Various Departments of Hotel

There are various departments of a hotel which help in the smooth and efficient operation of the hotel. First four departments are the core and important department in the hotel, which are directly responsible for day to day operations.

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The major four departments of hotels are:

1. Housekeeping Department
2. Food and Beverage Service Department
3. Food Production or Kitchen Department
4. Front Office Department

These four departments are the operational departments of the hotel. But not only operational department but secondary department also plays a significant role to ensure general administration of hotel and they are:

1. Sales and marketing
2. Personal and human resources
3. Account and finance
4. Security and engineering
5. Purchase and store

1. House Keeping Department

The housekeeping department is responsible for management of guest rooms and the cleanliness of all public areas of the hotel. A close liaison between housekeeping and front office is essential so that the information about guest- rooms is kept up to date. In simple words, Housekeeping means up-keeping the house.

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Housekeeping department is responsible for the following

• Cleaning and up keeping of hotel rooms
• Cleaning of public areas.
• Laundering of guest linen.
• Issuing and receiving of staffs inform on clean to dirty basis.
• Issuing and collecting of linens from various outlets.
• Cleaning of banquets, halls and other food and beverage outlets.
• Placing of various VIPs amenities, etc. in the VIP guest room.
• Co- ordination with the other department of the hotel.
• Maintenance of the gardens.
• Cleanliness and maintenance of swimming pool.
• Implementation of pest control activities in all areas of the hotel.

Departments that Housekeeping Co-ordinates with are

a. Front office
When a guest is about to departure, front office informs housekeeping to make up the room ready for sale to the next guest on line. Similarly, housekeeping confers a ready room to the front office for sale. Housekeeping provides daily room report to the front office, with the help of that room report front office verifies the occupied rooms against any dispensaries made out. The close coordination between housekeeping and the front office is deemed important to ensure timely delivery of rooms with required amenities.

b. Human resources
Housekeeping coordinates with human resources about hiring, firing, procurement, development, training and appraisal of the employees.

c. Engineering
Housekeeping is the department, which lay hand on almost all areas of the hotel in the course of cleaning. Any maintenance and repair seen in the area are reported to the engineering. Housekeeping desk control accelerates all public areas, floors, and room maintenance work and keeps a proper record of work done.

d. Purchase
Housekeeping coordinates with purchase department to acquire stock items like guest supplies, stationary, cleaning equipment, tools and material required for daily functioning. Purchase of new uniforms, linen and upholstery are also done through purchase department with the aid of purchase requisitions.

e. Food and Beverages
All table linens are laundered and exchanged through housekeeping department. The cleanliness and aesthetic upkeep of all outlets are the primary responsibility of housekeeping. A close coordination between housekeeping and food and beverages is deemed too important to provide standard service to the guest.

f. Security
To secure the privacy of all in-house guests, the housekeeping departments lend a hand off security department. Important housekeeping keys are also kept with the security.

g. Stores
Housekeeping department co-ordinates with the stores to ensure the availability of day to day requirements. Such requirements might be the requirement of guest amenities, stationary, cleaning material and other ancillary supplies.

2. Food and Beverage Service Department

Food and beverage department are one of the main service oriented and crucial department of the hotel. It renders the services of prepared food items, beverages, and tobacco in a hospitable way to the customer as per their demand.
The food and beverage department put forward the world class service of food and drink. The services that food and beverages provide may be a coffee shop, bars, lounges, specialty restaurants, banqueting, and room service etc.

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Departments that food and beverages coordinates with are:

a. Food and Beverage Production
For hygienic and timely delivery of the food as per guest order.

b. Front office
Information regarding VIP in- house, room reports, billing, types of plan in which the guest stay.

c. Kitchen stewarding
Cleaning, polishing, and inventory of all crockery's, cutleries, glassware, hollowware, flatware used in this service.

d. Purchase
For the requisition of all condiments, service kits and necessary stationeries.

e. Housekeeping
Placing of VIP amenities, exchange of soiled linen and cleaning of all outlets.

f. Engineering and Maintenance
Repair maintenance of the electrical equipment, checking air condition and water supply

g. Account
Any discrepancy in the bills and sales summary, maintaining of city ledger and handling all cash.

h. Human resource
Hiring and firing of staff, increment, appraisal, procurement, development, and training

i. Sales and Marketing
Banquet reservations, food and beverages promotions, etc

3. Food Production / Kitchen Department

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A kitchen is a well designed closed area with skillful chefs and all necessary equipment, tools and utensils liable for preparing food items as per guest orders followed by standard recipes. It is a skilled food production team which prepares food items as per the guest orders. It prepares food according to the menu and there are two types of menu. They are as follows'
A` la carte menu (it is a choice menu where food and beverages are individually priced)
Table d'hôte (it is a fixed menu where the price of food and beverages are taken at once)

a. Sales and marketing

^{Sales and marketing department _{(source skyresortmanagement.com)}}

Who markets the hotel products is sales and marketing department. The sales and marketing department is responsible for generating new business for the hotel. This could be the sales of rooms, functions, conventions, or even restaurants or bar. It also handles the advertising of the hotel as well sales promotions and publicity and often takes on the role of public relation.

b. Personal and human resources

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Personal and human resources department is responsible for the hiring, training, and development of hotel staffs. In addition to this, this department is responsible for the welfare and, collective bargaining, and industrial relations. In recent years, this division has gained in importance because of the need to contend with legislation, labor shortages, and the growing pressure of competition. Hotels now days tends to put more effort in training and development programmers to enhance the technical and conceptual knowledge in the staff.

c. Account and finance

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Accounting is responsible for monitoring of all the financial activities of the hotel. Such accounting activities may include cash receipts and banking, the processing of payrolls, accumulating, operating data and the preparation of internal reports and financial statements because of the importance of financial data and statistics.

d. Security

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Security is mainly responsible for the safety and security of the hotel guests, visitors, and hotel employees. This may include patrolling the hotel premises, monitoring equipment, and in general, ensuring the security of guest, visitors, employees and their securities. Engineering is responsible for the maintenance and the operation of all machinery and equipment (including heating, air-conditioning, and lighting.) it is also responsible for carrying out all carpentry, upholstery and a small building, plumbing and other works of a hotel.

e. Purchase and Stores

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The hotel is a commercial endeavor, where we purchase raw materials, give finishing and sell at high prices. As a service industry, hotel purchases raw materials to support the service procedures. Purchase department plays an important role while purchasing all requirement of a hotel. From a sewing kit to a large purchase it is a job of a purchasing department to facilitate the procedures. Purchase manager is the in charge of this department. In recent developments, this position is substituted by another position known to be Material Manager who looks after all purchasing and storing activities.

References:

Oli, Gopal Singh and B. B. Chhetri.Hotel management. Kathmandu: Buddha publications Pvt. Ltd., 2015. Book.

Shrestha, Dinesh; K.C, Saroj; karki, karuna; Sharma, Robin; elt.Hotel Management. kathmandu: Arcadia Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., 2068,Shrawan.