes televisions, in-room tablet computers etc. and the hotel also
include facilities like free Wi-Fi which can be easily accessible by the guests. The Hilton hotel
also provides some personal items as a complementary which are irons, iron boards, hair dryer,
bathrobes, slippers, mouthwash, shower caps and other toiletries.
There are other facilities which are been offered by the Hilton hotel are housekeeping in
which the housekeeping staff cleans the rooms and washes the bathroom and take care in
changing of the towels and other things. The housekeeping department also takes the dirty
clothes for the linen as well as laundry services to wash and iron the clothes and later handover
to the guests (Hussain, 2012). The other services of the accommodation which are given out of
the room includes dinning, room service, access to vending machines for room services, fitness
centres for exercises, swimming pools, recreation activities such as golf, tennis etc.
Front office department is the first place where guests as well as customers arrive and
meet with the staff and front office can be known as reception. Front office reflects the hotel's
view and it deals with the customers queries, accommodation services and helping out in various
other services of the Hilton hotel (Anthonisz, 2014). The front office of the organisation also
making contact with the marketing and sales department so that the front office department can
solved the queries related to these departments. Hilton hotel has skilled employees who are
working in the front office which can sort out the problems and complaints of the customers. The
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reception area has a receptionist which directly contact with the the guests on confirming their
reservations and answering their queries.
The employees who work in lobby are also the part of the front office who helps the
customers in carry the luggage and show them the way to their rooms. Hilton hotel front office
department consists of reception area, employees who manages in sorting of emails and helps in
printing and typing tasks and cashier etc. Front office of the Hilton hotel also uses different skills
of technologies like printers, fax machines and phones etc. The organisation is concentrating on
training of the front office staff because they are the one who is having direct contact with the
guests and by them only customers will know the hotel's scenario (Rajput, 2013). The front
office department might affect the profitability and efficiency of the company so for this, Hilton
hotel is providing good training to their front office department and also paying higher salary to
increase their motivation.
d) The importance of the front of house area and the accommodation service to effective
management
The importance of the front of house area and the accommodation service to effective
management can be reviewed by the Hilton hotel as follows: Front house area or front office
department plays an important part in the Hilton hotel management system as it is the mirror of
the hotel. The front desk of the hotel welcomes their customers and needs to be organised well to
impressed its customers (Giesbrecht and et. al., 2015). The front office of the Hilton hotel is
managing all the departments of the hotel such as accounts, housekeeping and online
reservations of rooms. It is said the first impression is the last impression and this have been
following by the Hilton hotel to impress its customers and helps them in their queries. The
organisation has skilled and trained employees in their front office which needs to be charming,
patient and helpful in nature. The front office area manages and handles the meetings, sorting out
the mails, answer the phone, fixing up the appointments with top management, maintain the
records and details of the customers and others, data entry and others office communications.
The front area house is important in the Hilton hotel because they only compile the guest
list as well as prepare the check in and check outs and further providing to the other departments.
Front office department's importance can measured through by their employees who are
welcoming the guests and customers and impressing them which can effect the future business as
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well as its profitability. Hilton hotel is having a well presented, well organised front office which
is giving positive impression to their customers (Sardar, 2012). An area with chairs, an option to
get soft drinks and to give more pleasant environment can be beneficial for the company and can
have more visitors which can increase the profitability of the hotel. The department is important
when there is a multi tasking and can ensures good communications between the company and
the customers.
The importance of property interiors and design of the Hilton hotel are reviewed as
follows: Exteriors and interiors are important aspects to attract the customers but interiors
designing are consider more important for the hotel. Look and feel is a pleasing factor of the
Hilton hotel which is giving positive effects to the business and providing better return of money
which is invested in interior designing. Excellently designed interior of the the hotel provides a
soothing and comfortable experience to their customers (Lockyer and Roberts, 2009). The
interior designing of Hilton hotel includes walls, furniture, textures and colours, employee
dresses, paintings, lightings, carpets, flowers, pleasant ambience, security etc. which represent
the visual impact of the hotel. Hilton know how to create an effect through interiors so the hotel
is using different arrangements, perfect placements of furniture, attractive lighting painting, and
perfect mix of colours and textures. The organisation is working on the interior designing which
should be according to the customers' requirements and also looking at the operational
performance aspects which can be work for the business enterprise. Hilton hotel is providing
casual atmosphere and also offering sustainability and technology and social conscience which is
increasingly important for the organisation. The company has to implement effective interior
design which has enormous investment but it is giving comfortable environment to the customers
as well as to the employees. Hilton hotel interior design is making both aesthetic and financial
sense in attracting customers as well as in increasing profitability.
e) The key aspects of planning and management of the front house of area and the
accommodation service
The key aspects of planning and management of front house of area are to manages the
different functions such as the hotel should determine the department's goals. The front office
manager shall determine the strategies and tactics to reach these specific and measurable
objectives. The front office manager should organize the work among staff members which can
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be completed in timely manner. The front office of the Hilton hotel is managing their staff
employees by motivating, training, disciplining them so that can connect well to their customers
(Nase and et. al., 2013). The front office also deals in establishing room rates and front office
employees are expected to sell rooms at rack unless a guest qualifies for an alternative room rate.
While establishing room rates, management shall be careful about its operating costs,
inflationary factors, and competition.
The organisation also plans about Forecasting room availability which helps in manages
the reservation process, guides the front office staff for an effective rooms management. The
front office should also concentrates on the forecasting data such as: expected arrivals, expected
walk-ins, expected stay overs, expected no-shows, expected under-stays, expected check-outs
and expected overstays. While preparing the front office department annual budget, the front
office manager shall coordinate with the accounting department as to estimate rooms revenue
and related direct expenses (Lester, 2013). Hilton hotel's front office department also evaluates
the results of department activities on the monthly , quarterly and yearly basis.
The key aspects of planning and management of accommodation service are as follows:
The housekeeping inspects rooms before they are available for sale to the customers. The
housekeeping staff of the hotel should keep check on the various services which are to be used
by the visitors or guests. The staff should cleans the occupied room at the given time and also
keeps check onto cleans the vacant room time to time (Ward and Daniel, 2013). The
accommodation service department should communicates the status of the guest rooms to the
front office department. The services of the accommodation and front office department are
interconnected and both of these services helps in the good performance of the company and
enhances the profitability.
The housekeeping department also deals in the linen and laundry services where they
have to clean and press the property's linens, towels, guests clothing etc. with a pre determined
fee or free of charge. Hilton hotel also maintains recycled and non-recycled items which further
uses by the customers as well as by employees. Accommodation services also manages the
received and process reservation requests for future overnight accommodations for their
customers of the Hilton hotel. With an advanced technology development, the department can,
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on real time, access the number and types of rooms available, various room rates, and furnishings
along with the various facilities available by the Hilton hotel.
f) The main operational issues affecting the effective management and business performance
The main operational issues affecting the effective management and business
performance of the front of house area has many issues. The front office should need to have bar
for seat coffee and the Hilton hotel requires large range of facilities. The motivation of the front
office staff may be low because they are doing repetitive works and their pay is also low as
compared to others. These staff members are only getting touch with the customers so it can
have impact on the business performance and profitability (Beckers and et. al., 2015). The front
of house area staff have to deal with bad-tempered customers and their number of complaints
which can be hard for the front office department to handle the stubborn customers. The staff has
to follow certain values to maintain the decorum of the Hilton hotel which may show
establishment of attraction as well as formation of money.
The organisation have to fulfil the needs and requirements of the customers in which
services can be offered like health facilities, spa beauty parlours etc. Hilton hotel has an accurate
statistical data which is required to enrol into the introduction of different ventures in the
business which will give rise to a large amount of revenue generation (Fijalkowski, 2011). Hilton
hotel is providing large number of luxury facilities to the customers by which the hotel is
generating huge amount of revenues. The number of luxury facilities can be fitness centres,
swimming pools, tennis court, recreation areas, free Wi-Fi facilities, laundry and linen services
etc. The performance is depend on the enrolment of the customers, on its feedbacks and duration
of time they spent in the hotel etc. by which only management can evaluate the business
performance.
The main operational issues affecting the effective management and business
performance of accommodation services is facing many operational issues. It involves the logical
business ideas which are essential for the accommodation services for the proper functioning of
the management. There are different customers of the different segments with various
specifications and requirements. The average daily rate shows the average revenue generated by
the rooms occupied and also bed occupied by the customers (Hales and Rabey, 2011). The cost
per yield is the requirement of the yearly statistics which requires the amenities provided in the
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room. The provision of toilets and kitchenette should be included in the rooms as well as in the
suites. Hilton hotel should provide clean environment to their customers as well as there should
be a hygiene level that should be maintain in the room. The over booking of the rooms can be the
major operational issues in the accommodation services. This can lead to low reputation to the
Hilton hotel and by this bad communication and awful skills can be disclosed of the employees
as well as of the organisation.
Managing accommodation services includes in scheduling of staffs, maintaining and
repairing the premises, analysing budget, controlling the expenses and investments and obeying
the rules and regulations of the hotel. Accommodation services plays a vital role in the overall
success of the Hilton hotel. There are different operational issues in the effective functioning of
the accommodation services but working as a team and cooperation from different departments
can overcome these hurdles.
TASK B
a) Explanation of revenue or yield management
Yield management is a pricing policy that help in understanding, predicting and
stimulating the behavior of customers so as to ensure maximum output and revenue from room
division of Hilton. It is organized way framed to enhance the profit by ensuring the demand of
rooms, reservation schedule and negotiable pricing. Therefore, it play an important role in
boosting the prices and sale of room (Koide and Ishii, 2005). This aspect help the management of
Hilton in ensuring the proper number of guests that can acquire accommodation services. The
yield management help Hilton in providing effective services during peak seasons. Further, with
the increase in occupancy rate, the profit ratio of Hilton will be directly increased. However, it is
important for receptionist and front desk employees to furnish proper information on room
availability to customers. The room occupancy can be managed with and ease through the
adoption of yield management process. Further, it takes into consideration various factors like,
past occupancy rate, guest satisfaction, customer segmentation, holiday information, rivals
pricing policy etc that can impact the revenue of Hilton (Lee and Way, 2010).
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