LODGING AND ACCOMODATION

ACCOMMODATION AND THE TOURISM PRODUCT

 Necessary component in tourism development within any/all destinations that seeks to
serve visitors other than day-trippers.
 Quality and range reflects and influences the range of visitors to a location.
 Plays an important role in the overall economic contribution which tourism makes at a
local and national level.
Medlik and Ingram (2000)
“Hotels play an important role in most countries in providing facilities for the transaction
of businesses, for meetings and conferences, for recreation and entertainment…. In many
areas hotels are important attractions for visitors who bring to them spending power and who
tend to spend at a higher rate than when they do when they are at home.”
THE ACCOMMODATION PRODUCT COMPRISES
1. Location
2. Facilities
3. Services
4. Image
5. Price

I. THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ACCOMMODATIONS

1. HOTELS - is the most significant and visible sub-sector. Hotels provides greatest total
employment in global terms, they account for the highest level of receipts and are
traditionally viewed as an accommodation that also provides F&B services to short-stay
guests on a paying basis
2. GUEST HOUSES, INNS, FARM HOUSES, BED & BREAKFAST are small, family-
style environment with simple and limited operations where guests may share facilities
and/or meals with their host
3. SELF –CATERING ACCOMMODATION are combination of accommodation with
additional recreational areas and the facility to prepare food on a personal basis.

 An example is the apartment which is a major element in many

Mediterranean resorts.
 Other examples includes cottages and gites.

4. CAMPUS ACCOMMODATIONS Its facility use includes both within and outside
tourism sector and is often used in a semi-permanent basis by students.
5. TIME SHARE are accommodation facilities that have limited private ownership or they
are period- constrained usually limited to 1-2 weeks a year. They are self-catering holiday
home ownership.
 A form of period-constrained, self-catering, holiday, home ownership, which provides
additional benefits to owners in the form of possible access to similar properties in resorts
throughout the world through exchange consortia.
6. YOUTH ACCOMMODATIONS Young people tends to utilize accommodation at the
low cost end of the market bed and breakfasts
Youth hotels such as those run by the Youth Hotel Association (YHA), Young
Men’s Associations (YMCA) and Young women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and
their local equivalent as well as camp sites
7. CAMPING & CARAVAN SITES travelers bring their own accommodation to the
destination in the form of tents, caravans or trailers.
These accommodations are restricted in terms of space and privacy.
8. MEDICAL FACILITY ACC not normally seen as part of the tourism industry although
facilities in hospitals, especially in private institutions, are close to the best available
within tourism accommodations
9. CRUISE LINERS AND FERRIES – long-distance passenger liners provide
accommodation facilities designed as a necessary facility and ancillary to the prime
purpose of transport

 Ferries, on the other hand, provides functional but limited accommodation

services.
 For long – distance passenger liners.
 The main form of transport for those wishing for translatic or
intercontinental travel in the era that proceed the development of wide
bodied jets.
10. TRAINS AND AIRCRAFT Modernized version of trains provide hotel comforts to the
maximum permitted by space.
 Bed-like comfort for long-haul travelers on aircrafts for first-class payee
 Similar provision but not a lower scale for business class
11. VISITING RELATIVES AND/OR FRIENDS Utilize facilities within the homes of
their family or friends
Major element within the tourism industries of many countries, especially
domestic tourism

II. STRUCTURE OF THE ACCOMMODATION SECTOR

COMMERCIAL SECTOR Operate on the principle of open public access, public can move
freely throughout these facilities without deterrent of highly visible security barriers.
A firm that has nothing to do with farming, manufacturing or transportation business.

Commercial Sector
 Caravan Parks
Hotel, Licensed Villas
Hotel, Unlicensed Apartments
Motels Chalets
Private Hotels
Guesthouse
Farmhouses

Holiday centers, Villages, Camps

Cruise Ships Hired Yachts

Non- Commercial
Sector

Youth Hostels Private Caravan

YMCA Private Camping
Private Motor homes
Private Yatchs
Home Exchanges
Timeshare
Second homes
VFR

Educational Institutions

III. THE DISTINCTIVE NATURE OF ACCOMMODATION

1. The first area is the concept that hospitality and accommodation compromise both tangible
and intangible factors
- Tangible aspects would include: physical surroundings, equipment needed, décor, location,
and f&b
- Intangible: atmosphere present in an establishment and most importantly, the service that
the guest experiences

2. Concerns the inseparability of the production and consumption of good and services in this
sector. The goods and services consumed has no lasting value

3. The fact that is immediately perishable. Means it cannot be stored and if it is not sold for any
given night, the opportunity of sale will be lost forever.

SECTORAL OVERLAP

 Accommodation sector may or may not exist in organizational isolation from other
section of tourism economy
 Operations that provide accommodation facilities and nothing else – some budget hotel
product, self- catering cottages and campsites.

IV. THE MANAGEMENT OF COMMERCIAL ACCOMMODATION

Two Fairly unique aspects of the management in this business (from our reference book):

1. The concept of overbooking is relatively common within commercial accommodation.

2. In an effort to manage the reservation system and as a means of ensuring the maximum
numbers of rooms are full at any given time, accommodation providers have yield or
revenue management.

Most of the skills required for effective accommodation management in hospitality

organizations will also be required by any hotel of modest or greater size. These include:

1. Front office management- comprising reservations, night audit and, in high-end

establishments, the bell captain’s office and the concierge.
2. Housekeeping management- including the cleaning of all public and private spaces,
although often an establishment’s kitchens are excluded from the sphere of responsibility
of the housekeeping department and are the sole responsibility of the head or executive
head chef.
3. Engineering and maintenance- although in some instances this may be a separate
department.
4. Revenue management- which may be a function of front office or, alternately, of a
separate sales and marketing department; and
5. Safety and security management.
 V. QUALITY ISSUES AND GRADING IN THE ACCOMMODATION
SECTOR

It may apply to all sub-sectors but is predominantly used with respect to hotels.

 Classification – “The assignments of hotels to a categorical rating according to type

or property , Facilities and amenities offered“
 Grading – Quality Dimension, quality perceived to be an add- on which does not
impact upon the star rating of an establishment.

ACCOMMODATION CLASSIFICATION

Currently there is no international standard of classification for accommodation

establishments. Different continents and sometimes different countries use variation of
classification for accommodation establishments.
 Star System
 Diamond System
 Silver or Gold System

ACCOMMODATION GRADING

In South Africa, all accommodation establishments can be graded through the Tourism
Grading Council of South Africa.

“Local establishments are graded from 1 Star up to 5 Stars. With 1 Star being very basic
in the facilities it offers and 5 Stars being a place with all the bells and whistles. But you need
not be a triple-story plush hotel owner to be awarded a 5 Star Grading. When our Assessors
perform a grading, they are mindful of the type of accommodation being graded. This means that
it is possible for smaller B&B’s to achieve 5 Star Grading’s too – provided they meet the
relevant criteria.”

Others in Europe are graded using A, B or C grading.

PURPOSE OF ACCOMMODATION CLASSIFICATION INCLUDE:

 Standardization- to establish a system of uniform service and product quality that helps
to create an orderly travel market distribution system for buyers and seller.
 Marketing- to advise travelers on the range and types of accommodation available
within a destination
 Consumer Protection- to ensure that accommodation meets minimum standards of
accommodation, facilities and service.
 Revenue Generation- to provide revenue from licensing, the sale of guidebooks and so
forth.
 Control- to provide a system for controlling general industry quality.
 Investment Incentive- to give operations incentive to upgrade their facilities and
services
HUMAN RESOURCES AND THE ACCOMMODATION SECTOR

Service intensive business within accommodation are also labor-intensive and are always likely
to remain so. This is despite considerable improvements in : productivity through use of
technology ; training ; system efficiency ; and management effectiveness.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ACCOMMODATION SECTOR

Unit level: Technology is the key to the efficient management of resources at unit level.
Macro level: The significant development at this level is the increasing dominance of global
distribution system(GDS) as the lead method of securing market share and marketing advantage
for major accommodation brands Internet: This has allowed small operators to by pass the power
of GDS

HOTEL ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

 ORGANIZATIONAL CHART 
          Every hotel, whether it’s big or small, needs an organizational structure to carry out its
daily operations. It is used to help divide tasks, specify the job for each department, and delegate
authority within and among departments. Effective job specifications will increase work
productivity and efficiency. Each hotel organizes the workforce in different ways. Here shows a
medium size hotel organizational structure.
It was basically segmented into six divisions: finance, front office, human resources, food and
beverage, sales and logistics as the following organizational chart:
 
Financial
The financial department’s role is to record financial transactions, prepare and interpret financial
statements, and deal with cost accounting and cost control.
Front Office
          The front office (room management) department handles customer service including front
desk service, reservation, laundry, concierge, telephone, and housekeeping service. A hotel’s
front office is where guests are greeted when they arrive, where they get registered and assigned
to a room, and where they check out. It’s almost the most important department as it often offers
contact with customers.
Human Resources
          The human resources department is given the responsibility to handle employee
recruitment, arrange staff training, make promotion and disciplinary decisions, and check staff
attendance.

Food & Beverage

          The food and beverage department are responsible for all of the dining rooms, restaurants,
bars, kitchen, clean up services, etc. Here we basically divide F/B department into two parts:
kitchen and restaurant. Kitchen department is responsible for food preparation including main
food, dessert, side food, and beverage. Restaurant department ‘s role is to provide dining room
operation, waiter service, food runner, and clean up service.
Sales
           The responsibility for the sales department is to sell the hotel facilities and services to
individuals and groups. They sell rooms, food, beverage, or special services such as massage and
laundry to potential customers through advertising or direct contacts.

Logistics
The logistics department is responsible for tracking for daily supplies, purchasing appliances,
and keeping security.

FRONT OFFICE OVERVIEW

What is Front Office Department?
It is the one of the many departments of the hotel business which directly interacts with
the customers when they first arrive at the hotel. The staff of this department is very visible to
the guests.
Front office staff handles the transactions between the hotel and its guests. The staff
receives the guests, handles their requests, and strikes the first impression about the hotel into
their minds.
Front office department includes:
 Front Desk
 Uniformed services
  Concierges
 Front Office Accounting System
 Private Branch Exchange (PBX), a private telephone network used within an organization
Basic Responsibilities of Front Office Department
Following are the most basic responsibilities a front office can handle.
 Creating guest database
 Handling guest accounts
 Coordinating guest service
 Trying to sell a service
 Ensuring guest satisfaction
 Handling in-house communication through PBX
Front Office Operations
There are two categories of Front Office Operations −
Front-House Operations
These operations are visible to the guests of the hotel. The guests can interact and see these
operations, hence, the name Front-House operations. Few of these operations include −
 Interacting with the guests to handle request for an accommodation.
 Checking accommodation availability and assigning it to the guest.
 Collecting detail information while guest registration.
 Creating a guest’s account with the FO accounting system.
 Issuing accommodation keys to the guest.
 Settling guest payment at the time of check-out.

Back-House Operations
Front Office staff conducts these operations in the absence of the guests or when the guest’s
involvement is not required. These operations involve activities such as −
 Determining the type of guest (fresh/repeat) by checking the database.
  Ensuring preferences of the guest to give a personal touch to the service.
 Maintaining guest’s account with the accounting system.
 Preparing the guest’s bill.
 Collecting the balance amount of guest bills.
 Generating reports.

TYPE OF HOTEL GUESTS

GENERAL HOTEL GUEST CLASSIFICATION:
a. Purpose of Visit
-pleasure traveler
-business traveler
b. Group Size
c. Origin
-local
-foreign traveler
■ Tourists
■ Families
■ The Elderly
■ Business Travelers
■ Delegates
TYPES OF HOTEL ROOMS
HOTEL GUEST ROOMS CLASSIFICATION
■ Number and size of beds per room
-single rooms (w/ a single bed)
-twin rooms (w/ 2 single beds)
-double rooms
-suites
■ Décor, room size and view
 -Standard single
-Superior single
-deluxe single/double
■ Special Type of Room
TYPES OF ROOM
SINGLE ROOM
■ A room with the facility of single bed. It is meant for single occupancy. It has an attached
bathroom, a small dressing table, a small bedside table, and a small writing table. Sometimes it
has a single chair too.
DOUBLE ROOM
■ room with the facility of double bed. There are two variants in this type depending upon the
size of the bed
a. King Double Room (with king size double bed)
b. Queen Double Room (with queen size double bed)
It is equipped with adequate furniture such as dressing table and a writing table, a TV, and a
small fridge.
DELUXE ROOM
■ They are available in Single Deluxe and Double Deluxe variants. Deluxe room is well
furnished. Some amenities are attached bathroom, a dressing table, a bedside table, a small
writing table, a TV, and a small fridge. The floor is covered with carpet and most suitable for
small families.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE (TWIN DOUBLE) ROOM
■ This room provides two double beds with separate headboards. It is ideal for a family with two
children below 12 years.
HOLLYWOOD TWIN ROOM
■ This room provides two single beds with a common headboard. If a need arises, the two beds
can be brought together to form a double bed.

DUPLEX ROOM
■ This type is composed of two rooms located on two different floors connected with internal
stairs.
CABANA
■ This type of room faces water body, beach, or a swimming pool. It generally has a large
balcony.
STUDIO TYPE ROOM
■ They are twin adjacent rooms: A living room with sofa, coffee table and chairs, and a
bedroom. It is also equipped with fan/air conditioner, a small kitchen corner, and a dining area.
The furniture is often compact.
SUITE
■It is composed of one or more bedrooms, a living room, and a dining area. It is excellent for the
guests who prefer more space, wish to entertain their guests without interruption and giving up
privacy.There are various types of suites −
a. Regular Suite − Best for business travelers.
b. Penthouse Suite − Luxurious than the regular suite. It is provided with the access to
terrace space above the suite. It is aloof from crowd and provides a bird’s eye view of the
city. It has all the amenities and structure similar to a regular suite.
c. Presidential Suite − The best possible suite in the hotel.
SICO
■ This is a kind of multipurpose room, which can be used as a meeting room during the day and
as a bedroom during the night. These rooms have special beds called Murphy Bed that can be
folded entirely against a wall. This bed may or may not have headboard. The lower face of the
bed which becomes visible after folding or placing upright, has a decorative wallpaper, mirror, or
a painting. After folding the bed, the room can accommodate sitting for five to ten people.

ROOM STATUS
■ During the guest stay, the housekeeping status of the guest room charges several times. The
various terms defined are typical of the room status terminology of the lodging industry. Not
every room status will occur for each and every guest during their stay at the hotel.
■ Changes in this status should be promptly communicated to the front office in order to
maximize room sales and revenue. Maintaining timely housekeeping status requires close
coordination and cooperation between the front desk and the housekeeping department for the
Non- Automated / SemiAutomated hotels.

ROOM STATUS CODES AND DEFINITION

■ OCC - Occupied: A guest is currently occupied in the room
■ Stayover: The guest is not expected to check out today and will remain at least one more
night.
■ On-Change: The guest has departed, but the room has not yet been cleaned and ready for sale.
■ DND - Do Not Disturb: The guest has requested not to be disturbed
■ Cleaning in progress: Room attendant is currently cleaning this room.
■ Sleep-out: A guest is registered to the room, but the bed has not been used.
■ On-Queue: Guest has arrived at the hotel, but the room assigned is not yet ready. In such
cases, the room is put on Queue status in-order for the housekeeping staff to prioritize such
rooms first.
■ Skipper: The guest has left the hotel without making arrangements to settle his or her account.
■ Vacant ready: The room has been cleaned and inspected and is ready for an arriving guest.
■ Out of Order (OOO): Rooms kept under out of order are not sellable and these rooms are
deducted from the hotel's inventory. A room may be out-of-order for a variety of reasons,
including the need for maintenance, refurbishing and extensive cleaning etc.
■ Out of Service (OOS): Rooms kept under out of service are not deducted from the hotel
inventory. This is a temporary blocking and reasons may be bulb fuse, TV remote not working,
Kettle not working etc. These rooms are not assigned to the guest once these small maintenance
issues are fixed.
■ LO - Lockout: The room has been locked so that the guest cannot re-enter until he or she is
cleared by a hotel official.
■ DNCO - Did not check out: The guest made arrangements to settle his or her bills (and thus
not a skipper) but has left without informing the front desk.
■ DO - Due Out: The room is expected to become vacant after the following guest checks out.
■ CO - Check-Out: The guest has settled his or her account, returned the room keys and left the
hotel.
■ LC - Late Check out: The guest has requested and is being allowed to check out later than the
normal/standard departure time of the hotel.
■ EC - Early Check-in: Guest has requested for an Early Check in and is being allowed to
check-in earlier than the normal/standard check-in time of the hotel.
■ VC - Vacant Clean - Room is Vacant and Cleaned by the housekeeper.
■ VD - Vacant Dirty - Room is Vacant and Dirty.
■ OR - Occupied Ready
■ OC - Occupied Clean - Room is Occupied and Cleaned by the Housekeeping.
■ OD - Occupied Dirty - Room is Occupied and yet to be cleaned by the housekeeping.
■ V/C or O/V - Status Unclear - (Either the room is Vacant and Clean or
Occupied or Vacant) need to be verified by the Housekeeping staff.
■ H/L - Heavy Luggage - Guest has Heavy or more luggage than usual.
■ L/L - Light Luggage - Guest has light or very less luggage.
■ N/L - No Luggage - Guest has no luggage also know as Scanty Baggage.
■ DL - Double Lock - Guest has put a double lock in the room.
■ CL - Chain Lock - Guest has placed a Chain Lock in the room.
■ HU - House Use - Room is used by the hotel staff or someone staying from the management
teams.
■ NCI - Newly Checked In - Room was checked in within the last one to two hours.
■ NS - No Show - A guest who made a room reservation but did not register or Check-in.
■ SO - Sleep Out
■ SR - Service Refused - Guest refused to clean the room.
■ V - Vacant
■ MUR - Make-Up Room

ROOM RATES
■ a room rate is the price charged by the hotel for one room for one night.

TYPES OF ROOM RATE

■ Standard Rate/Rack Rate - The standard rate for the room, with no meals, discount
or reduction
■ Prepaid Rate - Refers to paying for the stay at a hotel in full at the time of booking,
rather than at arrival or departure from the hotel.
■ Loyalty Rate
■ Membership
■ Special Rate
■ Group Rate/Flat Rate - Specific room rate for group, agreed by the hotel and group in
advance
■ Family Rate - A rate reserved for families with children. Usually, these rates include Extra
Bed charges and may also include some free add-on activities for children.
■ Off Season Rate
■ Corporate Rate/Commercial Rate - The standard rate charged to executive personnel
from businesses and industrial corporations, who are regular guests
■ Contracted Rate

FRONT OFFICE ORGANIZATIONAL CHART