Brief Introduction To Core Hotel Departments

1.Housekeeping:
housekeeping
Responsible for the cleanliness maintenance and the aesthetic standards of the hotels. Housekeeping provides laundered staff uniform room and restaurant linen and fresh and dried flower arrangement .The different section of housekeeping are:

  • Housekeeping control desk: This passes information to housekeeping staff working at various parts of the hotel.
  • Linen and Uniform Room: Coordinates with laundry for the supply of clean linen and uniforms.
  • Horticulture: Trends all landscape gardens and nurseries.
  • Flower shop: Where flower are produce and prepare for decoration in rooms, lobbies or buffet table and sold for customers.
  • Lost and Found section: To deposit misplaced guest belongings.
  • Guest room cleaning brigade: Who clean and maintain all guest rooms for sale ,and the public area brigade who are responsible for the cleaning of front office lobby, restaurant and other areas.

2. Food & Beverage:
Food and beverage
A restaurant is a commercial establishment committed to sale of food and beverage. A restaurant may be a licensed part of a hotel operation; whereby the sale of the restaurant contributes to the sales performance of the hotel, or a franchised operation within the hotel premises. Basically Restaurant provides tables and chairs for customer to eat from an attached kitchen .They are equipped with crockery, cutlery, linen and decor which may vary in quality and concepts in keeping with the objections of the establishment. In addition to basic purpose restaurant may provide the following facilities.Bar, Children party facilities, entertainment, Home delivery services, outdoor catering.

3.Kitchen:
Kitchen
A kitchen is a place where food is prepared while kitchen in large have independent section to deal with various aspects of food preparation due to sheer volume of activity. Smaller kitchen would club section or have multi skilled cooks to carry out several roles. Kitchen
personnel‟s coordinates closely with restaurant, room service, bars and banquets for the supply of food orders. The various sections of a kitchen are Butchery, Garde Manger, Pantry, bakery and confectionery, Hot Range, Grill,Skill rooms, soup section, Satellite kitchen.

4. Front Office:
front_office
The front office may be regarded as the show window of the hotel and hence must be well designed in the first place and maintained in a well organised and orderly manner. Regardless of how the hotel is organised, the front office is always an essential “focal point”. Front office is the name given to all the offices situated in the front of the house ,that is lobby ,such offices where the guest is received ,provided information, his luggage is handled ,his accounts are settled at departures, and his problem ,complains and suggestion are looked after. The front desk is the link between the guest and the hotel and represents the hotel to the guest and is a liaison between the hotel management and the coordination of all guest services. It serves as a main channel of both way communications i.e. from hotel to guest and guest to hotel.

Front office is one of the two major departments which produce revenue in a hotel, the other being food and beverage. Out of two, front office generates nearly 60 to 70 % of revenue for a hotel and is responsible for achieving high occupancy of the hotel. One of the major functions of the front office is selling accommodation.Through these departments hotels help in developing the economy of the country and earn foreign exchange for the nation. Front office is like a dispensing post to handle complaints and suggestion of the guest. Front office is indeed the nerve center, the hub and the heart of the hotel. It coordinates with other departments of hotel in order to provide more efficient service to the guest.

Various section of Front Office Departments

  • Reservation: Booking of rooms in advance.
  • Reception: Responsible for receiving the guest, allocating and assigning room and registering of a guest and is also a source of information for government offices such as FRRO etc.
  • Information: Provide information about the hotel, its services and amenities,city, town, country, travel and transport, bank, and receiving and distribution of mail and message, packets, room key etc. to the guest.
  • Bell Desk: Responsible for luggage handling etc.
  • Cash and bills: Responsible for maintaining and recording guest accounts and bills and folio of guest and either cash or credit settlement of guest folio at the time of departure.