ROOM SERVICE & OPERATION

DEFINITION:
Room Service is the service of any Food & Beverage items ordered by the guest directly to his/ her
room. It is also called ‘In-Room Dining’.

The Room Service ‘Cabin’ or ‘Room’ is the place for controlling all the operations. It is the ‘Command
centre’ of the entire Room Service Operations.

The ‘Cabin’ should be located near the following:

Main Kitchen

Still Room

Service Elevator

The main requirements for completing successful operations from the ‘Cabin’ are:

Menu Card

Computer

Telephone

Room List

Guest Status

KOT/ BOT Book

The most important equipment required for successful completion of Guest Orders through Room
Service are:

Tray

Salver

Trolley

Room Service orders for Breakfast were collected using the following methods:

Manual

Doorknob card

Telephone

Given above is a detail of the evolution of the various methods over the years. The Buffet was the
biggest revolution, per se, for the Room Service. The advent of this activity made the work of Room
Service much more easy and smooth. In present times most good Hotels have started offering Breakfast
through Buffets as a part of the Tariff. (Continental Plan)

However if we consider Room Service operation on the whole orders are placed via the telephone
whereby the Order Taker using his skills takes the order correctly and forwards the same for execution.
KOT/ BOT is automatically printed out at the respective location. One copy is received by the Steward
for preparing the appropriate Cutlery, Crockery, Glassware and Serve ware. Once the order placed is
ready it is placed on the appropriate ware and carried to the Guest Room where the order is placed on
the table and a signature is obtained on the Bill. Clearance is usually done after 45 minutes or one may
politely ask the guest.

HIERARCHY OF ROOM SERVICE DEPARTMENT

FOOD & BEVERAGE MANAGER

ASSISTANT FOOD & BEVERAGE MANAGER

ROOM SERVICE MANAGER

ROOM SERVICE ORDER TAKER

ROOM SERVICE CAPTAIN

ROOM SERVICE STEWARD

ROOM SERVICE ASSISTANT STEWARD

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES OF ROOM SERVICE STAFF
Duties & Responsibilities of staff depends on the particular areas they are assigned to work in. However
if we are to summarise these we can say that the key responsibility areas are as under:

Ensuring the Room Service Cabin is prepared for each Service- Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Ensure that all Staff attend the Briefing prior to each service

Ensure that you have the list of ‘Today’s Special’ & ‘Not Available’ items from the Menu

Ensure timely Service of all orders

Ensure timely Clearance from all Rooms that have been served

MISE-EN-PLACE
This term refers to the activities done prior to the Service, in case of Room Service mostly the night
before as Breakfast is the most critical of all Room Service and requires the most Mise-en-place to be
done. Three major activities are conducted as under:

1 General mise-en-place:
1. Wiping Cutlery, Crockery/ Glassware/ Cups n Saucers/ Cruet sets

2. Wiping and filling Preserves/ Butter/ Sugar/ Pickles

3. Clean and wipe Tea Pots/ Coffee pots/ creamers/ Milk Pots

4. Clean Tea strainers

5. Clean Toast Racks

6. Clean and wipe Bread Baskets

2 Mise-en-place on tray:
1. Clean and wipe trays

2. Set up Saucer, Cup & tea spoon with the cup upside down

3. Set up tea strainer with slop basin

4. Set up sugar bowl & tongs(if cubes are used)

5. Set up preserve dish & spoon

6. Cruet set
 7. Side Plate & knife

8. Butter dish & butter knife

9. Service Knife & Fork and Dessert Knife & Fork

10. Clean & set up Trolleys (with cloth) for minimum 2 covers.

11. All completed Trays to be kept on Tray Rack!

3. Still Room Mise-en-place: Preparation for the following makes up the mise-en-place:
1. Beverage pots

2. Pots for hot water

3. Cereal bowls

4. Portion containers with lids

5. Full plates

6. Toast racks/ Bread baskets

7. Cloche

Apart from the above-mentioned activities we need to note that mise-en-place is different for different
types of Breakfast. Depending upon the dishes ordered we would alter the set up of the Tray and
Trolley.

SEQUENCE OF SERVICE IN THE ROOM SERVICE

1) At the beginning of a shift, the room service attendants should be briefed about any special
functions occurring in the property, the amount of forecasted business, any unavailable menu items,
specials of the day, a list of VIP’s and groups of people staying in the hotel and any other information
that will enable them to provide good service to the guest. This will be done by the shift supervisor or
the Room Service Manager.

2) In a well runned room service the attendant will do their required mise-n-place during the slow
period or before a meal period for eg. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Proper planning and Mise-en-place will
reduce the no. of tasks to be performed during the peak hours some of the examples of Mise-n-place to
be done are cleaning of the trolleys and trays, setting of trays keeping the accompaniments and
condiments sets ready etc.

3) When the guests call up the order taken should wish him according to the time of the day and
apologies to the guest if the phone rings more than a specific no. of times (such as 5 rings) the order
taken should address the guest by surname which can be obtain from display screen on the telephones
or by referring to the guest rooming list given by the front office.
4) When taking down the order all relevant information’s must be obtained for eg. no of pax to be
served, spice level, details about the items etc. The order taker should wait for the guest to put down
the phone first. He/ she should advice the guest about the approximate item of delivery and should
also check the mode of payment.

5) Mention all the details on the KOT (time of order taken is very important) and hand it over to
the supervisor manning the control desk. In some cases the steward will readout the order in the
respective kitchen.

6) The stewards/attendance will then return to do their tray setup by following certain laid down
procedures.

a) make sure that the trollies trays are spotlessly clean

b) if a cloth is being used make sure that there are no stains on them. If paper mats are being used
they should be in a good condition.

c) Set the trays with required no. of crockery & cutleries pared on the no. of pax to be served.

d) Collect all the food items with lids or other insulated material to prevent spills and
contamination.

7) Present the trolly /tray to the order taker or supervisor at the control desk and collect the guest
check. The supervisor will than fill up the room service order form mentioning the guest name, room no,
server’s name, check no., time the order was placed, time the order was served.

8) The room service attendant will knock on the door and will call out “Room service, with your
order”. He will then verify the guest name & room no. when the guest opens the door.

9) The room service attendant should then ask the guest where he. She prefers the order to be
placed on the table, on the lawns or else where. If the order require the table side preparations ask
the permission of the guest to begin.

10) In the end ask the guest to sign a copy of the check to indicate that they have received the
order. The room service attendant will then give the guest a no. to dial for additional service or to
request tray pick up (this information could be provided on a courtesy card placed on the trolley or tray)
the room service attendant should then thank the guest as he/she leaves the room.

11) It is very important that the room service attendant follows up on the clearance of the
tray/trolley the supervisor should take a round of the property on a regular basis to keep a check on his
attendants performance.

TYPES OF BREAKFAST

1) CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
Choice of fresh fruit juice

----------------xxx---------

Choice of assorted breads

(toast, rolls, broiche, muffins etc)

Served with preserves (Jam, marmalade)

----------------xxxxx-------------

Beverages

(Tea/Coffee)

2) AMERICAN BREAKFAST

Choice of fresh fruit juice

Or

Cut fruits

Or

Stewed fruits

-----------xxxx-------------

Choice of cereals

(Rice flakes, wheat flakes etc)

Served with hot/cold milk

---------------xxxx-----------

Eggs

(Fried, boiled, poached, omelet)

----------------xxxx-----------

Meat

(Bacon, Sausages, Salami etc)

-------------xxxx-----------
Choice of assorted breads

Served with butter and preserves

---------------xxxx

Beverages

(Tea, Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Horlicks etc)

3) ENGLISH OR FULL BREAKFAST

Choice of fresh fruit juice

Or

Cut fruits

Or

Stewed fruits

-----------xxxx-------------

Choice of cereals

(Rice flakes, wheat flakes etc)

Served with hot/cold milk

---------------xxxx-----------

Eggs

(Fried, boiled, poached, omelet)

----------------xxxx-----------

Fish

(Boiled, Grilled, Poached)

----------------xxxx----------

Meat

(Bacon, Sausages, Salami etc)

-------------xxxx-----------

Choice of assorted breads

Served with butter and preserves

---------------xxxx----------

Beverages

(Tea, Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Horlicks etc)

TYPES OF BREAKFAST TRAY SET-UPS

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST TRAY

1. Budvase

2. Quarter plate

3. Serviette

4. B&B knife

5. Juice glass with glass cover and underliner

6. Bread basket

7. Butterdish with underliner

8. Preserve plate

9. Tea cup with saucer and tea spoon

10. Tea pot

11. Milk creamer

12. Sugar basin, with sugar tong and underliner

NOTE:-

• Juice glass has to be covered while taking in the room with glass cover

• Breadbasket should be cover with the napkin.

AMERICAN BREAKFAST TRAY

1. Bud vase

2. Cruet set

3. Side plate

4. Napkin

5. B&B knife

6. Butter dish

7. Bread basket

8. Preserve dish

9. Fruit juice

10. Cereal bowl

11. Tea cup, saucer & tea spoon

12. Tea pot

13. Milk creamer

14. Sugar basin

15. Half plate