The Structures of the Hotel Industry

1. The Structures of the Hotel Industry Chapter 3

2. Two distinct structures frame the operation and form of the modern hotel: . Organizational structure . Physical structure Differences notwithstanding, both the organizational structure and the building structure adhere to basic blueprints.

3. The Organizational Structure • Every hotel, no matter its size and complexity, has an organizational structure that enables it to carry out its daily operations. • Hotels employ a vast number of people with a variety of skills. However, each hotel organizes this diversified workforce in different ways.

4. Hotel organizations follow the pattern of other businesses or social institutions. General managers get the authority they need from the ownership interests of the management company.

5. Ownership • Ownership can be rest within an individual, a partnership, a joint venture, a REIT or a public corporation. • Companies that both manage and own hotels can also own and manage other companies, subsidiaries of the parent. • Corporations are favored because investors have limited liability. • Individuals who own shares are not liable for company obligations. The corporate “ person” is the one responsible.

6. The General Manager • Coordinating the whole, unifying the specialties, and directing joint efforts is the job of the general manager. • General manager (GM or the GM ) is the favored title at the unit level–the operating hotel. • Standing alone, the title of general manager indicates no ownership interests.

7. The GM is simply the employee most responsible to ownership, corporate or otherwise, and the one person accountable for the full scope of the operation. Total responsibility for all that happens in every department rests with the GM. The GM deals either directly with ownership or indirectly through layers of corporate levels and titles.

8. GMs of large organizations have an assistant, the “executive assistant manager.” During the period of one person ownership, GM personified their hotels. Studies of general managers—and GMs are heavily studied—indicate work weeks of up to 65 hours.

9. GM salaries are dependent on several criteria: the size of the hotel; the ADR the manager is able to deliver; and the revenue generated by the property. Manager’s salaries ranging between $50,000 and $2,000,000 per year. The median salary for general managers is over $125,000 plus incentives.

10. GM has an assistant “ executive assistant manager”, who has one of many “assistants managers.” Hotel companies support their managers with experts in specialized areas of law, employment, environment, taxes and technology. The food and beverage manager has direct operating responsibilities. At one time, food and beverage accounted for nearly half of hotel revenues industry wide.

11. The Hotel ( or Resident ) Manager • The Hotel manager, also called the house manager or resident manager. • Large hotels do have resident managers and all the support positions. • Housekeeping; security; rooms; engineering ( repairs and maintenance ); laundry and valet; revenue control; shops, rentals and business centers; concierges; pools and spas are all support positions.

12. The Rooms Manager • Reservations, telephone, concierge, and uniformed services are among departments reporting to the rooms manager, as is the front desk. • Room Reservations: Reservations are requests for rooms from prospective guests.

13. Manager of Guest Services • One final level of management is needed for our full-service-hotel illustration, the manager of guest services. • Large hotels have assistant managers supporting this position during each shift. • Guest-service managers control the immediate front-office staff, who are pivotal to the rooms department’s assignment.

14. The Building Structure • Every hotel offers both guest rooms and the organization to deliver those rooms. But the similarity ends there. • The differences in the physical buildings and the differences in the delivery systems distinguish one property from another. It is these differences that segment the industry into its many parts.

15. The Old versus The New • The Old: Inside Rooms are enclosed by wings of the building. The view is downward toward the roof on the lower floor, which is often dirty and unsightly. • The New: Suites and All-Suites are very nice, some have luxurious accommodations include kitchens and formal dining rooms, saunas or swimming pools, and even libraries. • Corner Rooms: are the most desirable rooms on the floor. • Motor Inns: is a child of the motel.

16. Numbering for Identification • The floor number comes first followed by the room number. • Americans number the first sleeping floor as floor one regardless of the number of intervening levels between it and the ground. • Numbering rooms is more arbitrary than numbering floors. Each hotel is architecturally unique.

17. Room Shape and Size • Room shape is architecturally driven; room size is a financial/ marketing decision. • Interior room shapes result from the design (concave, square, round) of the hotel. • Balconies are often part of a façade that adds interest to the outside of a building. • The 12-foot or 13-foot width is upped to 16 feet, a luxury-sized room.

18. Bed and Bad • The Bed: ◦ The modern American hotel room has gone through periods which favored, first, the double bed and then twin beds. ◦ Americans are getting bigger. The queen and king beds have taken over.

19. Bed Sizes and symbol: ◦ Single Bed: symbol S, sleeps a person. When the room is furnished with one twin, the symbol S is used, when furnished with a double bed, the symbol is D. ◦ Twin Beds: A twin room, symbol T, contains two beds each accommodating one person. ◦ Double Bed: Symbol D

20. ◦ Queen and King Beds: symbol Q and K. Although designed for two; three or four persons might squeeze in when the room is taken as a family room. ◦ Hollywood Bed ( Two beds joined by a common headboard ): using the symbol of the twins, T, since that’s what they are . ◦ Studio Bed ( Room ): is a sofa by day and a bed by night. This is not popular anymore. Symbol UP “ undersized parlor .”

21. ◦ Sleigh Bed: Any bed can be a sleigh bed, so named because of the sleigh-like shape of the headboard and footboard. ◦ Daybed: like studio beds except they are additions to the hotel room rather than basic furnishings. ◦ Sofa Bed: is similar in function to a studio bed. ◦ Rollaway Bed ( Cot ): is a portable utility bed added to the usual room furnishings.

22. ◦ Crib: for babies, similar to rollaway bed. ◦ Water Bed: rarely found in hotel rooms. ◦ Futon: which is a cotton-quilted bed, come in regular mattress sizes. ◦ Wall Bed (Murphy Bed): fold-up bed.

23. The Bath: ◦ The bath accounts for about 20% of the room size. A luxurious hotel has a bath of 120 square feet. ◦ As the bath has grown larger, so has the ancillary space. Some travelers don’t feel comfortable with it. ◦ Whatever the final design, it must reflect guest needs.