Before a hotel can properly deliver its duties and satisfy its clients to a point, there are some staffing components that must be catered for.Without an adequate understanding of how the sector works, it will be herculean to make headway. In short, a hotel wouldn’t run smoothly without the right people and right resources in the right departments (Hannah, 2017). Briefly, I will explain how an ideal hospitality industry should be structured.
Executives: These are the decision makers within the business. They may be department heads, managers, or directors. Depending on how your company runs and the size of it, executives may be responsible for some of the other areas discussed below, including accounting, marketing, and at times even front desk services (Hannah, 2017).
Chief Chef: An executive chef is a managerial role that involves a lot of work behind the scenes in the hospitality industry. An executive chef oversees the food operations in restaurants, hotels, casinos, or other venues that serve food. People in this role supervise cooks, sous chefs, and other kitchen employees. They typically order all of the food, plan the meals, and prepare food in the kitchen. While it is not necessarily required, many head chefs have some training through a culinary school, technical school, community college, or a four-year college.
Most people work their way up to executive chef from entry-level roles like line cooks. Over time, they develop the managerial skills required to oversee an entire kitchen, and the cooking skills to develop menus (Doyle, 2018).
Human resources: Depending on the size of the property, the Human Resources (HR) department can be large with many specialists to a small one with one person. Frequently, the general manager’s secretary takes care of the “personnel” matters. There are many laws and regulations related to the hiring, employment, and termination of people that you can find yourself in a lot of trouble, quickly. Hire a professional to take care of these items and keep you and your hotel protected.
Human Resources is the new name for what we used to call “personnel”. One of the areas that HR covers is employment. There are a number of areas in employment: advertising, interviewing, selecting, hiring, orientation, and discharge. Any of them can, if mis-handled, can put your operation into legal jeopardy. Training is part of the employment cycle but also is part of the benefits that existing employees should have. Employee relations is one of the HR responsibilities. The HR department hopes to keep morale of staff high through newsletters, social events, and award programs. They may have to intervene between a manager and an employee to keep peace. Labor relations is the area that is considered to be part of the peace keeping effort. Occasionally, managers only have the needs of their departments in focus and may take a short term approach to employee relations. HR may need to intervene when a long term employee has a personal need that the manager cannot seem to accommodate. HR also deals with compensation programs. Not that they establish wage rates but they generally collect data from a number of sources that works towards keeping the compensation offered competitive with other hotels in the market area (SFASU, 2019).
Concierge: A concierge interacts directly with customers, providing them with various services. They may respond to requests (for instance, “Can you book me a restaurant reservation?”) or anticipate what customers might need. These services could range from providing a babysitter to getting tickets to a show to suggesting a restaurant. At some hotels, this is an entry-level job. However, some luxury hotels require concierges to have years of hospitality experience. A concierge needs to be a problem solver with extensive customer-service skills who is unflappable and can handle difficult patrons (Doyle, 2018).
Front Desk Services. Although no operational segment within a hotel organization is dispensable, it could be argued that very little would happen without the front office staff.These people are constantly in contact with guests, and may even be responsible for taking and handling bookings. Detail-oriented people are often required for this role, since they must meet the exact needs of the guests. Sometimes concierge may also be lumped in with this division of the business, but could be an entirely different department worth building (Hannah, 2017).
Maintenance: Even the best quality utilities and electronics can break and malfunction. In today’s tech-oriented world, there is also more to repair and fix in terms of computers, TV screens, game consoles, DVD players, and other cutting-edge tech items than before. Tech can sometimes also be the responsibility of executives or front desk services, depending on what works best for the organization. Additionally, in some cases, maintenance might be lumped in with housekeeping or another role. Again, it depends on the size of your business and the personnel available to you (Hannah, 2017).
Event Planner: Many hotels have conference rooms or event spaces that they rent out for various events, ranging from meetings to weddings. An event planner works with a company, or an individual, to arrange the event and then ensures it runs smoothly (Doyle, 2018).
Accounting: Every business needs proper accounting. Tracking expenses and revenue helps you keep a finger on the pulse of the business, so you can make tweaks and adjustments as necessary. The accounting team is usually directly answerable to the executive team, providing them with relevant data and forecasts. They may also make recommendations and offer support for other departments (Hannah, 2017).
Housekeeper: They are responsible for maintaining a standard of cleanliness throughout a hotel or other hospitality venue. They clean individual hotel rooms as well as the common areas. Housekeepers within the hospitality industry make beds, do laundry, clean bathrooms, stock linens, and more. Being a housekeeper requires some physical stamina because you often have to lift heavy loads and be on your feet most of the day.
Porter: Porters are tasked with handling baggage for guests. They might bring luggage up to guests’ rooms or take luggage down to the lobby. A porter is one of many support staff positions in the hospitality industry. Another common position is that of valet (also known as parking lot attendant). A valet parks patrons’ cars when they come to a hotel, restaurant, or other venue (Doyle, 2018).
Waiter/Waitress: They work in restaurants, bars, hotels, casinos, and other food-serving establishments. They interact directly with customers taking orders, serving food and beverages, and take payments from patrons. While no formal education is required, waiters and waitresses must have strong interpersonal and communication skills. They also have to be detail-oriented because they need to remember customers’ orders, especially complicated drink orders. This job is ideal for people in the hospitality industry who want to engage with customers face-to-face (Doyle, 2018).
References
Doyle, A (2018). Hospitality Industry Job Titles And Description. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/hospitality-job-titles-2061496
Hannah (2017). 7 Key Operational Areas Of Hotel Management. Retrieved from https://www.gourmetmarketing.net/7-key-operational-areas-hotel-management/
SFASU (2019). Roles Within Hotel Industry. Retrieved from http://www2.sfasu.edu/cte/Michelle_Files/HMS_302_Web_Content/302_Roles_7.html