“FUNDAMENTALS IN LODGING OPERATION”

Course Description: This course describes the skills, knowledge and

performance outcomes required to explore and analyze the management and practices
of lodging operations and related sales activities in the major operating and support
departments. It will also expose the students on the unique aspect of managing a
service – based lodging establishment delivered by diverse employees and
understanding of the business and financial operations of the lodging firm.

The course introduced the housekeeping department of a hotel and lodging

organization: its organizational structure; roles and responsibilities; function of the

department; equipment and tools for housekeeping operations; methods and

procedures of cleaning operations including linen, uniform and laundry service; general

maintenance and decoration of a hotel; safety and sanitation in housekeeping

operations; management of operation and record keeping; precautionary procedures;

guest safety and hotel assets. Laboratory includes actual exposure in the housekeeping

operations.

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 Opening Prayer:

Lord of Light and Wisdom, thank you for giving me a mind that can know and a
heart that can love. Help me to keep learning every day, no matter what the
subject is, for all knowledge leads to you.
Encourage me when the studies are hard and when I am tempted
to give up. Enlighten me when my brain is slow, and let me grasp the truth held
out to me. AMEN.

I. Introduction of the Hospitality Industry

(Coverage of Week 1 and Week 2)

II. Overview:

The Hosp itality
Industry is the
industry that is

responsible for providing primarily food services and accommodations in places such as
hotels, resorts, conference centers and theme or amusement parks. The catering
industry, which overlaps with the hospitality industry, primarily provides food services to
institutions (such as schools, hospitals, or governmental operations), private industry
(such as corporate cafeterias or motion picture studios), and private parties. And also, in
a much boarder view, non-commercial institutional provide food and lodging.

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 III. Sub-topics:
a. The Pineapple Tradition
b. Interrelated Nature of Hospitality and Tourism
c. Characteristics of Hospitality Industry
d. Classification of Hotels
e. Different Departments of Hotel and its Functions
f. Star Rating of Hotels

IV. Learning Outcomes:

1. Introduce the symbol of the hospitality industry.
2. Understand the scope of the hospitality and tourism industry.
3. Discuss the standards of the hotel.
4. Understand the classification of hotels based on different criteria.
5. Discuss the interrelationship of various departments in the hotel.
6. Able to identify the various star categories.

V. Introduction of the Sub-topics

In this chapter the overall introduction to hospitality industry will be
discuss. It includes when and how hospitality started and its symbol; the difference and
interrelation of tourism to hospitality and its characteristics; classifications of hotel based
on its location, target market, and themes; introduction to the different departments of a
hotel and its functions; and how a hotel is rated.

VI. Discussion
a. The Pineapple Tradition
The Pineapple Story and Its History
The Story of the Pineapple starts when
Christopher Columbus brought the pineapple,
which originated in South America, back to Europe
as one of the prizes obtained in the New World.
At that time sweets were not a common
item because sugar was a rare, imported
commodity, as was fruit. And so, it was that the
pineapple, with its intense sweetness, became so
desirable and sought after. Pineapples were used
impressively on banquets and considered to be the
height of extravagance in Europe.

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 It took Europeans two centuries to perfect a hothouse method of growing the fruit. In
later centuries, The Story of the Pineapple continues in the early American colonies
when pineapples were used as symbols of hospitality and friendship.

The legend tells of the sea captains of New England, who sailed to the Caribbean
Islands and returned to the colonies with exotic fruits and spices.

When clipper ships returned to port, their families would spear a precious pineapple on
their iron gatepost as a common symbol to welcome friends and neighbors into their
homes to celebrate the safe return of the captain and crew. The pineapple served as an
invitation for them to visit, share his food and listen to the tales of the voyage.

In early settlements, the pineapple was traditionally given as a gift of friendship. Over
time, colonial Innkeepers added the pineapple to their signs and bedposts carved with
pineapples were a common sight at Inns throughout New England. The tradition
continues and to this day hotels and service industries proudly display and use the
pineapple as a symbol of hospitality.

Today we can wear the pineapple pin as a symbol of hospitality and understand how
history teaches us how the story of the pineapple began and evolved through the
decades.

Interrelated Nature of Hospitality and Tourism

What Is Tourism?

Tourism is both an industry and concept. As a

concept, tourism refers to traveling to a
destination -- either within a person's own
country or outside his or her own country -- for
business or leisure purposes. More
specifically, the World Tourism Organization
defines the word "tourism" as the practice of
"traveling to and staying in places outside
their usual environment for not more than one
consecutive year for leisure and not less than
24 hours, business and other purposes." As
an industry, tourism consists of businesses
that sell products or services to these
travelers, whom are also known as "tourists."

Common examples of tourism businesses include:

     Cruise lines •Tour guides •Travel
agents
     Hotels •Amusement parks
What is Hospitality?

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 Like tourism, hospitality is both a concept and industry. As a concept,
hospitality refers to the relationship between a guest and a host. When you
visit a friend's home for dinner, for example, he or she acts as the host while
you act as the guest. Hospitality is the concept that governs this relationship.
As an industry, hospitality consists of businesses that are heavily dependent
upon such relationships. To succeed, hospitality businesses must foster strong
and meaningful relationships with their guests. Failure to do so will likely
result in guests leaving the business for a competitor's products or services.

Common examples of hospitality businesses include:

     Restaurants
     Cafes
     Hotels
     Bed & breakfasts
     Clubs
     Event planning

How the Tourism and Hospitality Industries Differ

Now let's take a closer look at how tourism and hospitality industries differ
from each other. Hospitality is a larger industry that actually includes many
tourism businesses. Because tourism businesses rely on strong and
meaningful relationships with their customers to succeed, they are often
classified as hospitality businesses as well. The difference between the
tourism and hospitality industries is that former is a smaller industry that
specifically focuses on traveling activities, whereas the latter is a larger
industry that encompasses all businesses in which strong and meaningful
customer relationships are required.

Characteristics of Hospitality Industry

Intangible
Inseparability
Variability
Perishability
Heterogeneity
Labor Intensive
Relationship Building
Diversity in Culture etc.

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 Intangibility: Service cannot be seen, tasted, heard, or smelled and measured before
they are received. So, hospitality service staffs should give special attention to
personalizing service etiquette, hospitality conversation. quality of service equipment.
friendly environment as well as the quality of products. Here. the customers just feel and
have experience of services provided by Service stalls. Intangibility refers to functional
services that count more than tangible or technical service. the tangible refers to what
we serve and intangible refers to how we serve. If the guests are satisfied with the
products and services, they come back again and again. 

Inseparability: During the guest's service in the hospitality industry, the service staffs
perform as an actor on the stage. They possess high skills by handling the equipment to
provide tangible services. Therefore. service cannot be separated from the service
providers. sometimes guests also are involved in the preparation of products and
services. They entertain when they involve in the preparation of products and services. 

Variability: Services have highly variability the same room or food gives a different
level of satisfaction with the different customers at different times so the guests can
have different experiences. The same guest receives different feelings at different
times. The quality of service does not only depend upon what we serve also depends
on how we serve. And also depends upon how the customer receives it. 

Perishability: In the hospitality industry. service cannot be stored because they are
highly perishable. Unused 'service of today cannot be sold the next day; the guest's
rooms of hotels are highly perishable. They cannot be stored to sell the next day.
Hospitality services have a time frame for utilization. 

Heterogeneity: In hospitality. the system of products and services may vary from one
to another establishment. This is the essence of hospitality. So, the guests have various
options to choose from. The same soup offered by hotel A may be different from hotel
B. the same type of guest room offered by hotel A may has different amenities that hotel
B. The facilities, the methods of preparation. the brand, the service staff, the
complementary offered to play a vital role in the guest's reaction.

Labor Intensive: Since the hospitality industry is service-oriented in its' nature, it

requires a huge supply of labor to create a memorable experience for the customers.
This characteristic is especially true for those enterprises which target high-ended
customers. For example, staff-to-guest ratios are high in fine dining restaurants and 5-
star hotels which aimed at providing one-on-one services to their customers. Although
the advancement in technology does contribute to the replacement of some simple
tasks in the whole service process, customers who concern the element of 'care'
generally expect a high degree of human contacts and personalized services in their

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 consumption experiences. It explains why the industry is always in high demand for
labor and is willing to spend time and resources in training and recruiting potential
candidates to join the workforce of the hospitality industry. 

Relationship Building: The hospitality industry highly depends on repeated customers

for survival. Building long term relationships with customers can benefit the
organizations for generating stable revenues regardless of the instability of seasons and
at the same time, developing brand reputations through positive word-of-mouth of the
repeated customers. In order to develop brand loyalty, different methods are currently
applied by the lodging and foodservice sectors, such as membership programs that give
privileges and incentives to frequent customers. However, top management of
organizations does believe that the informal ways of building "friendship" between front-
line staff and customers through a high degree of personal attention and customization
can win the loyalty of customers in the long run.

Diversity in Culture: closely related to the tourism industry, it is not surprising that

people involved in this hospitality sector, no matter customers or staff are experiencing
diversity in culture through interacting with others. Staffs who work in a hospitality
organization always have interactions with customers from different regions or to work
and corporate with other colleagues who may have different backgrounds cultures. Due
to their differences in religious beliefs and values, some conflicts and
misunderstandings can easily occur. Therefore, staff should be open-minded and come
up with solutions together in resolving problems in their duties. For example: From the
customers' perspective, some of them abstain from meat due to their religious beliefs or
habit. Therefore, restaurants should provide vegetarian food as an option in order to
satisfy their needs.

Classification of Hotels

To classify hotels into different types is a difficult task because this industry is
a diverse business that many hotels do not fit into single category. Hotels can
be classified in various ways. The criteria that lead to hotels being classified in
the various star categories. Table 1.1 summarizes the different classification
of hotel.

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 Table 1.1 Classification of Hotels Based on Different Criteria

LOCATION TARGET SIZE LEVEL OF LENGTH OF THEMES

MARKET AND SERICE STAY
NUMBER
City center/ Commercial Small Economy Transient hotels Heritage
downtown hotels hotels budget hotels Residential hotels
hotels Conventional Medium Mid- hotels/aparthotels Ecotels
Suburban hotel sized scale/midmarket Semi residential Boutique
hotels Resort Hotels hotel hotels hotels hotels
Motels Suite hotels Large Luxury hotels spa
Airport hotels B&B hotels hotels
Resorts Extended stay Very
Forest hotels hotel large
Floatels Casino hotels hotels
Boatels Timeshares Chain
Rotels Condominiums Hotels
Cruise ships Service
apartments/
corporate
lodgings

A. Based on location:
City centered/ downtown hotels

These hotels are usually located in the heart of the city, within a short
distance from shopping centers, cinemas, public/private buildings and
business centers. Rates in this kid of hotels are normally expensive due to
their locational advantage.
Suburban Hotels

These hotels are located in the suburbs. They have the advantage of a
quitter surrounding or environment. Rates are considered moderate to low and
that is why they are usually ideal for budget travelers.
Motels

The name of this type of hotel was derived from the phrase “motor
hotel”. They are primarily located on the highways and travelers that visit this
type of hotel usually stay overnight. Most motel provide enough parking space
for stopovers and they take advantage of having another business near it such
as gas stations or convenience stores.

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 Airport Hotels

These are hotels set up near airports. They cater to mainly transit
guests who might have to stay over all the hotels between flights.
Resort Hotels

These cater to people who want to relax and enjoy themselves at a hill
station, near the seashore, and so on, as well as to people who are looking for
a change for health reasons. Therefore, resort hotels may be variously called
resorts, hill resorts, beach resorts, summer resorts, winter resorts and so on
depending on their location and positioning.
Forest Hotels

These are located within forest range and cater to tourist visiting forest
area.
Floatels/ Floating Hotels

These are hotels establishments on luxury liners or ships. Rivers, big

lakes and seas are ideal spots for such hotels.
Cruise Ships

These are considered as passenger ships intended as destination

holiday. Luxuries aboard the ship as well as the various destination along the
way help create unique experience for travelers.
Boatels

Boatels is a portmanteau of a boat and a hotel. This type of hotel is

actually boats that serves as hotels or hostels for travelers. They offer small
but luxurious accommodation to travelers in the midst of lakes and water
ways. they may range from small or large to purpose-built boatels.
Rotels

These novel variants are hotels with wheels.

B. Based on Target Market:
Commercial Hotels

This type of hotels caters mostly to business persons. They are typically
in European Countries. They are situated in the heart of the city in busy
commercial areas as to get increased business.
Conventional Hotels

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 These hotels are large convention complex and accommodate people
attending a convention, conference, or similar event.
Suite Hotels

Offers rooms that may include a compact kitchenette, complete utensils,

refrigerator and microwave oven, as well as wet bar. They have less guest
service than other hotels and suitable for professionals such as lawyer,
accountants and executives during a longer business stay.
B&B Hotel (Bed and Breakfast)

Bed and Breakfast hotels are European concept hotels, bed and
breakfast hotels range from houses with a few rooms converted into overnight
facilities to small commercial buildings with 20 to 30 guestrooms. The owner
usually lives on the premises and is responsible for serving breakfast to the
guests. The breakfast may range from simple continental or multi course meal.
Extended – stay Hotel

Extended – stay hotels are similar to suite hotels, but usually offers a
kitchenette amenity in the room, which suite hotels do not. They are designed
for travelers who intended to stay for five or longer.
Casino Hotel

Hotels with predominantly gambling facilities may be categorized as a

distinct group. These hotels tend to cater to leisure and vacation travelers.
Timeshares

Timeshares hotels are also known as “vacation- interval hotels.” This

involve individuals purchasing ownership of accommodation for a specific
period of time – usually one or two weeks a year. These owners then occupy
the unit during the time, or may have also have the unknit rented by the
management company that operates the hotels.
Condominiums

Condominiums are similar to time shares hotels. The difference between

the two lies in the type of ownership. Units in condominiums hotels have only
one owner instead of multiple owners. An owner informs the management
company of when he or she wants to occupy the unit.
Service apartments/corporate lodgings

This type of hotel is designed for guests or travelers that may wish to
stay longer in the lodgings, which may often last for six months or longer.

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 They usually provide fully furnished apartments for guests and are not
recommended for short-stay vacations.
C. Based on Size of Property
Small hotels

Small hotels are hotels with 25 rooms and less.

Medium – sized hotels

Medium – sized hotels have 25 to 100 rooms

Large hotels

Large hotels have 101 to 300 rooms

Very large hotels

Very large hotels have more than 1, 000 rooms.

D. Based on Level of Service
Economy Budget hotels

This type of hotels focuses on meeting the most basic need of guests
clean, comfortable, and inexpensive rooms.
Mid – scale/mid – market hotel

These hotels offer mid-market services. Mid- market services are the
mostly appealing to the large segment of the travelling public. Services are the
modest but sufficient and are considered enough for travelers. The staffing
level is considered moderate but not huge, enough to offer good customer
service.
Luxury hotel

These hotels offer excellent services, providing upscale restaurants and

lounges, exquisite décor, concierge services, opulent meeting rooms and
dining facilities.
E. Based on length of stay
Transient hotels

These are hotels where a guest can register for a day or even less.
Residential hotel/aparthotels

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 This type of hotel offers accommodation to guest who can stay for a
minimum period of one month and up to two years. The hotel signs a detailed
lease agreement with the customer.
Semi-residential hotels

These are hotels that incorporate the feature of both transient and
residential hotels.
F. Based on Theme
Heritage hotel

Has been the launch of unique heritage hotel. The country’s rich and
distinguished cultural past has bequeathed on it a number of feudal states that
are in the forms of forts, palaces or ha, the mansion of erstwhile aristocratic
families.
Ecotels

This hotel are environment-friendly hotels.

Boutique hotels

This type of hotel provides exceptional accommodations, furnished in

themed and stylish manner, along with personalize services and facilities.
Spa

Taken from the name of the famous minerals’ springs in Spa. It is a

resort hotel providing therapeutic bath and massages with other features of a
luxury hotel.
The Main Departments in a Hotel or Resort

In order to run the Hotel as a functional unit, there are several departments in a hotel
which work and coordinate together and the major departments of the hotel are:

Front Office Department

This department performs various functions like reservation, reception, registration,
room assignment, and settlement of bills of
a resident guest and the front office
department is considered as the nerve centre
of a hotel. The front-office staff welcome the
guests, carry their luggage, help
them register, give them their room keys and
mail, answer questions about the activities in
the hotel and surrounding area, and finally

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 check them out. In fact, the only direct contact most guests have with hotel employees,
other than in the restaurants, is with members of the front-office staff.

Housekeeping Department
The housekeeping department is responsible for
the cleanliness, maintenance, and aesthetic upkeep
of rooms, public areas, back areas, and
surroundings in a hotel and for the immaculate care
and upkeep of all guest rooms and public spaces at
all times.

The staff members who excel in the Housekeeping

Departments have an eye for detail and a
commitment to the training, development and motivation of a diverse group of talented
employees. It is the service and cleanliness that really make an impact on our guests
and determine whether they will return and also recommend the hotel to others.

Food and Beverage Service Department

This department looks after the service of food and
drinks to guests. The Food which is made in the
Kitchen and Drinks prepared in the Bar to the
Customers (Guest) at the Food & Beverage premises.
Some examples of the food and beverage outlets are
Restaurants, Bars, Hotels, Airlines, Cruise Ships,
Trains, Companies, Schools, Colleges, Hospitals,
Prisons, Takeaway etc.

Kitchen or Food Production

Department
All the food and beverages that are served
to the hotel guest is prepared in the kitchen.
Culinary preparation, as an art and science
in the modern kitchen, required more than
just a knowledge of food being prepared and
the methods of preparation.

It is through a knowledge of basic skills,

terminology, and rules of the kitchen that a final goal, preparation and service of quality
is achieved in the hotel kitchen.

Engineering and Maintenance Department

The engineering department is responsible for

repairing and maintaining the plant and

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 machinery, water treatment and distribution, boilers and water heating, sewage
treatment, external and common area lighting, fountains and water features etc. Also, it
looks after the maintenance of all the equipment, furniture and fixture installed in a
hotel.

Accounts and Credits Department

This department maintains all the financial

transactions. Accounting departments typically
handle a variety of important tasks. Such tasks
often include invoicing customers, accounts
receivable monitoring and
collections, account reconciliations, payables
processing, consolidation of multiple entities
under common ownership, budgeting, periodic
financial reporting as well as financial analysis.

Also common are setting up adequate internal controls for all business processes (to
prevent theft/misappropriation of assets), handling external audits and dealing with
banks in order to obtain financing. Taxes are sometimes handled by accounting
departments in house, but this work is often contracted to outside tax accountants.

Security Department

The security department of a hotel is
responsible for the overall security of the
hotel building, in-house guests, visitors, day
users, and employees of the hotel, and also
their belongings.

HR Department

Human Resource department is responsible

for the acquisition, utilization, training, and
development of the human resources of the
hotel.

The role of the HR department also has to do

with the administration of an impartial and
internal justice system which will promote
transparency and openness in organizational communication. The Human resources

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 department also serves as a progressive voice in a common system and strives to
ensure competitiveness in the conditions of service for staff.

Sales and Marketing Department

The major role of the sales
and marketing department is to bring in business
and also to increase the sales of the hotel’s
products and services is the major task of the
department.

Purchase Department
The purchase department is responsible
for procuring the inventories of all the
departments of a hotel.

Information Technology (IT) / Systems

The Information Technology department is responsible for the day-to-day support of all
IT systems, business systems, office systems, computer networks, and telephony
systems throughout the hotel/resort.

Additionally, responsible for Information Technology issues, products, and services at

the property. Provides user training and support of all property/site systems, network
enhancements, hardware and software support etc.

Star Rating of Hotels

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 Star rating is usually organized by the Department of Tourism (DOT), which puts
together a team of representative from the government, hospitality educationist, travel
agent, airlines, and the hotel industry. Hotel are required to display their rating at the
main portal of the hotel so the guest can know what standard to expect.

1. One – Star hotels likely to be small and independently owned, with a

family atmosphere. Services maybe provided by the owner’s family on an informal
basis.

2. Two- Star hotels typically small and to medium sized and offer more extensive
facilities than the one-star level., some business hotels come into two – star
classification. Guest can expect comfortable, well- equipped overnight accommodation.

3. Three- Star hotel hotels are usually of a size to support higher staffing level as
well as significantly higher quality and range of facilities than the lower star
classification.

4. Four- Star hotel expectation from this level include a degree of luxury as well
as quality in furnishing, décor, and equipment in every area of the hotel. Bedrooms will
also usually offer more space than at the lower star level. There will be a high ratio of
staff to guests to provide porter service, 24 hours’ room service and laundry and dry
cleaning.

5. Five- Star hotel these offers spacious and luxurious accommodation

throughout the hotel, matching the best international standards.

b. Activity:
An activity will be conducted through google classroom.
(Identifying Logos from different outstanding)

c. Assessment:

Name: _______________________________________ Score: ___________

Identification:

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 _____________1. Classification of hotels wherein they provide parking spaces and located near
petrol stations.

_____________2. Classification of hotel wherein ownership of accommodations is purchases for

a specific period of time.

_____________3. These are environment friendly hotels.

_____________4. Rating of a hotel if it offers spacious and luxurious accommodation.

_____________5. Hotels on a wheel.

VII. Suggest Readings.

Welcome to Hospitality. An introduction 2nd edition
by Kye-Sung (Kaye) Chou and Raymond T. Sparrowe

VIII. References
EDRIC PUBLISING HOUSE, ISBN: 978-621-8179-49-3 Fundamentals in Lodging
Operation, Bryan G. Baliste

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