Hotel Management

Learn about hotel resort management and hospitality management.

• Start studying any time; study from anywhere and at your own pace
• Highly qualified and experienced tutors
• Make a career move - get a job, improve your prospects for advancement, start a business

Lesson Structure

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction: Scope and Nature of Hotel Management
   • The Hotel Industry, The Scope of the Industry, The Firm in the Hotel and Catering Industry, Hotel Management, Planning, Policy
2. Organisation of the Hotel Workplace
   • Organisation, The Nature and Purpose of Organisation, The Mechanistic View of Organisation, The Human Relations View of Organisation, The Systems Approach to Organisation, Organisation Structure, The Informal Structure, Hotel Organisation
3. Staff Management in Hotels
   • Work Charts, Communication and Coordination, Staff Management, Monitoring Workloads and Work Procedures, Authority/Chain of Command, Career Structure.
4. Control Systems
   • Sources and Storage of Information, Creating and Maintaining Information, Creating and Maintaining Control Systems, Types of Control, Production Control, Quality Control, Sales Control, Labour Utilisation Control, Materials Control, Maintenance Control, Financial Control, Setting Standards and Corrective Action, Work Study, Organisation and Methods
5. Front Desk Management (Reception)
   • The Functions of the Front Office, Customer Service, Dealing with Grievances & Complaints, Understanding Communication, Conversation Development, Using the Telephone, Business Letters, Promotions and Customer Relations, Client Interpersonal Skills, Self Esteem & Reinforcement, etc.
6. Servicing Rooms and General Cleaning
   • Service Equipment, Direct Purchase of Hire of Equipment, Linen: Purchase or Hire, Choice of Fabrics, Structure and Properties of Fibres, Linen Room Organisation.
7. Building and Facility Maintenance
   • Daily, Periodic and Planned Preventative Maintenance, Frequent Maintenance Problems, Safety, Furniture, Fittings, Managing Maintenance, Building Maintenance, Toilets and Locker Rooms.
8. Activities Management
   • Tour desk, gymnasium, events (eg. Weddings, balls etc), In house Services, Recreation Facilities, Guest Information Services, Swimming Pools, Spa & Sauna Facilities, Activities Management, Tourism.
9. Food Service
   • Types of Food Service (eg. Room Service, Bar, Restaurant, Coffee Shop etc), Kitchen Design & Equipment, Service Facilities, Food Service Management, Food Purchasing, Dealing with Complaints.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Understand the range of hotels in operation and their management policies
• Understand management structures and the way in which the workplace is organised.
• Otganise a team of professional staff together to ensure quality delivery of these services requires a tremendous amount of skill and organisation.
• Gain an understanding of the complexity of hotel management consider the following areas of management:
• Discuss the importance of maintaining an overall system of control within a hotel
• Develop knowledge of the complexities and management issues relating to front desk operations.
• Develop knowledge of equipment and understanding of linen available
• Implement facilities management systems
• Manage an activities service
• Describe a range of food services offered in the hotel industry

What You Will Do

• Interview a manager or senior staff at a local hotel to enquire about their set up and structured policies.
• Find out about the organisational structure of either one department of the hotel, or the whole hotel.
• Observe how managers give direction/orders/requests to staff.
• Discuss the procedures which should be followed when creating and maintaining a budgetary control system.
• Observe and evaluate the Front Desk management of a selected hotel, commenting on the style of communication used, efficiency of the staff and your suggestions for improvement.
• Discuss room service and room standards (ie cleanliness, etc.) in hotels and other guest accommodation, with three different colleagues or friends to identify areas of concern.
• Visit a hotel in order to develop a checklist for conducting maintenance inspections.
• Compare guest services (including fitness and health services) fat two different hotels or chains in the same region
• Compare the different food services (including range/scope of services, times of service, types of food and beverage, prices, and quality of serviced) at three hotels in the same area.