Reflective Portfolio: Management of Rooms Division in Adina Hotel

This report is a reflective portfolio on the management of the room division within the hospitality sector, specifically focusing on the Adina Hotel Surry Hills experience. It encompasses key areas such as front office operations, executive housekeeping, effective communication strategies, the preparation and review of night audits, safety and security protocols, facility management, and labor costing and staffing considerations. The report draws upon practical learning experiences within the housekeeping department, alongside theoretical perspectives from various academic sources. It explores the roles and responsibilities of the front office manager, the guest cycle, and the importance of communication within the front office. The housekeeping section delves into cleanliness standards, sustainability practices, and the application of the triple bottom line reporting approach. The report highlights the importance of effective communication, both internally and externally, for ensuring efficient operations and guest satisfaction. The portfolio also examines the role of technology, specifically the Opera system, in streamlining hotel operations. Overall, the report provides a comprehensive overview of the critical components of successful room division management.

Management of rooms
division

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION TO ROOM DIVISION MANAGEMENT.......................................................1
1. Front office..............................................................................................................................2
1. Front office..............................................................................................................................2
2. Effective housekeeping............................................................................................................6
3. Effective communication.........................................................................................................8
4. Preparation and review of Night audit.....................................................................................9
5. Safety and Security................................................................................................................11
6. Facility management..............................................................................................................13
7. Labour costing and staffing...................................................................................................18
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................19
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20

INTRODUCTION
Management of room division is focused on leading, controlling and supervising, guest
services, front desk and housekeeping departments (Noone, Enz, & Glassmire, 2017). Present
study is a reflective portfolio where learner will outline own learning from different weeks and
from practical learning earning from housekeeping department when working in Adina Hotel
Surry hills. The learning is based on different topics that is introduction to front office, executive
housekeeping, effective communication, preparation and review of nigh audit, security and
safety, management of facilities, labour cost and staffing. The evaluation is based on individual
learning and idea of week as per theoretical perspective of different services in hospitality sector.
INTRODUCTION TO ROOM DIVISION MANAGEMENT
Room division manager is responsible for effective and efficient leadership and operating
different departments of room division. Their main function is to take responsibility of the room
financially, satisfaction of employees, guest service, guest satisfaction, security and maintaining
relations with them. There are various department in room divisions such as front office,
housekeeping, reservation, guest service, security and communication (Room division
management, 2019). Further, from the learning I evaluated that An Australian Hotel’s profit on
an average for rooms is 75 % and 25 % is from food and beverage. Front office is known as
revenue generating department as it develops programs to control cost and improve sales and
profits. Housekeeping is non-revenue generating department which provides guest services and
is responsible for managing upkeeping of public areas and guest rooms in hotel. As per my
experience in Adina Hotel Surry hills I learnt that it is important for housekeeping department to
control cleaning of public areas regularly.
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Figure 1: Chart of room division
1. Front office
1. Front office
Learnings and outcomes from the front office desk
In accordance with my practical learning in Adina Hotel Surry Hills I learnt that Front office
manager is responsible for enhancing services provided to guest in order to constantly
improving the services and fulfil the needs of guests. Further, I evaluated that front office
manager improve their guest service by assigning guest service associate who greets the guest
on their arrival, guide them on front desk, allocate room personally and take luggage to their
room (Kimes, 2017). While working in Adina hotel Surry hills I found out that front office is
the most visible department in the hotel, staff of front office has more contact with the guests
and their main focus is on transfer information to the guests. It is also known as communication
hub where guest complains and request, it the operational hub for any emergency situation. I
have built my communication skills by communicating with the guest, I am able to handle
complains, provide good customer service and I am confident in using opera system. In
accordance with technological system I learnt about Opera system from which hotel receive
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reservation query. Further, the system allows to check availability of room as er guest
requirement and offer alternatives to meet guest expectations. Next the system resp4eont to
features on screen as per reservation query and them record details, confirm reservation and
prepare document for client and for front office desk. This allows easy management of
reservation queries and booking.
Figure 2: Chart of front office department
Theoretical perspective to support learning
From the view point of Qoura & Khalifa, (2016) I analysed that major role of front desk is to
manage services as per guest cycle. The guest cycle includes 4 steps i.e. pre-arrival, arrival,
stay experience and departure. Pre-arrival refers to creating reservation in hotel, Adina hotel
need to create reservations for every guest, this will help hotel in initiating the guest cycle. It
moreover includes communication, preparing guest stay and maintain reservation records to
provide personalise service to guest. Front office manager needs to ensure that all the bookings
are confirmed. Arrival refers to registration of rooms and build relations with the guests. While
checking-in service agent makes sure that guest has signed the registration card and while
checking-out guest service agent has an opportunity of upselling room and increase the revenue
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of hotel. This stage is very essential because it leaves a long-lasting impression (good or bad) in
the mind of guests. Stay experience defines how fast front office department coordinate with the
customer services accurately. Also, I learned about roles of Front office manager handles
feedbacks and provide solutions and communicating with the management. To provide a good
experience to guest it is important for FOM to ensure that valuables of the guests are protected
through privacy act, guest key controls, safe deposit, property surveillance and on-site security.
Departure is a stage where guest pay the bill and leave the hotel. The role of front office desk is
to save the guest profile in computer and settle the balance. At the point of check-out staff need
to encourage guests so that they return to the hotel again in future.
Figure 3: Guest cycle in Front office department
For managing front office department FOM is responsible for coordinating 4 elements such
as guest satisfaction, employee satisfaction, financial results and reporting,
interdepartmental communication in order to achieve profits. FOM need to manage its guest
cycle as they are the main source of income for the hotel. FOM need to make forecast of guest
movement, upselling opportunities, forecasting wages and expenses, developing employees and
interacting with potential guests. Front office manager needs to manage the staff of the hotel
because it incurs huge cost, FOM need to control the cost and make budgets. There are various
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factors that affect staffing such as arrival and departure movements, location, market segment,
facilities and many other. It is necessary to keep employees satisfied and motivated so that they
provide quality service to customers and make them return in future.
Figure 4: Key considerations of FOM
Apart from this, communication also plays essential role in front office department. There is an
in-house communication, delivery of service and financial operations. Communication tool is
vital for front office in keeping everyone informed. FOM need to communicate the work done
by next shift clearly so that there is no confusion. FOM need to inform every member about
sales opportunities, care guest, VIPs and room activities that affect operation of front office
desk. Front office manager daily communicates the planned events and shifts to its employees.
There need to be an electronic bulletin board through which all the employees are informed
about a particular day. Some of the daily communication done by front office is bookings and
reservations, billing issues, scheduled events, managing feedbacks, tourist information etc. if a
message is delivered inaccurately then staff will fail to perform the given tasks, this will break
the experience of guest.
Front office manager of hotel implements property management system which are used for
reservations, point-of-sales and accounting systems. Nowadays all the hotels operate automated
systems which make operations easy. Further, Opera which is an Automated hotel management
and booking system which made communication faster, guest can book online and reservation
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department automatically generate confirmation letter (Opera: Property Management System,
2019).
2. Effective housekeeping
Effective housekeeping
Outcome and summary of learning from housekeeping experience
Working in housekeeping department of Adina Hotel Surry Hills was awesome, where I
worked in team of 3 people. When working for cleaning of apartment rooms I learnt that
rooms are the core products of hotel and therefore reflects guest loyalty towards one
particular hotel. From the practical learning I evaluated that cleanliness is the basis
expectation of guests and therefore house keeping department is responsible for shaping
memories of guest during stay, success of hotels operations and maintaining expenses in
order to maintain profitability of hotel. However, when working in hotel I learned about
sustainability management of house keeping services for which hotels are focused on key
cards controlling lights, conducting utility audit and cleaning vacant rooms first. During
practical earning for house keeping department I felt confident for working in this job role as
I was able to pay attention to details of guest.
Figure 5: Chart of housekeeping department
Theories to support learning
According to Qoura, & Khalifa, 2016, I learned that executive housekeeper of hotel has 3
elements of management that is people, process and communication. In accordance with
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people the individual is responsible for overseeing details and supervising people. Further,
process sis about planning, organizing, controlling and directing services according to guest
requirement. However, communication is about interaction with other departments about the
specific needs of guest and expenses required to meet guest expectations.
On the other hand, effective housekeeping is based on management of key areas that is
occupational health and safety administration, reports of housekeepers, in-house laundry
versus outpouring laundry, assignment of room, safety of material and data sheets, inventory
control (guest supplies, cleaning supplies, furniture, linens), communication, training and
cleaning control. As per the views of Wood, 2017, I learnt that cleaning control in hotel is
based on standardized routine for cleaning for particular rooms. However, deep cleaning is
about cleaning of accessories, windows, walls, flooring and furniture. Communication for
this area is about scheduled repair dates and cleaning of banquet rooms in down times.
Apart from this, triple bottom line reporting is an approach used in hotels for managing
housekeeping practices with regard to environmental and social performance measures. The
approach is implied to main sustainability of housekeeping operations. For example,
reporting by TBL approach aids in controlling use of energy in hotels like cooling, lighting,
ventilation, refrigeration, hot water production, space heating, etc. (Problems in
housekeeping, 2017) Further, I learnt about importance of managing waste in hotel like food,
plastic, comingled, cardboards, etc. Moreover, from the week I learned about
implementation of environmental management system for encouraging effective
housekeeping which is based on cyclic process that is planning, doing, checking and acting.
In accordance with this, in planning stage hotels establish goals to maintain sustainability.
For example, for managing energy hotelier sets goal like, use of renewable sources like solar
power for hot water production, wind power, biomass generation, etc. Whereas, waste
management can be effectively managed in hotels by implementing waste management
hierarchy that is landfill, incinerate, recycle, reuse, refuse, reduce and waste minimisation.
For example, purchasing recyclable and reusable products, avoiding use of toxic
biodegradable and disposable product, etc. (Papargyropoulou and et.al., 2016). Thus,
learning from week 3, I evaluated the importance of incorporating socially responsible
practices in hotels to maintain safety, preventing environmental hazards and controlling
inventory.
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3. Effective communication
Effective communication
Outcome and summary of learning from Effective communication
Communication plays an important role to communicate or transfer the information to the staff
in accurate and same meaning (Sharma, 2015). During my practical working in Adina Hotel
Surry Hills, effective communication was reflected when I was working in team of 3 members.
I work in front office department where we communicated with the help of role play activities.
When working in housekeeping department I evaluated at my communication skills are good
and effective for my future growth as I was able to handle guest complaints smoothly. Further,
I learned that front office is known as clearing house for communication activities. From
working in hospitality sector, I evaluated that I am good listeners which is key skills of
effective communication.
Theoretical perspective to support learning
According to Kimes, 2017, communication in hospitality sector is essential between front
office and house keeping department. The communication is specific to special amenities
required by guest which are communicated by house keepers and then proceeded from front
desk. Further, communication of F&B and front office is about is on confirmation over specific
dinner and breakfast packages of guest, daily availability for booking in restaurant, etc. The
best approach of effective communication in hotels ae emails which encourages written
communication and supports evidence of in usage of inventory and guest details. Further,
communication via online application is between sales and front office which is based on
reservation queries to confirmation (Noone, Enz, & Glassmire, 2017). For example, effective
communication via opera automated system. Apart from this, effective communication in hotel
is about evaluated from meetings of management for the setting goals and performance
measures for improving performance as per guest expectation (Benefits of Effective
Communication in the Hotel Industry, 2014). Meeting of staff which is conducted for
training in order to guide them with change of business and business environment like
technological advancement. On the other hand, communication in hotel is also managed via
360-degree feedback approach where employees of different department of hotels reports for
individual performance and for peers and supervisors (Alhelalat, 2015).
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4. Preparation and review of Night audit
Preparation and Review of Night Audit
Learnings and outcomes from the front office desk
According to my learning night audit involves front desk duty and some duty of accounting
department. In large hotels night auditor can work along with night shift employees,
telephone attendants, security guards, night manager and room service whereas in small
hotel night auditor works alone, after completing their daily report they retire from the area
away from the desk but they are available for unexpected guests. Further I have learned that
night auditors prepare reconciliation report to measure the revenue generated by the hotel
from the banquets, food & beverage, rooms etc. They identify all the errors in the
reconciliation report by reviewing each and every activity. While working in Adina hotel I
found that night auditors face difficulty in preparing reports because accurate information
was not available by the manager or information was not communicated properly. Night
auditor need to calculate the proportion of available rooms in the hotel which requires full
and accurate information. It helps the manager to measure the availability of rooms so they
can provide the rooms to their guest. The main role of night auditor is to record all the
transaction and make reports which is beneficial for maximizing profits, responding to
complaints of guest, reservations, coordinating with housekeeping and handling emergency
situation. There are various tasks performed by night auditor are posting rooms, collecting
guest charges and payments, tax charges, running the trial balance and preparing night audit
report.
Idea development
According to Mitrović & Knežević, (2018) Hotel business is one of the business which has
to serve their services 24 hours to the customer. Night audit is necessary where report is
prepared for communicating information to managers, investigate the accuracy of the
information, update the report etc. To manage the 24 hours service, audit of the daily
offered services and activities is necessary to minimize errors. There are 3 steps involved in
night audit process:
First step: As soon as night auditor arrives in the hotel, front desk manager needs to pass
necessary information then count front desk floats, printing contingency report, check how
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many rooms left, check how many arrivals are left to check-in, investigating if any admin
accounts are there and cancel cash bookings. Night auditor also make end to shift reports
which includes spa reports, banquet summaries, bar and restaurants reports.
Second step: Before starting the day, night auditor audit market rate changes, check errors
and make necessary adjustments, audit room rates unless approved by the senior
management, check house accounts and make changes, make credit card reconciliation and
balance any discrepancies.
Third step: After rolling over the day, daily accounts are maintained such as cash journals,
account receivables, house status, arrivals, departures, guest account reports, rooms to clean
reports, housekeeping reports, revenue statistics. According to the property of hotel, night
auditor will elaborate room rate analysis and flash reports (Losekoot and et.al., 2018). Night
auditor distribute the daily reports and prepare front desk, all the information is passed to
morning shift staff.
Night audit is beneficial for managers in identifying the effective use of resources,
identifying errors which can be rectified. It is essential for hotels because it controls the cost
and transactions of the day. It also updates housekeeping status and closes cash counters,
generate cash journals etc.
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