Hospitality Operations Management: A Case Study of Maple Tree Hotel

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes hospitality operations at the Maple Tree Hotel.

HOSPITALITY OPERATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................2
Identify the operational aspects required of accommodation services to meet customer
requirements................................................................................................................................2
LO2..................................................................................................................................................4
Examine the operational aspects of accommodation services in relation to any of the other
departments in order to provide high standards of customer service..........................................4
LO5..................................................................................................................................................6
Analyse the effectiveness of operations management practices in a range of organisational
situations within the hospitality industry.....................................................................................6
LO6..................................................................................................................................................8
Discuss approaches to achieve and monitor operational effectiveness.......................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
The current task is about developing understanding of the hospitality operations in the hotel that
is essential for providing best quality services to guests and fulfilling their requirements. The
case study of the Maple tree hotel will be discussed in which there is requirement of improving
operational efficiency of the housekeeping staff to improve the operation of the rooms division.
The task will identify the operational aspects required of accommodation services to meet
customer requirements. The task will defined the relation between housekeeping department and
other departments in the hotel. Different operational management practices and approaches will
be discussed for enhancing effectiveness of hospitality operations.
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LO1
Identify the operational aspects required of accommodation services to meet customer
requirements.
Effective operation of the hotel business can be ensured by putting heads in beds and providing
quality service and good experience to customer. The maple tree hotel is the three star hotels in
the Leicester and its effective operation can be ensured by effectively managing various
operational aspects. The operational areas in the hotel include front desk, food and beverage,
housekeeping, facilities management and marketing. Among all these, housekeeping department
is an important part of the hotel operations that plays an important role in providing good
experience to customers (Hay, 2017). The targeting customers of the Maple tree hotel are rich as
well as middle class people to whom the hotel serves their best accommodation services. There
are given below different segmentations through which the hotel organization can choose its
target market or customers:
Demographic segmentation: This is the market segmentation in which market is divided on the
basis of gender, race, age, religion, family size and income. This segmentation will help the hotel
organization to accurately target its customers.
Geographic segmentation: In geographic market segmentation, market can be divided into
different geographical areas such as region, city, state and country. This segmentation will help
the hotel to choose its target areas to which it is targeting to serve accommodation services
(Cross et.al, 2015).
Psychographic segmentation: According to this segmentation, the Maple tree hotel can choose
its target market or customers on the basis of attitudes, values, personality traits, interest and
lifestyles of the customers.
Role of general manager in successful operation to meet customer requirements
The general manger in the hotel is responsible for overall running of the hotel and also hires and
manages the hotel management team effectively. It is the responsibility of the manager to ensure
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that all staff members in the hotel are well organized and are performing as per the quality
standard of the accommodation services.
Role of operational manager in successful operation to meet customer requirements
For providing best services to customers and satisfying their needs, it is responsibility of the
operational manager to operate various areas in hotel such as housekeeping, food services, public
relations, security, work scheduling, recruitment and training of employees (Filimonau and
Delysia, 2019).
Role of housekeeping in successful operation to meet customer requirements
Housekeeping department is the integral part of the hotel operations that is responsible for
cleanliness and maintenance of back area, public area, visual upkeep and cleaning of hotel
rooms. Housekeeping department plays an important role in providing desirable rooms to guest
and good guest experience in the hotel.
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LO2
Examine the operational aspects of accommodation services in relation to any of the other
departments in order to provide high standards of customer service.
Housekeeping department needs to coordinate with other departments in the hotel for providing
high standard of accommodation services to customers. This department needs to coordinate
with HR, purchasing, finance and other departments in the hotel. There are briefly explained
below the coordination between the housekeeping and other departments:
Housekeeping department coordinate with HR department
Housekeeping coordinate with HR department for fulfilling it needs of housekeeping staff, issue
identity cards, confirmation and others facilities for effective operation of the hotel.
Housekeeping department needs to identify its manpower requirements and other facilities to
perform works efficiently and effectively to provide best experience to guest in the hotel and
then needs to communicate with HR department to meet requirement. At the same time, it is the
responsibility of the HR department to recruit skilled staff, provide training, identity cards and
others facilities to staff for smooth operations of the hotel (Parmar and Dalal, 2017).
Housekeeping department coordinate with purchasing department
The purchase department provide support to the housekeeping department in purchasing various
housekeeping items and equipments such as cleaning agents (powders, liquids, sprays, or
granules), room stationeries and other guest supplies. Housekeeping department identifies needs
of housekeeping items and equipments and then communicate with purchase department for
bringing items to the workplace so that housekeeping staff can perform their work efficiently for
providing desirable rooms to guests.
Housekeeping department coordinate with finance department
Finance department provide financial supports to the housekeeping department in purchasing
various items, cleaning agents, room supplies and room stationeries so that it can provide best
and desirable rooms and accommodation services to guests. Also, the housekeeping department
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needs to coordinate with finance department for providing salary, incentive and financial rewards
to housekeeping staff (Chan et.al, 2018).
Housekeeping department coordinate with finance department
Housekeeping department support the food and beverage department by constantly providing
them housekeeping services. Housekeeping staff is responsible for regularly clean table cloths,
napkins, staff cloths, etc. because F&B staff is in direct contact with guests and needs to
maintain the standard of hygiene for providing good hotel experience to guests.
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LO5
Analyse the effectiveness of operations management practices in a range of organisational
situations within the hospitality industry
Operations management practices can be defined as the administration of various business
practices for generating highest level of outcomes. In the hotel operations, effective operations
management can be ensured by organizing and utilizing hotel staff in well manners for providing
best hospitality services to customers or guests. The Maple tree is three star hotels that need to
ensure its effective operations management for satisfying requirements of its guests efficiently
and providing good experience to guest in the hotel. There are various types of theories and
practices through which the Maple hotel can ensure its effective operations management.
Operations management theories or practices
Six- Sigma
The Maple tree hotel can effectively manage its operations by applying the theory or practice of
six -sigma. By using six -sigma practice, the hospitality organization can identify various defects
in the process, service quality and employees performance and then can minimize these defects
by making proper control and improvements. Defects can be minimized by using five steps given
below:
Define: In this step, operational manager can define or outline defects in the staff performance
that is impacting the operational activities in the hotel. Manager can define the gap in the process
and performance that needs to be improved for providing best hospitality services to guests.
Measure: Operational manager needs to measure the performance of staff so that appropriate
improvement action can be made for improving performance of staff.
Analysis: Manager needs to analysis that what are the main causes behind the poor performance
of staff or what are the factors that are hindering the performance.
Improvement: After identifying the reason behind the poor performance of staff, the operational
manager needs to make improvement plan to improve performance (Evans and Lindsay, 2014).
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Manager can provide necessary training to staff for enhancing efficiency and performance of
staff in the hotel.
Control: The operational manager needs to control the performance of staff that they are
performing efficiently or not as per quality standard of the hospitality services.
Supply chain management
Supply chain management is also an important aspect in the operations management of the hotel
business. It is important for the hospitality organization to have an effective supply chain for
smooth flow of the raw material, goods, services and human resources so that organization can
provide quality desirable hospitality services to customers (Christopher, 2016). Effective
management of the supply chain in the Maple tree hotel will ensure the fulfilment of guest needs
on- time efficiently that will enhance their satisfaction and hence smooth operation and growth
of the hospitality business.
7

LO6
Discuss approaches to achieve and monitor operational effectiveness
Effective operational management within the housekeeping department in the Maple tree hotel
can be achieved by using different approaches to operational management. There are various
approaches to achieve and monitor operational effectiveness in the Maple tree hotel:
Total quality management
By using this approach, the operational manager in the Maple tree hotel can manage the overall
quality of the process, procedures and performance of housekeeping staff. The quality
performance of the housekeeping staff can be achieved by providing them necessary training that
will enhance their performance and hence improve in customer service in the hotel. It is the
responsibility of the operational manager in the hotel to manage quality of performance of
housekeeping staff by timely providing training and communicating with them (Monczka et.al,
2015).
Continuous improvement approach
Operational manager in the Maple tree hotel also needs to focus on the continuous improvement
of the work processes and housekeeping staff performance for providing good experience to
guests in the hotel. The operational manager can identify opportunities for streamlining work and
reduce the waste of performance of housekeeping staff that will ensure cleaning of guest rooms,
public area and back area on-time efficiently and hence will enhance customer service.
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Conclusion
The current task has successfully developed understanding of the hospitality operations by
discussing different practices and approaches to operations management. Different types of
segmentation such as demographic, geographic and psychographic segmentation has discussed
for choosing the target market for the hospitality business. Effectiveness of housekeeping staff
performance can be achieved by using different approaches such as total quality management
and continuous improvement approaches. It is important for the housekeeping department to
coordinate with HR, purchase, finance and food and beverage departments for providing high
standard of hospitality services to customers.
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References
Books and journals
Chan, E.S., Okumus, F. and Chan, W., 2018. Barriers to environmental technology adoption in
hotels. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 42(5), pp.829-852.
Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Cross, J.C., Belich, T.J. and Rudelius, W., 2015. How marketing managers use market
segmentation: An exploratory study. In Proceedings of the 1990 Academy of Marketing Science
(AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 531-536). Springer, Cham.
Evans, J.R. and Lindsay, W.M., 2014. An introduction to Six Sigma and process improvement.
Cengage Learning.
Filimonau, V. and Delysia, A., 2019. Food waste management in hospitality operations: A
critical review. Tourism Management, 71, pp.234-245.
Hay, B., 2017. Dying in Comfort: A Case Study of the Issues Encountered Through In-Depth
Interviews With Hotel Managers and Housekeeping Staff in Managing Guests Who Choose to
Die in Their Hotels.
Monczka, R.M., Handfield, R.B., Giunipero, L.C. and Patterson, J.L., 2015. Purchasing and
supply chain management. Cengage Learning.
Parmar, S. and Dalal, P., 2017. A study of musculoskeletal disorder among housekeeping staff in
hotel industry.
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