Careers in the Hospitality Industry.

A lot of people work in a hotel, the main task of all personnel is to look after guests, and each member of the staff has its own duties and responsibility.

At the head of the hotel there is General Manager. He runs the hotel and controls the whole work of it. He controls that the hotel is profitable. Then comes, Assistant Manager, he is answerable to General Manager and responsible for all the departments.

All hotels, big or small, have a staff structure. In medium to large hotels, the staff are organized into departments. A simple structure might have only three departments: food and beverages (restaurants, bars, kitchens), housekeeping and maintenance, front office and administration.

In a bigger hotel the restaurant and the kitchen are separate departments. The same would happen with maintenance and housekeeping, and also with administration and front office.

The department which has the closest contact with hotel's guests is the front office, also is often called the reception. Head Receptionist controls the work of the Front Desk. He has some assistants whose duty is to book rooms, to check- in and check - out the guests, as well as to deal with their complaints. They work with computers and hotel documents, check both the manual records and the computer records to see which rooms are occupied, which are unoccupied, which are closed for maintenance and which need cleaning. Also, they send faxes, answer the telephone calls, deal with enquires, take reservations and put calls through to other departments. Hotel receptionists are in constant contact with the public and need to have very good customer skills.

The Head Housekeeper gives orders to the chambermaids whose job is to see to it that all rooms are clean and everything is in order.

Large hotels also have a concierge, who has a desk in the hotel lobby near the reception. The concierge's job is to provide necessary information to guests and to help guests find the facilities and attractions that they want both inside and outside the hotel.

To work in a hotel you must be reliable, hardworking, energetic and honest. It is hard work, especially in peak season. The working hours are long and unsociable. You are expected to work at weekends, some guests may be difficult to deal with.

The personnel of the hotel should be helpful and friendly and (try to) always smile to the guests. More over working in a hotel demands a great deal of energy, flexibility and dedication. You have to be creative, polite, friendly and highly responsible.

Jobs in the hotel

A hotel is a complex operation. It includes places for people to sleep and eat and shop, there are often recreational facilities and areas for public gathering. А hotel can be considered as a small city. Because of its complexity, there is a wide variety of different careers.

The top people in the hotel industry are managers. The principal function of management is to coordinate all the different activities that take place in the hotel. At the head of the hotel there is a General Manager. He runs the hotel and controls the whole work of it. Then comes Assistant Manager, he is answerable to General Manager and responsible for all the departments. The departments are: Front Desk or Reception, Food and Beverages Department, Housekeeping, Purchasing Department and so on. All departments are closely connected. Head Receptionist controls the work of the Front Desk. He has some assistant whose duty is to book rooms, to check-in and check-out the guests, as well as to deal with their complains. They work with computers and hotel documents. The Head Housekeeper gives orders to the chambermaids whose job is to see to it that all rooms are clean. There are waiters and waitresses who serve guests in the restaurant. Bartender serves guests in the bar. There are also bellboys, porters, and concierges. They first meet people, help them with their luggage, give information and show guests to their rooms.

The hospitality industry is different from other industries. Hospitality is people dealing with people, from the porter to the hotel manager. If you don't like people, this isn't the career for you.

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Check – in procedure

The first person who meets guests is a doorman, A porter helps the guest to carry their luggage to the front desk, where the guest is met by receptionist. The receptionist works in one of the front offices by the front hall or lobby of a hotel. He has direct personal or telephone contact with the guests.

A hotel res­ervation requests in different ways: by phone, or by telegram, by e-mail. Hotels often ask people who make reservation by telephone to confirm their booking in writing.

Some hotels have computer terminals. These hotels can link their reservation system with other ho­tels, with airline seat reservation system and with terminals in the offices of important travel agents.

The reservation form helps the receptionist to make sure that all the necessary information from the per­son is requested. That means that the information could be found very quickly when required. A reception form is used to record the full name, nationality, home address, and passport number.

Checking in the guest the receptionist first asks about reservation. If the room isn't booked beforehand, the recep­tionist asks the guest about preferences. Then the guest is asked to give the passport, fill in a special form and put the signature. After that the receptionist gives the key of the room. The bellboy helps the guest with the luggage and shows the customer to the guest room.

The staff of the hotel must speak in a polite voice, smile and be pleasant and helpful!

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