Introduction to various departments of Hotel

A hotel can provide good service, when its all department will work together in an efficient and effective way, by showing good team work, coordination and communication

The most important function of a hotel is to provide Food and shelter to prospective guest. To provide food  & shelter, there are number of departments or Ares, who all functions together round-the-clock inside hotel premises.

All departments are broadly categorized in two parts:

1. OPERATIONAL DEPARTMENT (CORE DEPARTMENT):

·        Front office                                                                 (revenue center)

·        Food & Beverage service                                            (revenue center)

·        House keeping                                                             (cost center)

·        Food production (kitchen)                                          (cost center)

2. ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENT (NON-CORE DEPARTMENT)

·        Maintenance department

·        Account department

·        Human resource department

·        Electronic data processing department

·        Communication department

·        Security department

·        Purchase department

·        Stores

·        Sales & marketing department

Each department is equally important for proper functioning of hotel. Each department are been explained as follow:

FRONT OFFICE:

The main function of the department is:

·        To allot the room to the guest, called as check-in.

·        To maintain the room records for reservation and allocation.

·        To collect the room charges and other miscellaneous charges for various services used by guest during his/her stay at the hotel, at the time of departure of guest.

·        To take advance booking for rooms.

·        To handle the phone calls of hotel.

Different section of Front office:

Front Desk

·        Reception: this section used for check-in process of the guest.

·        Information: this section is used for providing various information to in-house guest.

·        Cashier desk: this section is used for checkout process of the guest.

·        Guest relation desk: this section is used for collecting guest feedback and maintenance of guest history.

·        Bell desk: this section is used for assistance of guest during check-in and checkout process.

·        Travel desk: this section is used for assistance of guest for arranging vehicles for guest movements and for making train/ airplane reservation.

Back Office

·        Reservation desk: this section is used for taking booking for rooms.

·        Telephone operator: this section is used for attending all phone calls land up in the hotel or for providing trunk dial facility to guest.

·        Business center: this section is used for secretarial job of guest.

Food & Beverage service department:

The main function of this department is:

·        To provide food & beverage facilities to the guest.

·        To provide food & beverage for groups, conferences, meetings, theme parties etc.

The different sections are:

• ·        Restaurant
• ·        Room Service department
• ·        Banquet department
•             Bar & lounge

HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT

The main function of this department is:

• To take care of the cleanliness of rooms, and the hotel building and its furniture and furnishings.
• To maintain the linen room for maintenance of room linen, restaurant’s linen etc.
• To maintain the gardening work of hotel.
• To maintain guest laundry facility for room guest.
• To maintain staff laundry facility for staff of hotel.

Different sections of department:

• Linen room
• Housekeeping desk
• House keeping store
• In-House laundry
• Gardening department

Food Production (Kitchen):

The main function of this department is:

• To provide various type of dishes to the guest as per the menu.
• To provide food for various buffet or banquet parties.
• To provide food to the staff of hotel.
• To prepare different type of dishes for special occasion.

Different sections of kitchen:

• Hot Kitchen: North Indian
• South Indian
• Tandoor section
• Chinese or oriental kitchen
• Halwai or Indian sweet section
• Pantry or salad section: tea/coffee, juices, salads, breakfast items etc.
• Butchery or cold kitchen: for making different types of chicken, mutton, beef cuts etc.
• Bakery and confectionary: for making cookies, cakes, pastries etc.

MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT

The main functions of this department are:

• To maintain all the equipment s placed inside or related with the hotel.
• To be responsible for smooth supply of electricity, water, and smooth function of air conditioning unit.
• To be responsible for AMC of important and expensive equipments.
• To maintain all the furniture and fixtures of rooms and other area of hotel.

ACCOUNT DEPARTMENT

The main function of this department is:

• Preparation of budget and allocation of revenue and expenditure for various department
• Maintain all account related books as accordance to the government rules and regulations.
• Preparation of balance sheet of the company.
• Liaising with Govt. offices for tax and revenue related matters.
• Collection of revenue from guests, companies etc.
• Giving salaries to employees.
• To keep check on the food & beverage cost.
• To keep check on the purchase and sale of alcoholic beverages for the property.
• To keep the account of revenue generated and expenditure under various heads for each department.

HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT

The main function of this department is:

• Recruitment and selection of employee for hotel as per requirement.
• Training and development of employee
• Maintenance of attendance records, leave records etc.
• Maintenance of personal file for each employee with all details, for the purpose of periodically appraisal.

ELECTRONIC DATA PROCESSING DEPARTMENT

The main function of this department is:

• Maintenance of the Property management system of the hotel
• Maintenance of various aspects of Internet and its related matters.
• Generation various relevant electronic data as per requirement of hotel.
• Maintenance of all computer units hired or purchased by hotel. And its relevant software.

COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT

The main function of this department is:

• Maintenance of telephone connections for each room and other area of hotel.
• Maintenance of cable connections of televisions of rooms and other places of hotel.
• Maintenance of audio-visual equipments for conferences and parties.
• Maintenance of audio-visual equipments of the hotel.

SECURITY DEPARTMENT

The main function of this department is:

• To be responsible for safety and security of guests of hotel.
• To be responsible for safety of employee.
• To keep check on theft cases of hotel.
• To cooperate with staff for fire exit procedure.
• To keep record of received materials and dispatched materials of or for the property.
• To keep record of movement of fixed assets of property.
• To keep check on unauthorized entry of people.

PURCHASE DEPARTMENT & STORES

The main function of this department is:

• To purchase materials from the market as per requirement of various department of hotel.
• To purchase all types of equipments and materials for hotel.
• To liaison with different companies or vendor for supply of perishable or non-perishable goods.
• To liaison with different dealers for provision of non- vegetarian items (chicken, mutton, fish, beef, etc.)
• To store all the purchased items properly as per basic rule (F.I.F.O.).
• To issue the material to the user department of hotel after making proper record.
• To maintain the smooth flow of perishable and non-perishable goods for the department.

SALES & MARKETING DEPARTMENT

The main function of this department is:

• To sell the room nights and various conferences facilities to various clientele.
• To sell the room nights to individual guest for holiday purpose.
• To make the brand image of hotel in the market.
• To act as an agent for hotel and provide various information of changes and updating.