HOSP 2050: Assignment on Hospitality and Room Management

Executive Summary

This report details the roles and responsibilities of various staff in housekeeping and room management, activities involved and associated procedures. The information was obtained from a shadow shift with the executive housekeeper and resources from the internet. The report intends to create an understanding of the supervisory responsibilities in preparation for future employment. Also, the report shows that all the departments in a hotel play a critical role towards achievement of the set goals.

            The standard operating procedures for opening and closing a building

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) refer to a code of written instructions that detail a routine activity that is usually followed at a hotel. SOPs are essential in maintaining quality and consistency in hotel operation. According to Robinson (2020), SOPs enable a hotel to operate just like a well-oiled machine. In the morning, when the room attendants arrive, the supervisor assigns them rooms to service; at the same time, the housemen change the status of rooms to open. Also, the supervisors make any required adjustments in the room assignments. The desk clerk then prints all the room statuses report and then distributes them to the supervisor and the staff. Besides, the standard operating procedures require that physical checks of the working place be done. On the other hand, the SOP s clearly spells out the closing procedures. Among them is servicing of the quota rooms, physical inspection of the rooms. The houseman is expected to change the hotel status from ‘open’ to ‘closed.’ Finally, all the reports are handed over to the supervisor, after which they are filed.

The relationship between the front office and housekeeping

In the hospitality industry, although all departments are related, the front office and the housekeeping are known to be the closest departments. First, the room statuses determine the amount of time and effort required by the housekeeping department in any shift. The front office provides the housekeeping department with essential information through the coordination of various reports. One, the front office provides the expected arrival report to the housekeeping department to know in advance the number of rooms to prepare. Moreover, the departure reports by the front office tell the housekeeping that rooms are now un-occupied for cleaning. The stayover report also indicates the guest who will be extending their stays, and this report tells the housekeeping that the rooms are not to be cleaned. Equally important, the room status report provides information regarding the recent room status in the hotel. Notably, the room report is prepared separately by the two departments and then compared for any discrepancies. Lastly, in case of any customer feedback concerning rooms, it is communicated at the front desk, it is passed to the housekeeping staff.

Daily reports for operations

• Amount due report-This is the report that indicated the total amount due for reservations
• The check-in report-it is the reservation containing the check-in dates for guests
• The check-in check-out report: The periodical check-ins and check out by guests can be traced in this report.
• The housekeeping occupancy report: this is the report that indicates the occupied room together with the time of occupation
• The stay over report: it gives detailed information pertaining to the number of guests occupying a given room at a particular time.
• Out of order rooms’ report: this report is generated by the housekeeping department to the front office, it ensures that the rooms are scheduled for maintenance.

Allocating room lists and keys to housekeepers.

In the hotel industry, room allocations refer to the process of selecting several rooms and making them available for sale. Rooms are allocated to different housekeeping staff alongside their respective keys. The front office is charged with the responsibility of knowing which rooms are to be occupied by guests. The front office may use the room allocation software to print a report of the rooms (Firdaus, 2020). Different attendants are assigned different rooms. The print out contains the details of the rooms. During printing, it is necessary to take due care to avoid printing out of order rooms. Following are the procedures during the key allocation

• Regular critical inventories require to be taken after every two weeks
• Lost keys should be recorded on the lost key register
• Keys should be collected at the end of each shift
• Keys should not be given to guests and unauthorized staff
• Signatures should be exchanged upon the issue of keys to the room attendants.

Development of adequate scheduling and its impact on departments

In the hotel industry, work schedules are important to ensure efficiency of operations. The work schedule documents the duties to be accomplished by an employee during a particular shift as well as the timeframe to undertake each duty. A good work schedule documentation includes the employee position, the time allotted for the task, the timing of meals and breaks and time for tiding of the equipment and closure. When developing a hotel work schedule, it is critical to consider

• The work schedule allows flexibility
• Do a good analysis of the work required to be done at various departmental levels
• Consider the duration of the schedule: it is crucial to create work schedules on a regular basis as the hotel needs to keep changing

However, several factors require to be considered; these include the understanding of the weekly requirements, the total number of employees in each department and the shift length, the rotational/fixed shifts and the off- days (Firdaus, 2020).

Stocking the room attendants cart

The room attendant’s cart is simply a toolbox on wheels that helps the hotel housekeeping staff. It comprises of many compartments and shelves of various sizes. The cart should be filled with the supplies from the housekeeping supplies after the end of each shift so that the following staff may access it immediately. Below is the process of loading the cart

• The cart is first emptied and checked for broken parts
• The cart is dusted and wiped
• The cart should be loaded begin from bottom to up
• The heaviest items should be placed at the bottom shelf
• Linen for different purposes are placed differently
• The room attendant records items loaded on the cart
• She then confirms that she has keys
• The cart is taken to the assigned floor.

The room attendants cart can carry a variety of stock intake to save time for the staff. Mostly, room attendants carry soaps, clean towels, mattresses pads, bathing mats, toiletries, water glasses, face towels, night spreads etc.

Duties and responsibilities of a houseman

According to McQuerrey (2020), hotel housemen operate behind the scenes but play a critical role in maintaining the hotel. The work hand in hand with housekeepers. They are commonly considered as the male version of female house cleaners. They help members of the housekeeping to clean and maintain rooms. Usually, they perform handy tasks like flipping mattresses, separation of soiled linen, the stock the housekeeping supplies.

The official duties and responsibilities of a houseman include

• Maintenance of housekeeping carts
• Dusting and polishing of metalwork
• Sweeping and polishing of floors
• Cleaning of restrooms
• Washing of wars and ceiling and movement of furniture
• Taking up of tasks as assigned by the supervisor.

Tasks and responsibilities in the supervision of public areas

Supervision of public areas is one of the key aspects that significantly affect the reputation of a hotel by guests (Robinson, 2020). Hospitality industries, therefore, find the need to employ a public area supervisor who is generally responsible for the cleanliness of the public areas of the hotel. He trains other workers where necessary to ensure public cleanliness. Moreover, his importance extends to the supervision of the lobby, lounges, pool area, public washrooms and staircases

His duties also include;

• Supervision of day to day cleaning of hotel public areas
• Monitoring the sanitation of work areas
• Reporting maintenance defects and following up with engineering
• Checking the staff grooming and overall hygiene

Routine looking after the swimming pool

The swimming pool is one attraction for guests at a hotel. However, for guests to be loyal the swimming must portray high cleanliness standards therefore requires routine cleaning. Looking after the pool requires a pool vacuum, a pool brush, net skimmer. Additionally, chlorine is required for water treatment. It is also worthy to determine the PH levels during routine maintenance of the pool. First, the procedure requires the cleaner to gather al equipment and chemicals, then skim the surface of the pool using a pool skimmer. The cleaner then brushes the sides of the pool. Vacuuming of the pool the proceeds, the PH is tested, and finally, chlorine is splashed and left for about two hours. Usually, the cleaning is done in the morning (Salta et al., 2007).

Interaction between the housekeeping and maintenance department

The maintenance department provides the engineering facilities, which are well known for guest comfort and increased efficiency of staff (Firdaus, 2020). One of the chief responsibilities of housekeeping is to maintain the hotel by ensuring that all furniture and other room accessories are working in order. This way, the housekeeping department coordinates with the maintenance department, which comprises an electrician, a plumber, a carpenter and a glazier, among many more. Since the housekeeping staff are the ones with daily contact with rooms, they inspect and report any defects to the maintenance department. Alternatively, they fill up the out of order room report so that the rooms are scheduled for maintenance by the main departments. Additionally, the housekeeping department coordinates various preventive maintenance tasks from time to time to avoid waiting until problems appear. Also, the housekeeping coordinates the routine and scheduled maintenance. Therefore, the two departments need to relate well.

Roles of laundry department and the interaction with housekeeping

In the hotel industry, the laundry department has the responsibility of washing the dirty clothes, clean, freshen and deliver the linen to guests and other departments of the hotel. Also, the laundry department is required to supply clean linen to the housekeeping department from time to time to ensure smooth operations(Lebron, 2020).

Roles of laundry department

• Anticipating customer questions and concerns regarding cleaning
• Performance of minor sewing tasks
• Washing, sorting and folding of clothes and linen
• Keeping an updated inventory of detergents and sew kits
• Ensuring all time cleanliness for facilities
• Removing stains from items

Role and Routine of the Lost and Found Department

Lost and found items refer to the items left behind by guests in a room or any staff. It is necessary for hotels to have a dedicated location to receive the lost and found items (Bardi, 2003). Apart from it being ethical, hotels are likely to have a better name when they operate the department. The valuable items are classified into valuable, non-valuable and perishable items. Below are the procedures and the policies for ensuring safe storage and retrieval of lost and found items

• The lost and found items should be locked in a closet with restricted access
• All employees should be aware of the location of the lost and found desk
• Al lost/lost and found should be recorded separately in a register
• Valuable items like jewellery should be stored in a locker
• Emails should be sent to guests to notify them of the lost item where possible
• The most cost-effective means should be used to ship the lost item to the owner once found.

Conclusion and Recommendation

The different departments in the rooms’ management and housekeeping play a critical role in ensuring better performance. Therefore, hotel owners should ensure balance and proper coordination between departments to achieve the set goals.

References

Bair, W. C. (2012). U.S. Patent No. 8,091,934. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Bardi, J. A. (2003). Hotel front office management. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Firdaus, A. (2020). Housekeeping and Front Office Department. Housekeeping-department.blogspot.com. Retrieved 7 April 2020, from http://housekeeping-department.blogspot.com/2011/05/housekeeping-and-front-office.html.

Lebron, J. (2020). SOP – Front Office – Allocating Guest Room, Upgrade and Downgrade. Setupmyhotel.com. Retrieved 7 April 2020, from https://setupmyhotel.com/train-my-hotel-staff/how-to-define-sop-in-hotels/front-office-sop/189-sop-allocating-guest-room-upgrade-and-downgrade.html.

McQuerrey, L. (2020). Hotel Houseman Job Description. Work.chron.com. Retrieved 7 April 2020, from https://work.chron.com/hotel-houseman-job-description-25369.html.

Robinson, M. (2020). HOUSEKEEPING. FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX.

Salter, C., & Langhus, D. L. (2007). The chemistry of swimming pool maintenance. Journal of chemical education, 84(7), 1124.