Departments involved and the tasks and responsibilities
For the organisation on the art exhibition different departments need to be involved in the guest cycle. The main departments are separated in F&B and rooms division. Within these main departments there are separate smaller departments involved. IN the following chapters each department will be explained with examples concerning this specific event.
1.1 rooms division
1.1.1 Front office is a main point in the hotel. This is mostly the first place the guest sees when entering the hotel. The front office has several tasks:
Checking guests in and out
Making reservations
Guest billing
Setting room rates
Greeting the guest when coming in, setting the first ‘moment of truth’ (Leenders, 2018).
The front office can bee seen as the nerve center of the hotel and the FO employees can make or break the first impression (Walker, 1996).
The FO employees should: have knowledge of the guests that are arriving to make sure to enhance the first moment of the guest journey. When receiving guests that have travelled a long way, just like our Japanese guests coming, employees should make sure everything is ready so they can rest or start enjoying their day. With a big event in the hotel like the art exhibition and all FO employees are aware of what is going on to help all guest with their questions.
1.1.1.2 Back Office is a part of the FO. The responsibilities of the BO employees are:
Take care administrative aspects
Reservations in the PMS
Making the event agenda
Writing replying to emails
Phone calls with internal and external stakeholders.
Looking at the art exhibition the BO employees will most likely have had contact with the head booker / event planner in order to arrange the rooms and check availability of the conference rooms. Although these positions are not as visible as the positions held by front office personnel, they are as critical to the success or failure of a business.
1.1.2 Housekeeping. This departement kan make or break a guests experience. When entering a room which has not been cleaned well, the guests satisfaction will drop increasingly seeing as cleanliness stands at the top of a guest’s expectations. An eye for detail is essential within housekeeping but is also an physically demanding work area. Most of the work is done behind the scene but noticed and appreciated highly by guests (Walker, 1996). Productivity with-in housekeeping is essential and is measured by the person-hours per occupied room (Walker, 1996).
The Almaz hotel has 500 rooms, of which 300 which will be occupied by the art exhibition guest. For this housekeeping must:
Have good knowledge of the rooms to clean.
Knowledge of guests coming e.g VIP’s.
Have an accurate time schedule to make sure all rooms are done at check-in time.
Of course we want to exceed guest expectations so when FO knows some guest are arriving early, we want their rooms to be ready for the guest to check-in straight away. For this communication with FO is of a big importance(2.1).
1.1.3 Uniformed services or sometimes referred to as guest services is the departement with the highest personalized service. Main positions are:
door attendants
Bell attendants
Valet parking
Concierge
(Setupmyhotel.com, 2018).
This department is here to enhance the guest experience by assisting them when needed. Uniform services employees have face-to-face contact with the guest from the beginning until the end of the guests stay, so an excellent impression should be made. Linking to the Almaz hotel and the art exposition most of not all guests will come in contact with uniformed service personnel, simply by walking through the door or when their luggage is brought to the room.
1.1.3.1 A concierge is a job with a wide range of responsibilities. The concierge of the hotel is there to help you not only when you are in the hotel but also outside the hotel. Having good relationships with good restaurant, clubs and theatre in the area is needed to help guests to go to the best places around. A concierge must have good knowledge of the current and upcoming city events and trending hotspots to inform and guide the guest during their stay.
1.2 Food and Beverage
The F&B department in the hotel is always of big importance. Their responsibilities are to provide food, drinks and service for the duration of the guests stay. For the art exhibition we are to make sure all guests enjoy a wonderful breakfast, lunch, optional snacks and drinks seeing as all event take place during the day. Of course room service is available on request. There should be an F&B manager inplace to make sure all guests receive products that meet or rather exceed their expectations as well as respect the industry’s safety standards and uptain them (Best Hospitality Degrees, 2018).
1.2.1 Kitchen, an essential part of F&B. When hosting breakfast and walking lunch for such large groups, a well organised mise-en-place is of high importance.
The executive chef is there for managerial purposes and managing the multiple outlets of the hotel.
The head chef or chef de cuisine is more the head of the actual kitchen. He or she makes controls the whole kitchen and it’s staff, is in contact with suppliers creating menus and doing the costs controlling(Morning Advertiser Jobs, 2018).
Besides the kitchen staff the stewarding is their to make sure to maintain hygiene standards.
The kitchen should also take in consideration the current trends concerning F&B. Trends such as use of locally sourced and seasonal products, reducing food waste and offering gluten free, lactose free and healthier food options should be taken into consideration, to be able to offer the guests exactly what they want (Hotel Online, 2018).
1.2.2 Beverage. Of course drinks will be served during the event. The beverage departement (bar) should make sure there is a good variety of drinks for all guests, including the international guest coming from japan. The bar employees should be well prepared for the art exhibition so also here a well organized mise-en-place is key. The beverage manager should have order enough of the drinks that are going to be offered and make correct and accurate cost calculations. The bar manager should also take in consideration that more employees should be schedules to work during the days of the event seeing as the hotel is also still open for other internal and external guests. The bar manager and his team should also always strive to maintain a clean and organized workspace (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2018).
1.2.3 Banqueting department or events departement play a big role during this event. The banqueting department has various responsibilities and task such as:
Knowledge of the event
Knowledge of the times of the arrival, lunch, departure ect.
Knowledge of the food and drinks that are being served.
Setting up each rooms according to the discussed set-up.
The Banqueting or events manager should make sure the team has knowledge of all this.
He or she should:
Brief all staff on time.
Have an accurate duty roster to make sure there is enough personnel.
Make sure for good communication with other departments involved e.g kitchen, beverage, FO, maintenance and HK.
Lead promotional activities for the event.
Supervise all staff
1.3 Accounting
During the event at the Almaz hotel costs need to be taken into consideration. Of course for this the accounting department is needed seeing as it is their responsibility to collect and keep track of different incomes and expenditure (Bragg, 2018). Next to this the accounting department will create invoices and guest folios and make sure the budget for the event is respected.
Other tasks responsibilities are:
Make the financial statements of for the company via journal entries
Payrolls
Internal reports showing e.g profitability
Employee expense / payables
Tax payables
1.4 Maintenance & IT
Most of the time, maintenance and IT department are responsible for the processes that support the core of the hospitality organisation. They are there to ensure the safety of all guests and staff, are responsible for improving the energy efficiency of the hotel and reducement of operating costs (International Hotel School, 2018).
During such an event installation of light, music ect is needed. This needs to be done with the right equipment and employees who know how to handle such equipment. Next to the technical issues of the event, maintenance & IT is also need to ensure the guest will experience relaxed guest journey. This starts with a good installed and working PMS and POS. Besides that all other technical and mechanical aspects of the hotel should be working efficiently. This can go from the key-card systems and BOSE sound system to the shower and heated floor in the bathroom. Everything should be working as is is intended to to not only provide a pleasant stay, but also for safety reasons. For this well educated staff should always be present on the work floor, especially during the event.
1.5 security