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A
SUMMER TRAINING PROJECT REPORT
ON
―RATIONALIZATION OF MANPOWER IN HOTEL INDUSTRY WITH
SPECIAL REFERNCE TO LEMON TREE VEMBANAD LAKE RESORT,
ALLEPPEY ‖
A report submitted to Ishan Institute of Management & Technology, Greater Noida as a partial fulfillment to full time Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management.
Under the Guidance of MS.KEERTHANA ROY
Human Resource Manager at Lemon Tree Vembanad Lake Resort Alappuzha,Kerala
Submitted To: - Submitted By:-
Dr.D.K.Garg, vipin das
Chairman, ENR.NO-18020 IIMT, Gr. Noida 18th batch,section-A
ISHAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY
1A, Knowledge Park-1, Greater Noida, Dist. - Gautam Budh Nagar (U.P) Website: www.ishanfamily.com ; E-Mail: [email protected]
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The satisfaction that accomplishes the successful completion of any work is when we say thank you to the people who made it possible, whose constant encouragement and guidance has been a source of inspiration throughout the course of the training.
At the outset, I would like to express sincere and deep felt thanks to Ms. Keerthana Roy (HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER),and MR.ABHILASH A.B (GENERAL MANAGER)
LEMON TREE VEMBANAD LAKE RESORT, ALAPPUZHA for providing me an
opportunity to undergo sixty days training.
I also express my deep senses of gratitude to all HEAD OF DEPERTMENT under whose expert guidance and immense co-operation it could be possible to study and submit a project report ―RATIONALIZATION OF MANPOWER IN HOTEL INDUSTRY
I would like to dedicate this work to my revered institute IIMT, Greater Noida where I am getting the shape of future business manager.
I express my sincere gratitude to honorable Dr. D.K. GARG (Chairman) of IIMT, Greater Noida for their support and guidance on the ground of which I have acquired a new field of knowledge.
I take opportunity to express my heartiest gratitude to my respective faculty lecturers, parents and friends who have been constantly helping me in successful completion of the project.
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PREFACE
As a student of management, apart from theoretical studies we need to get a deeper insight into the practical aspects of those theories by working as a part of organization during our summer training. Training is a period in which a student can apply his theoretical knowledge in practical field. Basically practical knowledge and theoretical knowledge have a very broad difference. So this training has high importance as to know, how both the aspects are applied together.
The study of management acquires most crucial position in the business administration. In order to be successful, it is necessary to give priority to the management in an organization. But it can‘t be denied that the study of management would be more educational, materialistic and even more interesting, if it is to be paired with the work in organization as an employee.
The training session helps to get details about the working process in the organization. It has helped me to know about the organizational management and discipline, which has its own importance. The training is going to be a lifelong experience.
Management in India is heading towards a better profession as compared to other professions. The demand for professional managers is increasing day by day. To achieve profession competence, manager ought to be fully occupied with theory and practical exposure of management. A comprehensive understanding of the principle will increases their decision-making ability and sharpens their tools for this purpose. During the curriculum of management programmers a student has to attain a practical exposure of an organization on live project in addition to his or her theoretical studies.
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This report is about the practical training done at “LEMON TREE VEMBANAD LAKE
RESORT‖ during the curriculum of PGDHR from IIMT, Greater Noida.
Human Resource Management is an approach to the management of people. It is the most important asset an organization has and their effective management is the key to its success. This success is most likely to be achieved if the personnel policies and procedures of the enterprise are closely linked with and make a major contribution to the achievement of corporate objectives and strategic plans. The corporate culture and the values, organizational climate and managerial behaviour that emanate from that culture will exert a major influence on the achievement of excellence. Human Resource Management is concerned with integration getting all members of the organizations involved and working together with a sense of common purpose.
Human Resource Management functions have undergone tremendous change over the past 20-30 years. Many years ago, large organizations looked to the personnel department, mostly to manage the paper work around hiring and paying people. More recently, organizations consider the Human Resource Departments as playing a major role in staffing, training and helping to manage people so that people and the organization are performing at maximum capability in a highly fulfilling manner.
The human resource management function includes a variety of activities which include managing the approach to employee benefits and compensation, employees‘ records and personnel policies.
As training and development is one of the major functions of Human Resource Department, every organization should give importance for meeting the requirements of ever challenging
needs of its employees in nurturing a work-life balance and achieving the corporation‘s mission
In today‘s sea-change world, improving business performance is a journey, not a destination. A business performance rises and falls with the ebb and flow of human performance. HR
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professionals search for ways to enhance the effectiveness of employees in their jobs and prepare them for tomorrow.
Organizations and individuals should develop and progress simultaneously for their survival and attainment of mutual progress. Every organization should consider employees as the most precious asset, and it should aim to provide a conductive environment, a good working condition, job satisfaction and career advancement so as to create a well knit team to meet the challenges.
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DECLARATION
The Summer Training project on RATIONALIZATION OF MANPOWER IN
HOTEL
INDUSTRY under the guidance of MS.KEERTHANA ROY is the original work done byme. This is the property of the Institute and use of this report without prior permission of the Institute will be considered illegal and actionable.
Signature (Student’s Name) VIPINDAS,18020 BM Date………….. :
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Particular Page no
Executive Summary 9
Literature review 10
Chapter- 1 a) Overall company profile 13
b) Historical Background 16
c) Vision and Mission Statement 19
Chapter- 2 HOTEL CATEGORY –STAR CLASSIFICATIONS 26
Chapter-3 VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS IN HOTEL AND RESORTS
35
Chapter-4 MANAGERIAL HIERARCHY IN HOTELS AND RESORTS
69
Chapter-5 MANPOWER PLANNING IN HOTEL INDUSTRY 93 Chapter-6 RECRUITMANT AND SELECTION PROCEES IN
HOTELS AND RESORTS
100
Chapter-7 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN HOTELS AND RESORTS
135
Chapter-8 PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL 182
Chapter-9 Sales and Advertisement of hotels and resorts
212
Chapter-10 a)Findings
b) Suggestions and Recommendation c) limitation d)Conclusion 218 221 223 224 Bibliography 225
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the fast changing global corporate scenario the rationalization of organizational structure is now reigning supreme. And outsourcing has emerged to be a leading trend to facilitate this. Outsourcing reduces business operating costs.
attribution Rationalisation refers to balancing the work load of manpower. There will be some peolple don't find enough time to finish there work and some others sleeping during working hours.
You need to reshuffle the duties and resposibilities od people inorder to utilise them better
attribution In the fast changing global corporate scenario the rationalization of organizational structure is now reigning supreme. And outsourcing has emerged to be a leading trend to facilitate this. Outsourcing reduces business operating costs.
.
The reasons are obvious: Better Resource Utilization: It helps the companies focus on the area of their core competence. Thus the resources are utilized more efficiently without being diverted into other support activities.
Cost Saving: This means there is a sizeable saving in terms of cost. Companies are clearly finding that many more jobs can be done by others, better, more efficiently and even at a lower cost. Dell, Cisco and Nortel are familiar role models of how to use outsourcing to generate huge cost savings and also serve customers better.
Organizational efficiency: Facilitates and supports major organization change. Business Innovation: Improving and innovating in processes, skills and technology, while mediating financial risk through the vendor.
New market: Direct profit is generated through joint ventures and vendor partners. And, there is no doubt that more and more corporate majors are taking recourse to outsourcing as a means to bring in efficiency and economy in terms of size and operation.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
The 21st century promises a more demanding and visible role for all HR professionals. This role requires developing a futuristic strategic plan which articulate HR programmers which address a myriad of issues. Creating and maintaining viable performance management system is essential to organization‘s growth. Yet even more significant initiative will be developing a visionary finance agenda that is integrated into the organization‘s mission and to correlate specific programme such as compensation issues, performance appraisal and job evaluation processes conceptually and operationally.
India,at present has become a giant corporate game reserve. Indian companies are sprucing up their acts like never before to face up to the realities of fiercely competitive post-liberalization era.Gone are the days of monopolies and with the advent of consumerism more and more business corporations are beginning to realize that the ultimate cutting edge of any business over its rival will be provided, by its people.
Since ―Human resource management‖ is rapidly increasing in 22nd
century so to cop up with the dynamic market where things have changed at a very fast pace, it is very essential to work as a team and the company tries to keep the employees moral high
I always believe that in professional courses like management; it‘s all about how much practical experience do you have? How much awareness do you have regarding the market? That is what we all try to learn in our two month summer training. It is a great platform to face the real challenge, just few months before, when you enter in the real corporate world.
During my summer training in LEMON TREE VEMBANAD LAKE RESORT. I got chance to do several work for them. It was a great experience for me. And those work taught me a lot. I came to know that how this Rationalization of manpower work a lot for the Company as well as for the employees. I came to know that how these plans bring into action. How to talk to stakeholders? Apart from that I learnt several small things, which is considerable. Fortunately, I got chance to work from bottom level, where, there is lot to learn.
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And finally, I would like to give my sincere thank to Lemon Tree Vembanad Lake Resort and IIMT, Greater Noida, to give me such kind of chance, which will boost me in my future.
If we visualize the present era, we will see that, we learn to earn. In this cut throat competition, the person having more knowledge and experience is earning more than the other who has less knowledge.
I had to work in the scorching sunlight from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. My work was related to know various depertments at resorts in beginning I was assigned with the study of the topic ―rationalization of manpower in hotel industry‖ & to work in each depertments atleast for 5 days. Earlier in the olden days, customers used to go themselves to the seller. But now the situation has changed, it is now customer oriented. Customer now pretends that he is doing favor on the seller by purchasing his solutions. For this the better understandings of the Indirect Taxation will help a lot in deciding the Prices & help to sustain in the Market Share.
Gathering information and theoretical knowledge is a part of study. It become complete when added with practical knowledge as the noted truth comes to sight. Hence one becomes more efficient and effective when a flavour of practical outlook is added to the bosky mind. As the study has got wide relevance is formulating valid information about the organization, it helps in getting a critical look in to the personnel practices of the organization.
All students learn theoretical subjects in their classroom, but as we are the management students, apart from theoretical studies we need to get a deeper insight into the practical aspects of those theories by working as a part of organization during our summer training. Training is a period in which a student can apply his theoretical knowledge in practical field. Basically practical knowledge and theoretical knowledge have a very broad difference.
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As a student, it was my first experience. And this experience was very interesting. Interesting in the fact that whatever facts I gathered while Training, that really was strange and unexpected. It was totally different from the things which I have learned from the book .The bookish theories, values were kept aside. I had to totally work with my own creativity and intelligence. Indeed it was a nice opportunity for me to learn about the Indirect Taxation to which I visualize my future carrier. To know about the Practicality of Indirect Taxation before joining it as a professional will certainly help me to undergo through my studies and it will also help me to plan the days before I shall join the corporate
Every training is made to give practical knowledge. Practical knowledge is completely different from the theoretical knowledge (especially in case of management case). So getting such kind of chance which gives you the opportunity to get involve in practical operations of corporate sector is really a boon for any management student
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Chapter-1
A) Overall company profile
B) Historical Background
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Like the fruit they are named after, Lemon Tree Hotels are fresh, cool and sparkling with zest. Walk into our hotels and be embraced by the signature lemon fragrance, a cheery smile, uplifting colors and perhaps a wagging tail. You can relax and know that you have arrived at someplace trusted where service is personalized yet professional. Our youthful and contemporary hotels add a new twist to your stay... every time.
The Lemon Tree Hotels group recently launched Lemon Tree Premier, its new upscale 'plus' brand that retains the essence of the upscale Lemon Tree by continuing to provide the fresh, fun and spirited experience the group is so well known for. The décor is 'refreshingly elegant', making it perfect for the style conscious and upbeat business travelers.
Lemon Tree Premier provides an enhanced product offering with sedan cars for airport transfers; superior in-room amenities; a higher share of top-of-the-line premium rooms; specialty restaurants; iMac terminals in the Business Center; a Life Fitness equipped gym and a rejuvenating spa.
This award winning Indian hotel chain was founded in September 2002 and currently owns and operates 21 hotels in 14 cities aggregating 2600 rooms with over 3000 employees.
Fresh, spirited and youthful, the Lemon Tree Hotel Company is India‘s fastest growing chain of upscale, midscale and economy hotels. This award winning Indian hotel chain was founded in September 2002 and currently owns and operates 21 hotels in 14 cities with ~2600 rooms and over ~3000 employees. This speedy growth has made the group the 3rd largest hotel chain in India by owned rooms, currently. By 2015-16, the company will own and operate over 4000 rooms across most of the major cities in India including Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, East Delhi, Muhamma (Kerala), Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune.
Lemon tree Hotels - Company profile
India's Lemon Tree Hotels - A Refreshing Concept
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The group offers three brands to meet hotel needs of guests across all levels: 1. Lemon Tree Premier Upscale segment
2. Lemon Tree Hotels Midscale segment 3. Red Fox Hotels Economy segment
The plush and spacious interiors at Lemon Tree Premier take the zing up a notch. This chain of upscale business and leisure hotels elevates the Lemon Tree experience while retaining the same freshness, quirkiness and energy that Lemon Tree is well known for. Lemon Tree Premier pampers the style conscious and upbeat traveler with its personalized services, premium in-room amenities, award winning restaurants and fun experiences.
Our Brands
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Lemon Tree Hotels are the only midscale business and leisure hotels that uplift your spirits at the end of a long day. Like the fruit they are named after, Lemon Tree Hotels are fresh, cool and sparkling with zest. Cheery greetings, a friendly smile and a whiff of the signature lemon fragrance welcome you at Lemon Tree. This stylish business hotel with fresh and bright interiors refreshes you with its witty humor and spirited environment. Lemon Tree‘s ‗close to home‘ comfort helps you unwind with its smart in-room amenities, vibrant café, recreation bar, pool and fitness center. All this, at an unbeatable value.
Red Fox Hotels welcome you with its fresh bold interiors as well as crisp and clean rooms. These economy hotels delight you with its unbeatable value and reliable safety standards. Here friendly smiles and a lively environment go hand in hand with professional service. The business facilities at Red Fox include hi-speed WiFi, Cyber Kiosk, Clever Fox Café, an efficient meeting room, a well-equipped gym and laundry service.
The Lemon Tree Hotel Company is run by a group of experienced hotel professionals who have worked with leading luxury hotel brands and across industries including Consulting, FMCG, Banking and Insurance, Telecom, Automobiles and offshore business processing.
Lemon Tree Hotels
Red Fox Hotels
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At all Lemon Tree hotels we have adopted one street dog that is cared for by the Lemon Tree team. We name the dog, inoculate it and feed it well – take a look at our Pooch Policy.
Lemon Tree focuses on delivering a healthy ‗triple bottom line‘ i.e. Planet, People and Profit through its sustainability initiatives. A focused effort on the ‗planet‘ through Eco-friendly Practices and on ‗people‘ through its work in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), has built both sustainable profits and a strong reputation for the company.
The Lemon Tree Hotel Company has been awarded several citations and awards consistently, testament to the outstanding value and experience we provide to our employees, guests, partners and society.
2012
National Award, Government of India - Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment: Outstanding Work in the Creation of a Barrier-free Environment for Persons with Disabilities (2012).
Ranked in the Top 50 large organizations (>1000 employees) in the 2012 study of Best Companies to Work For by the Great Place to Work Institute & the Economic Times.
16 hotels across the three brands were awarded TripAdvisor‘s Certificate of Excellence 2012.
Adopted Dogs
Sustainability
Awards and Citations
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Lemon Tree Amarante Beach Resort, Goa awarded Expedia Insiders‘ Select, 2012 (top 1% of 114,000 hotels globally).
Lemon Tree Hotel, Indore awarded ‗Top 25 Bargain Hotels in India‘ 2012 by TripAdvisor‘s Travelers‘ Choice.
Red Fox Hotel, Jaipur awarded ‗Top 25 Trendiest Hotels in India‘ 2012 by TripAdvisor‘s Travelers‘ Choice.
Outlook Traveller Readers‘ Choice Award 2012 for Best Mid-range Hotel in India.
Makemytrip.com‘s Platinum Pick Partner Awards 2012 to 8 hotels under the Lemon Tree Premier, Lemon Tree Hotels and Red Fox Hotels brands.
NCPEDP (National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People)-Shell Helen Keller Award 2012: Category C: Role Model Organizations, for the work towards promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
NCPEDP-Shell Helen Keller Award 2012: Category B: Role Model Non-Disabled Individuals, for your work towards promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Svayam Accessibility and Universal Design Award, 2012.
2011
National Award, Government of India - Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment: Best Employer (2011).
Ranked in the Top 100 in the 2011 study of Best Companies to Work For by the Great Place to Work Institute & the Economic Times.
Winner of Excellence Honours for ‗Best Mid Range Hotel‘ by Times Travel Academy, 2011.
7 Lemon Tree Hotels have been awarded TripAdvisor‘s Certificate of Excellence.
4 Lemon Tree Hotels rank #1 on TripAdvisor in their respective cities.
4 Lemon Tree Hotels are Expedia Insider‘s Select Hotels (top 1% of 90,000 hotels globally, of which only 11 hotels were selected in India).
MphasiS Universal Design Award, 2011: The NCPEDP (National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People).
2010
SATTE 2010, Hotelier for ‗Best Mid Market Developer‘.
FHRAI (The Federation of Hotels and Restaurant Associations of India) Hall of Fame Award, 2010.
Lemon Tree Hotel, Hinjawadi: Winner of TripAdvisor‘s Traveler‘s Choice 2010 Awards: Top 10 in Service among 8000 Indian hotels.
The NCPEDP (National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People, a non profit organization working as an interface between government, industry, international agencies and the voluntary sector) – Shell Helen Keller Award, 2010 for exemplary beliefs and practices in employing Differently Enabled People.
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The Lemon Tree Hotel Company shall be India‘s largest and finest chain of upscale, mid-scale and budget hotels and resorts.
We shall be committed to:
Ensuring the well being and self-worth of our colleagues, who are of the utmost importance to us.
Contributing to the community we live in and to India in general.
Delighting our guests, whose comfort, safety, security and well-being is our main raeso for being.
Rewarding our stakeholders, whose trust motivates us to excel further.
Maximizing the efficiency of our processes, to enable us to be the most cost-effective brand offering the greatest value, which our customers have every right to expect.
Teamwork – We recognize that superlative performance is always the result of teamwork.
Ownership – We always take responsibility for our actions
Respect and Empathy – We always exhibit respect and concern for colleagues, guests and partners.
Integrity – We always maintain the highest standards of fairness and transparency in all our dealings.
Spirited Fun – We create an exciting and spirited work environment encouraging our colleagues to think freely.
Excellence – We always drive excellence in what we do.
Vision
Mission
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One of the guiding principles of Lemon Tree Hotels is that the company exists first and foremost for the well being of its employees, the community it operates in and society at large. We undertake various initiatives to achieve these objectives.
Conservative estimates put the population of persons with disability (PWDs) in India at 70 million of which 12 million (or 1% of India‘s population) are speech and hearing impaired. Less than 3% of PWDs are gainfully employed compared with between one third and half in the developed world. Lemon Tree Hotels has been hiring PWDs (100% speech and hearing impaired people - mostly from BPL communities) since 2007. Currently, over 6% of group employees (~ 130 people) are from this segment of the population. The group plans to increase this number to 250 people by end 2013-14 (10% of total employees). Lemon Tree has also developed a standard process to induct people with disabilities into all its hotels pan India, including remote places like Muhamma in Kerala. We are confident that our well trained differently enabled team members will delight you with their enthusiasm and alertness during your next visit to any of our hotels.
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India National Award: Outstanding Work in the Creation of a Barrier-free Environment for Persons with Disabilities, 2012; Best Employer 2011
NCPEDP (National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People)-Shell Helen Keller Award 2012: Category C: Role Model Organizations, for the work towards promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities
NCPEDP-Shell Helen Keller Award 2012: Category B: Role Model Non-Disabled Individuals, for work done towards promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities
NCPEDP (National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People) - MphasiS Universal Design Award, 2011 for work done towards the cause of universal accessibility.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Employees With Disabilities
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NCPEDP (National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People) – Shell Helen Keller Award, 2010 for exemplary beliefs and practices in employing differently enabled people - as a Role Model Employer.
Svayam Accessibility and Universal Design Award, 2012
Lemon Tree Hotels believes in being an equal opportunity employer and the above recognition reinforces its resolve to continue to bring differently abled employees on board.
90% of our disabled employees belong to BPL communities.
A Government directive to all government bodies/PSUs is to earmark 3% of the staff strength for disabled people. Lemon Tree Hotel has set its own internal benchmark at 10% by 2013.
Lemon Tree Hotels hired professional trainers to sensitize all staff (with whom disabled employees interact daily). The group has also trained other team members including Hotel Managers to use the widely accepted ISL (Indian Sign Language).
Tribal Art
Lemon Tree Hotels is the largest buyer nationally of tribal art from Bastar, Madhya Pradesh. This enables the group to support poor tribal craftsmen in this region and allows the chain to showcase their art exten
Giving Back To Society
LTH supports and partners these NGOs and societies:
Goonj: which provides clothes and utensils to the impoverished.
Suniye: that runs a school for Speech and Hearing Impaired children from economically
weaker sections of society. It provides extensive life skills support to these children.
Akshaya Patra: whose focus is to eliminate hunger in the city. It regularly provides a
free meal to approximately 2000 destitute people in Delhi, across the city.
Supporting BPL i.e. Below Poverty Line Communities
Training And Sensitizing
Supporting Government
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Muskaan: which provides comprehensive education, vocational training and work
opportunities to young people who are intellectually challenged.
Ramanujan Society: where LTH has donated gifts to students for successfully clearing
the IIT entrance exam.
Art Objects Through People For Animals
LTH is a large supporter of art objects promoted by People for Animals. This money helps support the initiatives undertaken by PFA for the welfare and care of animals across India.
Adopted Dogs
At all Lemon Tree hotels we have adopted one street dog that is cared for by the Lemon Tree team. We name the dog, inoculate it and feed it well
Lemon Tree Hotels - Eco-Friendly Practices
Committed to a healthy and happy earth, Lemon Tree Hotels has implemented many eco-friendly processes for energy saving and water preservation, responsible waste management as well as measures to control water, noise and environmental pollution.
Caring for the Environment
Our existing and upcoming hotels are designed and constructed to qualify for the L.E.E.D Gold Standard. Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (L.E.E.D) is the internationally recognized eco-friendly building certification standard awarded by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) to buildings designed for energy savings, efficient use of water, reduction of CO2 emission and overall improvement in environmental quality.
Planting of trees, shrubs on hotel premises
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Energy Conservation
Variable Refrigerant Volume (VRV) technology for air-conditioning: 30% more efficient and provides superior comfort as compared to conventional air-conditioning
Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRV) with thermal enthalpy wheels: for heat recovery from washroom exhausts
Chilled water reset through building automation: to reduce power consumption required for cooling building
Heat pumps: for heat recovery, for heating domestic water.
LED lighting and CFL Lighting: both consume far less energy than traditional lighting
Key Tag Energy Saver System: conserves energy in unoccupied rooms
Natural/day lighting: reduces power consumption dramatically
Double Glazed Vacuum Sealed Windows: conserves energy (by ~ 5%) and reduces noise
Auto Time Management (for lighting, air-conditioning and ventilation fans) through timers and motion sensors: helps conserve energy
Energy-Efficient Hydro-Pneumatic System with Variable-frequency Drive (VFD) motors for water supply: ensures constant pressure and reduces load on pumps
LT Voltage Stabilizer: is energy saving and prevents damage to equipment due to sudden power fluctuations
Thermal Insulation: increases room comfort and conserves energy
Use of BEE certified equipment e.g. air-conditioner, refrigerator, fans, etc.: reduces energy consumption
Solar Panel for hot water: alternative, renewable energy
Wind power: alternative, renewable energy. Being implemented in a phased manner at our hotels in Chennai followed by Aurangabad and Pune
Water Conservation
Sewage Treatment Plant (STP): recycles water used across the hotel. Approximately 30% of this recycled water is used in the garden and flush systems
Aerators/Flow Restrictors including Duel Flush System: maintains water force and yet reduces outflow, hence saving water
Rain Water Harvesting: protects and replenishes the ground water table
Auto Flush For Public Urinals: minimizes water wastage
Guest engagement program – water saving poster placed in all rooms that quantifies the saving of water each guest can do by not getting their linen changed daily – encourages them to do their small bit to save precious water when they are travelling.
Green Fuels and Green Materials
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Use of Green Building Material e.g.
Recycled Wood/Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF): saves trees
Rubber Wood: environmentally friendly as it makes use of trees that have already served a useful function.
Particle Board : engineered wood manufactured from wood chips, sawmill shavings or saw dust
AAC blocks i.e. cement concrete blocks in flyash: offers several benefits including thermal efficiency i.e reduces the heating and cooling load in buildings; resource efficiency gives it lower environmental impact in all phases of its life cycle; light weight increases chances of survival during seismic activity.
Waste Management
Sewage Treatment: prevents pollution
Noise Pollution Management
Double Glazed Vacuum Sealed Windows: reduces external noise level below 50 decibels
Environmental Seals: prevents entry of noise and smoke (in case of fire) into the room
Noiseless Generators: acoustically insulated, the sound level is dampened to a minimal level
Operational Practices
Laundry Paper/Cloth bags instead of plastic: environmentally friendly
Recycled Garbage Bio-degradable Bags: environmentally friendly
Water Glasses inverted and placed on a cork surface: thereby doing away with plastic covers
Pencils not plastic pens
Safety and Security: So You Can Chill
Lemon Tree Hotels offer you the opportunity to stay without a worry by ensuring that you are safe from security hazards at all times.
Lemon Tree is committed to addressing any crisis situation effectively and rapidly. Our strategy to manage a crisis is to have a well-trained team in place. We are prepared, with effective tactical tools, to assist and protect our guests, customers, team members as well as our company assets.
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Baggage scanners to ensure that all guest baggage is screened on arrival
CCTVs located in all public areas especially at strategic points
Individual fire indicators outside each room to expedite emergency response in case of a fire emergency
Wide angle (110 degrees) peephole on room entrance doors
Safety chain and double lock facility in the main room door interactions
Emergency procedures notice displayed behind the entrance door
Fire resistant room door (up to a limited extent)
All entrance doors are lined with an environmental seal to minimize noise and protect the room from external smoke, in case of fire
Smoke detector in each room
Water sprinklers in each room for enhanced fire safety
Entrance door and bathroom doors can be double locked from the inside
Low level signage on all our buildings
A public address system (in most hotels) to help evacuate guests and employees during an emergency
24x7 power backup
Additionally, features implemented at our new hotels in Delhi Aerocity (a high security zone):
Under vehicle search scanners
Bollards at all the gates, to allow only vehicles that have been scanned to enter
Guest elevators are access controlled, to allow only hotel guests to have access to the floors
CARNATION HOTELS PVT.LTD
Carnation Hotels is the management arm of Lemon Tree Hotels. Created as a Joint Venture between two of India‘s pre-eminent hoteliers, Patu Keswani (Chairman and Managing Director, Lemon Tree Hotels) and Rattan Keswani (erstwhile President,Trident Hotels-The Oberoi Group), Carnation Hotels shall leverage the operational excellence of Lemon Tree Hotels and the corporate depth and expertise in Sales & Revenue
management, Marketing, Finance, Human Resources as well as Technical Services/ Project Management of The Lemon Tree Group, for owners across India.
Led by industry veteran, Rattan Keswani – Carnation Hotels brings together a team of talented hotel industry professionals to deliver best in class financial and guest
satisfaction results, to hotel owners.
As the third largest owner of hotels in India, we understand the challenges that owners face in the fiercely competitive hotel environment today.
We offer three world class brands, fine-tuned to meet the needs of not just the
international traveler but also to those of the growing Indian business travel segment. All of these are backed by our award winning guest service and revenue delivery programs.
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Lemon Tree Hotels is a hotel chain company based in India. Incorporated in 2002, the company owns and operates approximately 1,900 rooms across 18 mid-scale hotels across India.
Way back in 2002, a bunch of 40 friends came together, pooled their money and stood firmly behind a man who believed in himself. A 50-room hotel project started in 2004 has now transformed into a company with 1,300 rooms and two brands—Lemon Tree Hotels and Red Fox.
"We just wanted to build a hotel which was fun, fresh and different; a place where we all could work together without problems or politics," says Patu Keswani, who founded the company. Patu Keswani, who did his B. Tech from IIT Delhi and MBA from IIM Calcutta, led operations of Taj's business hotel division. Later on he joined A T Kearney to help set up its Delhi office. His experience at the hotel company and his tryst with a consultancy firm opened his eyes to the largely under-served and mid-market segment (below the five-star category) especially for business executives. This encouraged him to leave his cosy corporate job and venture out as an entrepreneur.
Raising money for the project was never a problem for Keswani. "I always believed I could raise the capital," says Keswani. "A T Kearney gave me the initial capital. There was an idea, an unmet need and several friends who were willing to take the plunge with me."
The initial plan was to build one or two hotels that would have given Keswani a good income and his employees a good salary. "The overwhelming response and feedback that we got from our customers after the opening of the first hotel was the turning point," says Keswani. "It was the big moment for me. The fact that we started making profits in a short span of time gave us more confidence and helped us plough in money back into the system."
The success of the first two hotels in Gurgaon opened the world for Lemon Tree Hotels. Keswani bought a few more plots and there was no looking back.
Initially, Lemon Tree Hotels started out as a limited service and economy hotel brand. But later, its positioning was changed to moderately-priced upscale and full-service hotel. "We realised that business executives were willing to give up on the luxury of five-star hotels, but didn't want to scale down too much..
History of Lemon Tree Hotels
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When Lemon Tree Hotels was upgraded, it created space for another brand in the economy segment—Red Fox. While the brand name Lemon Tree was arrived at by a brainstorming session which lasted for four hours, Red Fox was born out of a simple conversation which Keswani had with his daughter. "My daughter thinks I look like a fox, especially my nose," says a smiling Keswani. No wonder, his office is full of his caricatures drawn by his daughter.
In 2006, private equity player Warburg Pincus spotted the potential of the company and picked up stake in Lemon Tree Hotels for Rs 210 crore. It invested another Rs 70 crore as seed capital for Red Fox Hotels. By 2008, two more PE companies—Kotak Realty Fund and Shinsei Bank— joined Warburg. This was also the time when some of Keswani's friends, who had initially invested, cashed out partially with hefty returns. At present, private equity players own about 33% of Lemon Tree Hotels and 25 % of Red Fox. Private investors own 30% in Lemon Tree Hotels.
"By that time, we could raise loans at the right terms which is very important for a hotel. By the end of 2010, we would have approximately 2,000 rooms operational under the two brands. By 2012, we would scale it up to 3,800, of which 2,800 would be for Lemon Tree Hotels," says Keswani.
The acid test for Keswani was the slowdown years. "Our revenues fell, but we remained profitable as our cost structure was built for the worst time," he says. This was at a time when some of the leading five-star hotel chains had to close down certain floors because of less occupancies. No wonder, he opened 7-8 hotels during this time and realised that it was the right time to expand because he was confident that Indian economy's fundamentals are strong.
The company believes it would be among the top three hotel chains that own their hotels by 2012. "When you design, build and manage your own hotels, you take a risk ," he adds. Once the company has a presence in all the significant metros, it would look at going public by 2012 or 2013, depending on the market conditions. His long-term vision is to build a brand, know for its service standards, not only in India but in Asia.
Known for sporting a ponytail during his IIT years and after he started Lemon Tree Hotels, several of Keswani's senior employees can be spotted sporting a ponytail with yellow ribbon, giving an idea about the informal atmosphere and stress on employee happiness. These senior employees are also the ones who can be contacted by consumers having any problem or interested in giving feedback.
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CHAPTER-2
HOTEL CATEGORY –STAR CLASSIFICATIONS
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Hotel ratings are often used to classify hotelsaccording to their quality. The development of the concept of hotel rating and its associated definitions display strong parallels. From the initial purpose of informing travellers on basic facilities that can be expected, the objectives of hotel rating has expanded into a focus on the hotel experience as a whole Today the terms 'grading', 'rating', and 'classification' are used to generally refer to the same concept, that is to categorize hotels, mostly using stars as a symbol
There are a wide variety of rating schemes used by different organizations around the world. Many have a system involving stars with a greater number of stars indicating greater luxury.Forbes Travel Guide, formerly Mobil Travel Guide, launched its star rating system in 1958. The AAA and their affiliated bodies use diamonds instead of stars to express hotel and restaurant ratings levels.
Food services, entertainment, view, room variations such as size and additional amenities, spas and fitness centers, ease of access and location may be considered in establishing a standard. Hotels are independently assessed in traditional systems and rest heavily on the facilities provided. Some consider this disadvantageous to smaller hotels whose quality of accommodation could fall into one class but the lack of an item such as an elevator would prevent it from reaching a higher categorization.
In recent years hotel rating systems have also been criticised by some who argue that the rating criteria for such systems are overly complex and difficult for laypersons to understand. It has been suggested that the lack of a unified global system for rating hotels may also undermine the usability of such schemes
.
The more common classification systems include "star" rating, letter grading, from "A" to "F", diamond or simply a "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" footnote to accommodation such as hostels and motels. Systems using terms such as Deluxe/Luxury, First Class/Superior, Tourist
HOTEL RATINGS
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Class/Standard, and Budget Class/Economy are more widely accepted as hotel types, rather than hotel standards.
Some countries have rating by a single public standard — Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Hungary have laws defining the hotel rating. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the rating is defined by the respective hotel industry association using a five-star system — the German classifications are Tourist (*), Standard (**), Comfort (***), First Class (****) and Luxury (*****), with the mark "Superior" to flag extras beyond the minimum defined in the standard. The Swiss hotel rating was the first non-government formal hotel classification beginning in 1979[3] It did influence the hotel classification in Austria and Germany.[3] The formal hotel classification of the DEHOGA (German Hotel and Restaurant Association) started on August 1, 1996 and proved very successful with 80% of guests citing the hotel stars as the main criteria in hotel selection.This implementation influenced the creation of a common European Hotelstars rating system that started in 2010 (see below).
In France, the rating is defined by the public tourist board of the department using a four-star system (plus "L" for Luxus) which has changed to a five-star system from 2009 on. In South Africa and Namibia, the Tourist Grading Council of South Africa has strict rules for a hotel types granting up to 5 stars.
Hotel classifications in Britain
In Great Britain, hotels are rated from one-star to five stars, as in many other countries. The RAC pulled out of accommodation grading in 2008 so the only grading schemes in operation are those operated by the AA (Automobile Association) and the national tourist boards; Visit England, Visit Wales, the Scottish Tourist Board and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. The schemes were all 'harmonised' to ensure consistency between the schemes. This applies to all accommodation types apart from Self Catering that the AA have recently (2009) started offering. The AA criteria is available on its website.[5] In addition to the usual black stars (ranging from one (the lowest) to five (the highest), the AA awards red stars to the highest-rated, which are deemed 'Inspectors' Choice'. Each of the national tourist boards have grading explanations on their web sites.
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European Hotel stars Union
The HOTREC (Hotels, Restaurants & Cafés in Europe) is an umbrella organization for 39 associations from 24 European countries. At a conference in Bergen in 2004, the partners drafted a hotel classification system in order to harmonize their national standards. In 2007 HOTREC launched the European Hospitality Quality scheme (EHQ) which has since accredited the existing national inspection bodies for hotel rating.
Under the patronage of HOTREC, the hotel associations of Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland created the Hotel stars Union. On 14 September 2009, the Hotelstars Union classification system was established at a conference in Prague. This system became effective in these countries in January 2010, with the exception of Hungary, Switzerland and the Netherlands, who have chosen later dates for the change.
The European Hotelstars Union system is based on the earlier German hotelstars system that had widely influenced the hotel classifications in central Europe, with five stars and a Superior mark to flag extras. Instead of a strict minimum in room size and required shower facilities (e.g. a bath tub in a four-star hotel) there is a catalogue of criteria with 21 qualifications encompassing 270 elements, where some are mandatory for a star and others optional. The main criteria are in quality management, wellness and sleeping accommodation. In the catalogue of criteria each entry is associated with a number of points - each Hotelstars level requires a minimal sum of points besides some criteria being obligatory for the level. The minimum requirement for the Superior flag requires the same sum of points as for the next Hotelstars level which however was not awarded due to at least one obligatory requirement being left out.
For hotels with three to five stars, the Hotelstars Union will use "mystery guests" to check the service quality regularly.
The key criteria for every rating are cleanliness, maintenance, quality of furnishings and physical appointments, service, and the degree of luxury offered. There are some regional differences, as customers have different expectations for a historic in northern New England, a dude ranch in the Southwest, and a hotel in the center of a major city.
*
One-star establishments should be clean and comfortable and worth the prices charged when compared to other accommodations in the area. If they are below average in price, they may
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receive a checkmark for good value in addition to the one star. They offer a minimum of services. There may not be 24-hour front desk or phone service; there may be no restaurant; the furniture will not be luxurious. Housekeeping and maintenance should be good; service should be courteous; but luxury will not be part of the package.
**
Two-star accommodations have more to offer than one-star and will include some, but not necessarily all, of the following: better-quality furniture, larger bedrooms, restaurant on the premises, color TV in all rooms, direct-dial phones, room service, swimming
pool. Luxury will usually be lacking, but cleanliness and comfort are essential.
***
Three-star motels and hotels include all of the facilities and services mentioned in the preceding paragraph. If some are lacking, and the place receives three stars, it means that some other amenities are truly outstanding. A three-star establishment should offer a very pleasant travel experience to every customer.
****
Four-star and five-star hotels and motels make up a very small percentage (less than 2 %) of the total number of places listed; therefore they all deserve the description of "outstanding." Bedrooms should be larger than average; furniture should be of high quality; all of the essential extra services should be offered; personnel should be well trained, courteous, and anxious to please. Because the standards of quality are high, prices will often be higher than average. A stay in a four-star hotel or motel should be memorable. No place will be awarded four or five stars if there is a pattern of complaints from customers, regardless of the luxury offered.
*****
The few five-star awards go to those places which go beyond comfort and service to deserve the description "one of the best in the country." A superior restaurant is required, although it may not be rated as highly as the accommodations. Twice-daily maid service is standard in these establishments. Lobbies will be places of beauty, often furnished in antiques. If there are grounds surrounding the building, they will be meticulously groomed and landscaped. Each guest will be made to feel that he or she is a Very Important Person to the employees.
Hotelstar Excerpt of the catalogue of criteria
Tourist 100% of the rooms with shower/WC or bath tub/WC Daily room cleaning
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100% of the rooms with colour-TV together with remote control
Table and chair
Soap or body wash
Reception service
Facsimile at the reception
Publicly available telephone for guests
Extended breakfast
Beverage offer in the hotel
Deposit possibility
Superior Tourist
The Superior flag is provided when the additional service and accommodation provisions are not sufficient for the next Hotelstar. The bathroom facilities are usually at the same level as for two stars hotels but built from cheaper materials. The cost for regular inspection by independent associations is waived as well.
Standard
In addition to the single star (*) hotels:
Breakfast buffet
Reading light next to the bed
Bath essence or shower gel
Bath towels
Linen shelves
Offer of sanitary products (e.g. toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving kit)
Credit Cards
Superior Standard
The Superior flag is provided when the additional service and accommodation provisions are not sufficient for the next Hotelstar. The Standard-Superior does usually offer the same service level as three-star hotels but the interiors of the hotel are smaller and cheaper so that the three stars were not to be awarded by the inspection body. A two-star superior does not require mystery guesting.
Comfort
In addition to the standard star (**) hotels:
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inside and outside, bilingual staff (e.g. German/English)
Three piece suite at the reception, luggage service
Beverage offer in the room
Telephone in the room
Internet access in the room or in the public area
Heating facility in the bathroom, hair-dryer, cleansing tissue
Dressing mirror, place to put the luggage/suitcase
Sewing kit, shoe polish utensils, laundry and ironing service
Additional pillow and additional blanket on demand
Systematic complaint management system Superior
Comfort
The Superior flag is provided when the additional service and accommodation provisions are not sufficient for the next Hotelstar. The accommodation facilities for a superior hotel need to be on a modern level and fully renovated which is checked regularly.
First Class
In addition to the comfort star (***) hotels:
Reception opened 18 hours, accessible by phone 24 hours from inside and outside
Lobby with seats and beverage service
Breakfast buffet or breakfast menu card via room service
Minibar or 24 hours beverages via room service
Upholstered chair/couch with side table
Bath robe and slippers on demand
Cosmetic products (e.g. shower cap, nail file, cotton swabs), vanity mirror, tray of a large scale in the bathroom)
Internet access and internet terminal
"À la carte"-restaurant First
Class Superior
The Superior flag is provided when the first class hotel has a proven high quality not only in the rooms. The superior hotels provide for additional facilities in the hotel like a sauna or a workout room. The quality is checked regularly by mystery guesting of an external inspection service.
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Reception opened 24 hours, multilingual staff
Doorman-service or valet parking
Concierge, page boy
Spacious reception hall with several seats and beverage service
Personalized greeting for each guest with fresh flowers or a present in the room
Minibar and food and beverage offer via room service during 24 hours
Personal care products in flacons
Internet-PC in the room
Safe in the room
Ironing service (return within 1 hour), shoe polish service
Turndown service in the evening
Mystery guesting Superior
Luxury
The Luxury star hotels need to attain high expectations of an international guest service. The Superior Luxury star is only awarded with a system of intensive guest care.
World hotel rating
There is so far no international classification which has been adopted. There have been attempts at unifying the classification system so that it becomes an internationally recognized and reliable standard, but they have all failed.
It has been considered that, as it has been the case in other areas (e.g. international accounting standards), hotel classification standards should result from a private and independent initiative. This may be the case of the World Hotel Rating (WHR) project, which notably aims to set international classification standards and rating criteria along the lines of a world star-rating system. It will also establish an information platform on the hotel industry which will be multilingual and multicultural. WHR intends to play a key role in the development of quality hotel services, as well as equitable and sustainable tourism, and the protection of the world's cultural and natural heritage. In addition, WHR will develop labels to promote hotels distinguished by specific features, such as a family and child-friendly disposition. A test period was scheduled for 2010
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Six- and seven-star hotels
Some members of the hospitality industry have claimed a six or seven-star rating for their operation. As no traditional organization or formal body awards or recognizes any rating over five-star deluxe, such claims are meaningless and predominantly used for advertising purposes. The Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai is widely described as a "seven-star" property, but the hotel says the label originates from an unnamed British journalist on a press trip and that they neither encourage its use nor do they use it in their advertising. The Seven Stars Galleria is a hotel located in Milan, Italy. It describes itself for marketing purposes as the world's first seven-star hotel, citing the private inspection company Société Générale de Surveillance, although official star classification in Italy includes no rating.
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CHAPTER-3
VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS IN HOTEL AND
RESORTS
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- HOTEL DEPARTMENTS:
1. Rooms Division: In a statistics conducted by the U.S. Lodging Industry in 1995, it has been shown that the majority of hotels revenues (60.2 %) are generated from Rooms Division Department under the form of room sales. This very department provides the services guests expect during their stay in the Hotel. Lastly, the Rooms Division Department is typically composed of five different departments:
a) Front Office b) Reservation c) Housekeeping d) Uniformed Services e) Telephone
Beneath is a brief description of the different departments decomposing the Rooms Division Department, along with their related main responsibilities:
a) Front Office:
Regardless of the class or type of the hotel, front office is the most visible and essential focal-point of a hotel. The focal focal-point of activity within the front office is the reception desk, which is located in the front lobby of a hotel and dispenses all front-of-the-house activities of the hotel. It is the communication centre of the hotel with great amount of guest contact. Guests interact with the hotel for the first time by interacting with the staff of the front office, and they form the first impression about the hotel based on the efficiency, competency and behavior of the front office staff. The reception desk performs the functions like the sale of rooms, guest registration, room assignments, handling of guest requests, maintenance of the guest accounts, cashiering along with handling mail and providing information. The financial tasks usually handled by the front desk personnel include receiving cash payments, handling guest folios, verifying cheques and handling foreign currency and credit cards. In this Unit, you will be familiarized with all these aspects of the front office management.
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FRONT OFFICE FUNCTIONS
Sell guestrooms; register guests and design guestrooms
Coordinate guest services
Provide information
Maintain accurate room statistics, and room key inventories
Maintain guest account statements and complete proper financial settlements
The primary function of the front office is that of a facilitator between the guest and other departments of the hotel. Another job of Front office desk is also to support and help in providing services to the 119 guests. The number of interactions and transactions between the guest and the hotel during a guest stay, determine the type and nature of front office operations.
The stages of guest stay are: · pre-arrival,
· arrival,
· occupancy, and · departure.
Various trans actions between the guest and the hotel, therefore, depend upon the stage of the guest stay. The transactions can be best understood by going through the guest cycle. All these services and transactions are handled by the front office department. The functions and services of the front office department can be differentiated depending upon the area where they are being performed. Some of the functions are performed by the reception desk as front-of-the-house
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operations and rest are performed as back-of-the-house operations. Table 1 gives a brief summary of the functions performed by the front office.
Baggage handling Transportation Bill Settlement Check-out Currency exchange Safe Deposits Maintaining Guest Accounts
Mail and Information Telephone Calls Transportation Doormen and Porters Registration Room Assignment Issuing of Keys Baggage Handling Reservations
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Departure Pre-arrival
FUNCTIONS AREA OF OPERATIONS
1) Sell guest rooms Accept reservations Handle walk-ins
Perform the registration process Front of the house activity
2) Provide information on hotel services Concerning internal hotel operations About external events and locations Front of the house activity
3) Coordinate guest services
Liaison between front and back-of-the-house areas Handle guest problems and complaints
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Front of the house activity
4) Chart room status reports
Coordinate room sales and housekeeping: occupied status On-change status, out -of-order status
Back of the house activity
5) Maintaining guest accounts Construction of folio and account Posting to folios (updating) Supervision of credit levels
Documentation of guest‘s transactions
Front-of-the-House Operations
Front-of-the-House operations are known so because these operations take place in front of the guests. Thus, these operations are related either to direct interaction with the guest or they are being conducted in front of the guest. The front office activities start from the time a guest calls or sends in a request for reservation/ accommodation. Staff of the front office department starts interacting with guest by taking in guest information and reservation request, leading to confirmation of reservation and finally to the handling of guest on arrival and guest check-in. Check-in activity is a must for both, a guest with reservation or a walk-in-guest, i.e., one without prior reservation. The reservation system of hotels varies but nowadays since it is mostly
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computerized, therefore, features are the same. Check-in procedures require the collection of a lot of information.
This is because information helps in building guest record data and serves the purposes of a ready reckoned in case of any emergency involving the guest. Front office takes in the guest information for future use and provides the guest with information about the hotel and its various services and thus, becomes the connecting link between the guest and the hotel. The pivotal role played by the front office is quite apparent from this very fact that it is the centre of all activities connected with guests in the hotel.
Therefore, decisions regarding the sale of a room to a particular guest, availability and allocation of a room, maintaining guest account by coordinating with the housekeeping and room service are the major front-of-the-house activities. Finally, the account settlement or deciding on the time of account settlement is generally a part of check-out process, performed by front office. Thus in short we can say that front office is the first and last place (as in check-in and check-out), wherein a guest interacts with the hotel.
Back-of-the -House Operations
As the name suggests these operations involve the activities which do not take place in front of the guests. The front office activities start the moment an enquiry or request regarding accommodation is made. This enquiry is answered keeping in view converting it into a reservation request. Although reservation is an activity of front office, major hotel lines/chain of hotels have centralized reservation system, operational 24 hours a day 365 days a year. (Reservation and its various intricacies will be discussed in the later sections). A confirmed
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reservation leads to browsing of information, i.e., guest record to det ermine whether this is a repeat guest and if yes what are the personal information and preferences of the guest. This helps you giving personal touch to guest‘s stay with the hotel.
When the guest checks -in, his or her account gets activated. This account keeps track of the guest‘s financial interaction with the hotel. These financial interactions involve room rent, room services, laundry, food and beverage at the hotel‘s outlet and any other facility used by the guest during his or her stay. For instance, these financial transactions begin the moment when he/she while waiting for
allocation of a room start making phone calls to his/her associates to inform them the arrival or order for something in the lobby itself. The daily night auditors help the back of the office department in the hotel in maintaining the guest accounts. Many hotels have a credit line extended to their guests or to the companies which they represent. The credit limit is predetermined and the hotel allows the guest to accumulate the amount before asking for either a full or partial payment. Many a times a guest is asked to provide his/her credit card during check-in while cash is expected mode of payment durcheck-ing checkout with multcheck-inational brands comcheck-ing into India the concept of property management system has emerged which allows night auditors to flash guest‘s folio on day to day basis on their T.V. monitors
.
FRONT OFFICE OPERATIONS
I-Guest Cycle:
The guest cycle describes the activities that each guest passes by from the moment he/she calls to communicate a reservation inquiry till he/she departs from the hotel. In fact, the guest cycle encompasses 4 different stages, which are depicted in the underneath diagram:
