TH1705

ACCOMMODATION SECTOR

The Hotel Industry

A hotel is made up of several businesses or revenue centers and cost centers. It needs the cooperation of a
large and diverse group of people to perform well.
 Revenue Centers – These are the income-generating departments of a hotel and are collectively
called the Front of the House.
 Cost Centers – These provide technical support to the income-generating departments of a hotel and
are collectively called the Back of the House.

Organization
A large hotel is run by a general manager (GM). S/he is in charge of the operation and responsible for the
overall performance of a hotel and its employees. There is also an executive committee comprised of key
executives who head the major departments in a hotel, as follows:
 Executive Assistant Manager or Resident Manager – S/he is the next manager in line after the GM.
This person is highly visible to staff and guests and takes an active role in the supervision of the
managers and the functioning of all departments.
 Rooms Division Director – S/he is the senior supervisor for that part of a hotel that handles the daily
sales and service of guestrooms. S/he is responsible to the GM for the efficient and effective
leadership and operation of all the departments in the rooms division.
 Food and Beverage Director – S/he oversees the most labor-intensive part of a hotel operation,
which involves the management and handling of food and beverage production, everything from
purchasing, receiving, and storing to preparing and serving. Reporting to this manager may be the
following:
o Catering manager
o Convention coordinator
o Banquet manager
o Restaurant manager
o Assistant F and B director
o Bar manager

 Sales and Marketing Director – S/he is in charged with generating new businesses for a hotel,
representing the property through public relations and public activities, and handling advertising,
promotion, and organization of special events.
 Human Resources Director – Also called the personnel director, s/he is responsible for the staffing
element of a hotel: interviewing, selecting, recruiting, training, and record-keeping, and the conduct
of performance reviews. Labor relations, embracing collective bargaining, grievance, and disciplinary
concerns, also belong to this department’s responsibilities.
 Financial Controller – S/he looks after all accounting functions, including payroll, banking, internal
auditing, and various financial control functions.
 Director of Engineering – S/he looks after the maintenance and repair of the physical plant, which
may include air conditioning, heating, elevator devices, refrigeration, lights, fire-fighting equipment,
and anything mechanical in nature.
 Security Manager – S/he manages and monitors hotel security and ensures the safety and security of
guests and employees.

06 Handout 1 *Property of STI

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Departments
The following are the departments of a hotel:
 Rooms Division – This may vary from one hotel to another, depending on its size. It is typically
comprised of the following departments:
o Front Office – It is considered the hub or nerve center of a hotel. It is the department that
makes the first impression on a guest and the one that a guest relies on throughout his/her
stay for information and service. The following are among the positions in the front office:
 Desk Clerk, Desk Attendant, Receptionist, or Rooms Agent – S/he handles rooming
and cashiering duties, welcoming and registering arriving guests, and presents
statements and collects payment. S/he must be able to work under pressure.
Constant interruptions to the actual work of a front desk occur and employees are
always on stage; therefore, it is necessary to maintain composure even during the
moments of apparent panic.
 Night Auditor – S/he waits until a hotel quiets down at about 1:00 A.M. and then
begins the task of balancing guests’ accounts receivables.
o Reservations – Reservation refers to an arrangement by which lodging operators hold
accommodations for guests who will be arriving at some later time. It is headed by the
Reservations Manager who is the same level as the Front Office Manager and reports
directly to the Director of Rooms Division or the Director of Sales.
A reservation is the first contact between a guest and a hotel. Although the contact may be
by telephone, a distinct impression of a hotel is registered with the guest. This calls for
exceptional telephone manners and telemarketing skills. The following are the types of
reservation:
 Confirmed Reservation – It is a reservation made with sufficient time for a
confirmation slip to be returned to a client by mail or fax.
 Guaranteed Reservation – It refers to a reservation wherein a client pays for the
first night prior to his/her arrival. This may be in the form of a credit card number or
receipt of the first day’s payment.
 Regular Reservation or Non-Guaranteed Reservation – It is a type of reservation not
paid in advance and the room is held until a specified time (usually 6:00 P.M.) on
the date of arrival.
o Guest Services/Uniformed Services – This department is headed by a Guest Services Manager
who may also happen to be the Bell Captain. The staff consists of door attendants, bell
persons, and the concierge – although in some hotels, the concierge reports directly to the
Front Office Manager. These positions usually receive gratuities or tips from guests for their
services. The following are among the key positions in this department:
 Bellman or Bell Person – He handles guest’s luggage, escorts guests to their rooms,
provides information on hotel services and room amenities, and maintains the guest
luggage storage area.
 Concierge – S/he is a uniformed employee of a hotel who has her/his own separate
desk in the lobby or on special concierge floor. S/he assists guests at the concierge
desk and over the telephone, prior to their arrival, during their stay, and after their
 departure. S/he keeps abreast of all events in a hotel by reviewing memos,
messages, special attraction lists, function sheets, arrival sheets, arrival and
departure lists, etc. S/he maintains contact with other businesses in the area,
including restaurants, airlines, ground transportation agencies, theater, clubs, and
entertainment events.
 Door Attendant, Doorman or Doorperson – Dressed in impressive uniform, s/he
greets guests at a hotel front door, assists in opening/closing automobile doors, and
keeps a hotel entrance clear of vehicles. S/he needs a pleasant, outgoing personality.
o Telephone Exchange/Private Branch Exchange (PBX) – This section is a vital part of the
smooth running of a hotel. Guests often have their first contact with a hotel by telephone.
This underlines the importance of prompt and courteous attention to all calls. It is also a
profit center because hotels generally add a 50 percent charge to all long-distance calls
placed from guestrooms. It includes the following:
 In-house communications
 Guest communications such as pagers and radios
 Voicemail
 Faxes
 Messages
 Emergency center
o Housekeeping – This department is responsible for the cleanliness, appearance, and
condition of the entire hotel, including the public areas. It is the largest department in terms
of the number of people employed. The following are among the positions in this
department:
 Executive Housekeeper – S/he is responsible for maintaining a smooth and efficient
flow of operations in the housekeeping department. S/he sees to it that
housekeeping maintenance is carried out in accordance with prescribed standards
and policies.
 Checkers or Supervisors – They direct and control rooms keeping activities and
ensure that these conform to prescribed rooms keeping standards and policies.
 Room Attendant – S/he attends to the maintenance and upkeep of all guestrooms
and service areas assigned to her/him.
 Laundry Personnel – They are responsible for washing and drying guest laundry and
hotel linens such as bed sheets, pillowcases, towels, tablecloths, and napkins.

 Food and Beverage Division – It is led by the Director of Food and Beverage. S/he reports to the GM
and is responsible for the efficient and effective operation of the following departments:
o Kitchen – It is in-charge with the production of food and beverages in a hotel. The following
are among the key positions in the kitchen:
 Executive Chef – S/he is the head of the kitchen and has the following duties and
responsibilities:
– Responsible to the Director of F&B for the efficient and effective operation of
the food production area.
– To exceed guests’ expectations regarding the quality and quantity of food, its
presentation, taste, and portion size.
– Operates the kitchen in accordance with company policies and strives to achieve
desired financial results.
  Sous Chef [soo chef] – The French word sous means “under”. S/he works as the
assistant to the executive chef and is responsible for the day-to-day running of each
shift.
 Chef de partie [chef du pa ti] or Station Chef – S/he is in charge of particular station
of production. The most important station chefs are the saucier [so-see-ay] or sauce
chef; poissonier [pwah-so-nyay] or fish cook; entremetier [awn-truh-met-yay] or
vegetable cook; rotisseur [ro-tee-sur] or roast cook; garde manger [gard mawn-zhay]
or pantry chef; pâtissier [pa-tees-syay] or pastry chef; tournant [toor-nawn] or
relief/swing cook; and aboyeur [ah-bwa-yer] or expediter.

o Hotel Restaurants – Most lodging properties operate food and beverage outlets open to
registered guests and to the general public. These include formal and informal restaurants. A
hotel may have several restaurants or none at all and the type of restaurant varies as well. It
is run by a Restaurant Manager.
 Restaurant Staff – Some hotel restaurants offer greater degrees of service
sophistication. This necessitates additional food preparation and service skills and
training. Compared it to independent restaurants, it is difficult for hotel restaurants
to earn a profit for some hotel guests prefer to eat outside.
o Bars – These allow guests to relax while sipping on a cocktail after a hectic day. These are
important revenue sources for the food and beverage department. These are run by Bar
Manager and his/her responsibilities include supervising the ordering process and storage of
wines; preparing a wine list; overseeing the staff; maintaining cost control, assisting guests
with their wine selections; proper service of wine; knowledge of beers and liquors and its
service.
Kinds of Bar
 Lobby bar: A bar located in the lobby of a hotel.
 Restaurant bar: This bar is always the fun area in the lobby of a hotel and offers a
holding area for a hotel’s signature restaurant.
 Service bar: It is a counter on which bartenders place beverages for waiters to serve.
 Catering and banquet bar: This bar is used specifically to service all the catering and
banquet needs of a hotel.
 Pool bars: These are popular at resort hotels, where guests can enjoy a variety of
exotic cocktails along the poolside.
 Sports bar: It is a bar that caters to sports fans and normally features televised
sporting events and sports memorabilia, aside from beverages.
 Night clubs: Some hotels offer guests evening entertainment and dancing.
 Minibars: These are small, refrigerated bars found in hotel guestrooms.
o Stewarding Department – It is headed by the Chief Steward who is responsible to the
Director of F&B for the following functions:
 Cleanliness of the back of the house;
 Maintaining clean glassware, china, and cutlery for the food and beverage outlets;
 Maintaining strict inventory control and monthly stock check;
 Maintenance of dishwashing machines;
  Inventory of chemical stock;
 Sanitation of kitchen, banquet isles, storerooms, walk-ins/freezers, and all
equipment;
 Pest control and coordination with an exterminating company; and
 Forecasting labor and cleaning supplies.
o Room Service/In-Room Dining – This refers to all food and beverage services provided to
hotel guestrooms. Some hotels changed the name of room service to in-room dining to
present service as more upscale. This is to bring the dining experience to the room with
quality food and beverage service. The challenges in operating room service are as follows:
 Delivery of orders on time;
 Making room service a profitable food and beverage department; and
 Avoiding complaints of excessive charges for room service orders.
o Catering and Banquet Department
Catering has a broader scope than banquets. Banquets refer to groups of people who eat
together at one (1) time and in one (1) place. Catering, on the other hand, includes a variety
of occasions when people may eat at varying times, usually outside hotel premises.

The Director of Catering is responsible to the F&B Director for selling and servicing, catering,
banqueting, and meetings and exhibitions in a way that exceeds guests’ expectations and
produces a reasonable profit. S/he has a close relationship with the Director of Sales and
Marketing and the Rooms Division Manager because the catering department often brings
conventions, which require rooms, to the hotel. S/he has also a close working relationship
with the Executive Chef. The chef plans the banqueting menus but the catering manager
must ensure that these are suitable for the clientele and practical, from a service point of
view. S/he

The Director of Catering meets with the following key individuals for the success of catering
events in a hotel:
 Executive Chef and/or Banquet Chef
 Beverage Manager or Catering Bar Manager
 Catering Services Manager – S/he is responsible for delivering higher-than-expected
service levels to guests.
 Catering Coordinator – S/he manages the office and controls the “bible” or function
diary. S/he must see that contracts are correctly prepared and checks on numerous
last-minute details.
 Director of Purchasing
 Chief Steward
 Engineering Supervisor

 Sales and Marketing Department – This department is responsible for making sales to guests to
increase a hotel’s market share. Sales is a term used to identify the income an organization receives
as a result of doing business. The term is synonymous with revenue. Sales focus on the product or
service for sale. Marketing, on the other hand, is the process of planning service products, finding
the right place to locate it, pricing and promoting it to attract a sufficient number of
customers/guests,
 and to create exchanges that will satisfy both customers’ needs and the goals of the hospitality
enterprise. Marketing focuses on the guest.
This department is led by the Director of Marketing and Sales who assumes all advertising,
promotions, marketing, sales, and public relations responsibilities. There are also Sales Account
Executives who maintain account files and make new business by making cold calls on potential
clients or in the form of a sales blitz. It is usual that each member of the team has a quota of sales to
achieve.
o Promotional Tools – The following are among the different promotional tools used by a hotel:
 Advertising is any form of paid, non-personal communication used by an identified
sponsor to persuade or inform certain audiences about a product.
 Personal selling requires a personal contact between a buyer and a seller. It can take
the form of sales blitzes or “upselling” in restaurants, or at the front desks of hotels.
 Sales promotions offer inducements to buyers. These include free gifts or coupons.
These usually seek to boost sales during slow periods.
 Internet websites/social networking sites are online methods used to inform
customers of the products and services offered by a hotel and even facilitate
booking/buying transactions.
 Public relations refer to those activities and efforts designed to do any of the
following:
– Improve or enhance the image or reputation of an organization;
– Promote an organization’s name;
– Improve an organization’s relations with its employees, customers, suppliers,
stockholders, or any other individuals or groups thought to be important to the
organization.

 Human Resources Division – It is the department and support system responsible for personnel
sourcing and hiring, skills development and benefits tracking, and administration and compliance
with associated government regulations. It is also responsible for the implementation of strategies,
plans, and programs required to motivate, develop, reward, and retain the best people to meet the
goals and operational objectives of a hospitality enterprise.

It is led by the Human Resources Manager who manages a hotel’s employee benefits program and
monitors compliance with laws that relate to equal opportunity in hiring and promotion.
o Human Resources Objectives – The following are the objectives of the human resources
department:
 Task Analysis and Job Analysis – It involves the examination of the tasks necessary to
perform a job. When approved and listed, these tasks become the job description.
 Job Description – It is a detailed information of the activities and outcomes expected
of the person performing a job. It specifies the knowledge, qualifications, and skills
necessary to do a job successfully. It can be used as a good performance
measurement tool.
 Productivity Standards – It is determined by measuring or timing how long it takes to
do a given task. It is measured by dividing the sales by the number of employees, to
arrive at the sales generated per employee.
  Recruitment and Selection – These are the processes of finding the most suitable
employee for an available position. The process begins when there are actual
vacancies to fill because employees have left or there is a new/additional position
opened by the management. The human resources then have to make an
announcement regarding the vacancies.
 Orientation – New employees should be given an orientation prior to their first day
of work. They normally have some concern and uncertainty about beginning a job
and it is important to get them started with as little uneasiness as possible. Basic
orientation includes:
– Organization policies, procedures, and rules;
– Wages, work hours, overtime, sick leave, time cards, insurance, and keys, among
others;
– Mission and objectives of the organization; and
– A tour of the work area to point out offices and facilities with which all
employees should be familiar.
 Training – It is an ongoing activity that is conducted by selected individuals within
each department. It is generally required of all new employees – even those who
come to an organization with considerable experience. It can be done individually or
group basis. It is the most effective, but very expensive.
 Performance Appraisal – It is done to compare an employee’s actual performance to
pre-established standards as described in a job description. The positive attributes of
performance appraisal include:
– Giving feedback to employees;
– Building the appraisal into a personal development plan;
– Establishing a rationale for promotion and wage/salary increases; and
– Helping to establish objectives for training programs.
 Employee Development – It is a natural progression from appraisal. A development
plan is made by an employee and his/her supervisor. It will outline the development
activity and indicate when the development will take place.
 Finance Department – This department identifies, evaluates, and communicates economic
information about a hotel’s performance in terms of financial reports. The following are the two (2)
accounting systems used in hotels:
o Front Office Accounting – It is responsible for generating a financial summary of the daily
transactions of the rooms department of a hotel. It is recorded at the front office
department using a Property Management System (PMS). It deals with creating and
maintaining guest ledgers both for registered and non-registered guests.
 Guest Ledgers – These are records or set of accounts of registered guests detailing
all the charges they incurred during their entire stay such as room charges, food and
beverage charges, and telephone charges.
 City Ledgers – These are records or accounts for the hotel’s non-registered guest.
Examples of these transactions would include deposits or down payment for
banquet functions and facilities, chargers for food and beverage purchases and
parking charges.
 o Back Office Accounting – It manages the sales ledger, which includes credit card payments,
and guest and city ledgers. The target of the back office team especially in the accounts
receivable section is to keep the aging of accounts up to date.

The following are among the key positions in the finance department:
o Billing and Collection Accountant – S/he is responsible for account maintenance and
collection of payments from business partners. S/he is also responsible for the reconciliation
of hotel accounts through analysis, investigation, and assertive follow-up to ensure
resolution of any discrepancies in outstanding balances.
o Accounts Payable Accountant – S/he processes payments of hotel bills after verifying that all
documents are accurate such as number of items and price.
o Income Auditor – S/he ensures that accounting policies and procedures are being followed
consistently throughout a hotel’s various revenue centers.
o General Cashier – S/he ensures that daily deposits are completed and balanced on a timely
basis, that cashier due backs are reconciled and returned to cashiers, and that a monthly
count of cashiers’ banks are conducted.

 Engineering Department – This department is responsible for the physical facilities of a hotel. Its job
is to keep the facility in top condition for safety, guest satisfaction, and profitability. The tasks of this
department include preventive maintenance, repairs, deep cleaning, grounds keeping, capital
improvements, resource management, and emergency preparedness.
The staff in this department includes a chief engineer, skilled technicians such as plumbers and
electricians, and maintenance workers. These personnel must know how to do minor repairs, basic
electrical work, basic plumbing, equipment repairs, and structural repairs.
 Security Department – This department is responsible for maintaining security alarm systems and
implementing procedures aimed at protecting the personal property of guests and employees and
the hotel itself. The following are the responsibilities of this department:
o Make regular rounds of the hotel premises including guest floors, corridors, public and
private function rooms, parking areas, and offices.
o Observe suspicious behavior and take appropriate action, investigate incidents and
coordinate with local law enforcement agencies.
Most of the hotels in the Philippines outsource their security needs.

References:
Carino, C. E., & Beltran, M. N. (2013). The hospitality industry: An introduction. Manila: Mindshapers Co., Inc.
Santos, B. (2010). Introduction to hotel and restaurant management. In B. Santos, Introduction to Hotel and
Restaurant Management. Quezon City: C&E Publishing, Inc.
Santos, B., & Moral, P. (2014). Hotel and resort operations. Quezon City: MaxCor Publishing House, Inc.